Early Spring Plants

Thankfully, warm weather has finally arrived in my local woods. Plant life has begun to reestablish its dominance across the forest floor, teasing the abundance of vegetation yet to come. Over the last several days, I have found a variety of plants, large and small, growing across the forests and wetlands of western Michigan.

In the wetlands and shallow river floodplains, the skunk cabbage, trout lilies, and ferns have emerged to lay claim to their portion of the boggy earth. Along the riverbanks and surrounding slopes, bloodroot, wild leek (ramps), hepaticas, and more stake out soon to be well-shaded plots on the forest floor.

I love this time of the year as it allows me to witness the rebirth of the woods and the amazing abundance of life, beauty, and mystery that is borne from it.

Here are some of my favorite photos from my most recent walks:

Redshank (Ceratodon purpureus):

Ribbed Bog Moss (Aulacomnium palustre):

Flat-branched Tree-Clubmoss (Dendrolycopodium obscurum):

Fan Clubmoss (Diphasiastrum digitatum):

Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica):

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum):

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis):

Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia):

Pussy Willow (Salix discolor):

Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus):

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana):

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba):

Purple Cress (Cardamine douglassii):

Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata):

Wide Leek (Allium tricoccum):

Cinnamon Fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum):

Intermediate Wood Fern (Dryopteris intermedia):

Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides):

Eastern Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens):

Broad-leaf Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense):

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale):

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum):

Daffodils (Genus Narcissus):'