A Spectacular Year for Fringetree

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Last Friday evening I went on a wild goose chase in the Potomac Gorge. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find lots and lots of white flowering trees.

Chionanthus virginicus, a beautiful small tree in the olive family (Oleaceae), is now in full, glorious bloom in the Potomac Gorge. You can see them in the woods along either side of the C&O Canal as you walk downstream from the Visitor Center near lock 19. There are several lovely specimens that can be seen from above, too, as you walk over the bridges to Olmstead island.

Commonly known as white fringetree and American fringetree, these plants can grow as either shrubs or small trees, reaching heights of about 15 feet, or sometimes more in the right conditions. They can grow in full light or in the understory, in wooded uplands and rocky areas including riverside rock outcroppings, and seem to tolerate a wide range of moisture and pH in the soil.

 

Fringetree is dioecious but is known to have perfect flowers on occasion. (To learn more about these terms visit my blog post about maples.)

 

 

The species ranges from eastern Texas east and north up into southern New England, and is one of only two Chionanthus species native to the US (the other is found only in central Florida).  They are available in the nursery trade and are stunning in the home landscape.

 

Laurel Heaven

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The stand of mountain laurel that I wrote about last time is now at glorious peak bloom. My wrist is healing well, so I was able to manage the D750 with the kit lens (24-120mm) to get a few pictures.

If you read about mountain laurel in just about any guidebook you’ll probably come across a phrase like “impenetrable thicket”, describing how they grow. Apparently in the southern Appalachian mountains these thickets are known as “laurel hells.”  I hope to find one someday, but in the meantime I’m enjoying a local laurel heaven.  Hope you are, too!

 

Other common names for Kalmia latifolia include spoonwood, spoon-hunt, calico-bush, big-leaved ivy, ivybush, red-stemmed ivy, clamoun, little laurel, small laurel, wood laurel, poison-laurel, sheepsbane, lambkill, and wocky*.

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*The History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers, Timothy Coffey, Hougton Mifflin Company, 1993

Mountain Laurel and Sheep Laurel

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Just was I was on a roll getting this blog going again, I had to go and break my wrist.  No more photography for awhile, but I wanted to let you know about this great stand of mountain laurel.  Two weeks ago they were budding up, so I expect they’ll be open by now.

 

 

 

The plants are on the Cabin John Trail, roughly midway between Bradley Boulevard and River Road. There’s a trail marker there, at the side trail that goes to Cindy Lane, and the stand starts just to the south of that and goes on for a few tenths of a mile. There must have been thousands of mountain laurels. Not all were in bud, of course, but a lot were, so it should be a good show.

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is a medium-sized evergreen shrub in the heath and heather family.  Like other ericaceous plants, it prefers acidic soils that are moist and well-drained. It ranges from the Gulf of Mexico coast north all the way to Maine, and westward a little ways past the Appalachian Mountains (further west in the South).  In Maryland it can be found in every county.

If you’re exploring this segment of the Cabin John Trail, keep your eyes open for pinxterbloom azaleas (Rhododendron periclymenoides). They grow in the same area as the mountain laurels, mostly along the banks of the creek. I counted at least twenty-one of them blooming on April 27th this year. They’re almost certainly done by now.

One other species of Kalmia is found growing in Maryland: K. angustifolia, or sheep laurel.  The Coastal Plain of Maryland is almost as far south as it grows; it’s found more frequently as you go northeast, all the way into Maine and beyond, well into Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland (where I took this picture, in 2017).

 

More Flowers From Ferry Hill

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Here are a few more photos of flowers seen in early April along the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, Maryland.

 

 

two-leaved miterwort, Mitella diphylla (Saxifragaceae) [right and below]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

downy yellow violet, Viola pubescens var. scabriuscula  (Violaceae)

 

 

 

blue cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides  (Berberidaceae)

 

 

 

 

rue anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides (Ranunculaceae) [with a side of early saxifrage, Micranthes virginiensis]

 

 

star chickweed, Stellaria pubera (Caryophyllaceae)

 

 

 

 

toadshade, Trillium sessile (Melanthiaceae)

 

 

 

 

squirrel corn, Dicentra canadensis (Papaveraceae)

 

 

 

wild blue phlox, Phlox divaricata (Polemoniaceae)

 

 

 

spreading rockcress, Arabis patens (Brassicaceae); G3 (globally rare/local), S3 in Maryland

 

 

 

 

spring beauty, Claytonia virginica (Montiaceae)

Upstanding

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The third target of my Washington County foray with B was Trillium erectum (red trillium, wake robin; Melanthiaceae).

There are 38 species of Trillium native to North America; eight of these are native to Maryland. T. erectum is found throughout New England, extending south mostly in the Appalachian Mountains as far south as northern Georgia, and there are a few populations in parts of the upper Midwest. In Maryland it’s found in scattered locations (have a look at the quad data from Maryland Biodiversity Project for details).

Here you can see (from the innermost parts outward) the three stigmas, six stamens, three petals, three sepals, and three bracts. Not leaves? That’s right: technically there are no above-ground leaves on trilliums. The three large structures are bracts (like the colorful parts of flowering dogwood and poinsettias). A bract is a modified leaf, found at the base of an inflorescence.  However, the bracts of trilliums do engage in photosynthesis. I’m not clear, then, on why they aren’t considered leaves, but there it is. Botany is weird.

The taxonomy of the trilliums is a bit unsettled. At first, Trillium was in the Liliaceae; later it was placed in its own family, Trilliaceae; then it was moved to Melanthiaceae (bunchflower family). Now some taxonomists are putting it back into Trilliaceae.

 

I found 37 different common names for this species, among them bathflower, bloody nose, bumblebee-root, daffy-down-lily, herb-true-love, red-benjamin, rule-of-three, true love, wild-piny, and wood-lily.  Makes me appreciate the work of Carl Linnaeus.