fringe tree   Chionanthus virginicus   Oleaceae (olive family)

I keep wondering why people don’t garden with natives more often.  I had a fringe tree at my previous house; it was one of a dozen or so landscape plants that I regret leaving behind.  I discovered a fringe tree near Carderock last spring by literally walking into a low hanging branch.  This year, I was told “it’s all over the place”.  But when it isn’t flowering, it looks like, well, just another tree.  A highly fragrant tree, though, so you can find it by following your nose when it is in flower.

It was difficult to get even a half-decent picture of an entire tree.  There just isn’t enough contrast for the flowers to show.  But here’s a look at a small branch: 

Isn’t that just nifty?

So for years now I’ve been scouring the Billy Goat B and C trails in C&O Canal NHP for wildflowers, while hardly ever bothering with the trail that’s about 100 yards from my house.  I had hiked parts of the Cabin John Trail a few times not long after moving here.  The trail is in bad condition, overused, and there are a lot of invasive plants along it.  I figured it would be a showcase of English ivy and lesser celandine, so I hadn’t hiked it in more than a year.

I wasn’t wrong, but boy was I stupid.  I’ve been a few times in the last two weeks and was shocked at the diversity of native plants in this one and a half mile stretch, which includes three I’ve never seen at C&O.

dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius; Araliaceae): 

wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum; Papaveraceae):

wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia; Ranunculaceae):

Sedum ternatum; Crassulaceae (stonecrop family)

A low-growing plant, one of very few in this area with succulent leaves.  The leaves occur in whorls of three along the stems.  The flowers appear in a three-branched terminal cluster.    It’s related to some familiar garden plants, like hens and chickens (Sempervivum tectorum) and sedum “Autumn Joy” (a hybrid of Sedum spectabile and Sedum telephium), which is used extensively in landscaping.

I do wish more people would garden with native plants.  This low-growing stonecrop would make a nice edging along a rock wall or pathway.  The flowers are small and subtle, but quite fetching when you look closely:

I love small, subtle things.

Flowering plants seen May 1 – May 14:

• alumroot
• American vetch
• Asiatic bittersweet*
• Asiatic hawks-beard*
• bastard toadflax
• Bicknell’s cranesbill
• black walnut
• lowbush blueberry
• celandine
• clustered snakeroot
• dame’s rocket*
• deerberry
• false Solomon’s seal
• common fleabane
• fringe tree
• greenbriar
• henbit*
• honeysuckle (probably Japanese)*
• hooked crowfoot
• Indian strawberry
• long-tube valerian
• lyre-leaved sage
• partridgeberry (fruit)
• perfoliate bellwort
• fringed phacelia
• rattlesnake weed
• several sedges, including Gray’s sedge
• corn speedwell
• spiderwort
• spring forget-me-not
• star of Bethlehem
• swamp dewberry
• a yellow form of toadshade (!)
• wild pink
• wild stonecrop
• wild yamroot
• violet wood sorrel
• yellow wood sorrel

*alien

a viburnum, species tbd

Walk along the wooded, rocky slopes of the Potomac River now and you will see lots of graceful, arching plants with long leaves alternating along a single stem.  They might look identical, but there are several different species that can’t be distinguished until they bloom.  Depending on which nomenclature system you consult, they may be placed in the Liliaceae (lily family), or Asparagaceae (asparagus family), or even Ruscaceae, formerly known as Convallariaceae… taxonomy, what a headache.

Standing about two feet tall is the very common smooth Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum), with 2 or more flowers in a cluster dangling from the leaf axils:

Much less common is great Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum canaliculatum), which can stand as tall as five feet.  Note the small trees alongside the plant in the next picture:

The false Solomon’s seals are distinguished by having terminal rather than axillary clusters of flowers.  Here’s Maianthemum racemosum in bloom (see May 7 for a dramatic picture of it in bud):

There’s also starry false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum stellatum), which I have yet to find.