Large Whorled Pogonia (Isotria verticillata)
Well, it only took Twan three years and several trips to find this beauty flowering, but last week it all paid off: meet the Large Whorled Pogonia (Isotria verticillata), one of the strangest-looking of our native orchids!
Read MorePainted Trillium (Trillium undulatum)
One of these days I’ll stop posting pictures of Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum), but they’re just too pretty not to… Twan Leenders RTPI President
Read MoreFringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolia)
RTPI President Twan Leenders was looking for native orchids recently in the Allegheny National Forest, but it turned out he was just a little too early for them to bloom. However, he did come across one of his favorite spring ephemerals – Fringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolia) which is somewhat orchid-like in its unusual appearance. Photographed for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project.
Read MoreTrout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
With trees just beginning to bud, sunlight has been able to penetrate to the forest floor, providing light for many early spring wildflowers to bloom. One such wildflower that can be seen during this time of the year is the Trout lily (Erythronium americanum). These little lilies are easily recognized by their mottled leaves, which gives the flower their name as the markings on the leaves look like the markings of brook trout, and their bright yellow flowers. Interestingly, these flowers form colonies that can completely coat a forest floor and the colonies themselves may be hundreds of...
Read MoreApril Flowers
It seems this warm year brought us a lot more March showers and April flowers rather than the traditional saying – thanks, climate change! I do not know what these little ones are but they like to poke up in this same area of grass every year in the early spring. There is always, always…always…more to find out about the world around us. Look up, look down, look all around… Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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