FIELD NOTES: Ephemerals T
~by Jim Eagleman
he ground outside my window is more white than brown right now. Next week’s predicted rain will dissipate the remaining snow—the moisture from both adding to my native plant area and the experimental Hugel mounds I wrote about in earlier Field Notes. Another order from a native plant nursery should arrive soon, and the mere thought of warming temps makes me anxious. Spring is coming! The first spring wildflowers: hepatica, spring beauty, rue anemone, toothwort, and others, are referred to as ephemerals, the early bloomers. Their first-of-the-year brilliance is the color I look for, from monochrome to sudden pastels, bathed in the sun’s warmth that slowly dries mats of dead leaves. These plants appear quickly from the sun-flected forest floor, while the canopy overhead is still open. In a few days, the flowers push into the cool spring air, fueled by storehouses of energy from the previous year. Some of them grow from hidden, below-ground stems called rhizomes, others emerge from corms or fibrous roots. Only after the plants have leafed out will photosynthesis boost survival. This strategy helps them persist in the light-hungry world of the chilly woods. Once rapid growth has reached this point, we momentarily inspect these beauties. Don’t plan to return in a few days with a camera or flower book—they will have probably disappeared. “Short-lived” is their trademark— so enjoy them while you can. Once these ephemerals have unfurled their leaves, they reap sunlight’s energy and carbon dioxide at a furious rate. The breathing holes in their leaves, the stomata, are opened wide. One plant biologist and author, David Haskell, calls them the “fast-food junkies of the forest.”
38 Our Brown County March/April 2021
Bloodroot
Spring Beauty
Toothwort
