Lots of flowers in the ginseng habitat right now. The following are just a sample.
Wild Ginger
If you don’t mind getting down on the ground, you can see the wild ginger (Asarum canadense) blooming.
Flowers are usually just below the leaf litter at the base of the stems.
Mayapple
The mayapples are blooming too.
Doll’s Eye
This plant is also called White Baneberry, and it is by that name that I’ve used it in a 100-word flash fiction story. The berries and roots are very toxic, but it is one of the best habitat indicators for ginseng.
Doll’s Eye looks very much like black cohosh until it blooms, but I think I’ve finally figured out a way to differentiate at least the mature plants before flowering.
Goldenseal
This medicinal herb is one of the most recognizable of the ginseng companion plants. It blooms in April, too.
Jack in the Pulpit
These are interesting plants. Although they resemble pitcher plants, the two are not related. Whereas the pitcher plant is carnivorous, the jack in the pulpit is not.
No Flowers Yet on the Ginseng
The ginseng seedlings are just barely coming up now. Some are a few days old, some are almost a week, and some were still in the process of unfurling.
Flower buds on older plants are held tight and closed still and the flower stalk is barely there at the center of the prong junction.
