Discovering Spring Ephemerals in Wilfred J. Turenne Wildlife Habitat
Growing up in the dry mountain west, I never learned to appreciate the coming of spring as I now do living in New England. I spent my teenage years living in a Ponderosa Pine forest, with few deciduous trees and a simple, shortgrass prairie understory. While I recall the occasional colorful flower pops of the parasitic Indian Paintbrush and some purple violet-like flower that I always swore had to be invasive, compared to Massachusetts, the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains is a barren wasteland.
My first year in Massachusetts, I had no idea I should even be paying attention to the beauties of spring. I lived in a fairly dense neighborhood in which many of the blooming treasures of the northeast were out of sight, out of mind. The next year, I went to the historic Mt. Auburn Cemetery for the first time, and from the famous lookout tower, noticed the interesting fall-like effect of spring in this region. The young, vibrant greens of new leaf growth mixed in with what looked to be beautiful hues of orange, pink, red, violet, and yellow, produced by trees in various stages of flower bloom and leaf out.
As each year went by, I noticed more little details every spring. I noticed the pollen dust of the great White Pines, coating everything in a mildly yellow residue, similarly but not as intensely as Ponderosa Pines do. I noticed the tiny red flowers of the ubiquitous red maples, creating stunning dustings of light red and pink across the landscape. I noticed the thick, short leaves and tiny bell-like flowers of the invasive Lily of the Valley poking up from the ground, as well as the invasive carpet of periwinkles, beautiful but crowding out the forest floor of native species.
From this journey of slow discovery, I found myself in the Wilfred J. Turenne Wildlife Habitat in Southborough, Massachusetts, once again seeking out the beautiful changes of spring. This time, I discovered what is known as Canada Mayflower on the forest floor. Very similar to the prior-mentioned Lily of the Valley, they have rich green leaves that poke right out of the ground this time of year and have white flowers, but they tend to be a little smaller and have a different flower structure. Rather than bell-like flowers hanging downward, a lupine-like clump of tiny flowers grows upwards.
Canada Mayflower is like Lily of the Valley in that it prefers slightly shaded areas and grows well amongst the trees. These two flowering plants, in their rush to beat the leaf out of trees, introduce us to the broader world of spring ephemerals. While researching the Canada Mayflower, I found many resources that describe the plant as a spring ephemeral. But when we dig deeper into the true definition, neither of these plants fully fit the definition.
So what is a spring ephemeral? Essentially, it is any small, flowering plant that rapidly grows in a forested area in different spring conditions, but quickly shrivels into nothing once the spring conditions continue changing. Canada Mayflower and Lily of the Valley don’t technically fall into this category because their leaves continue to live and thrive on the ground for months afterwards. For comparison, a true spring ephemeral called Lady Slipper grows quickly in the spring, only for the entire plant to shrivel weeks later, the plant’s stunning flower and broader structure having already done its job for the year. Interestingly, Lady Slipper blooms later than Canada Mayflower, and I didn’t encounter them until weeks after my spring trip to the Wildlife Habitat.
Other fantastic spring ephemerals to be on the lookout for in Massachusetts include Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches, and Columbine. You can view a broader list of spring ephemerals listed on Mass.gov.