Woodland Wildflowers Signal Spring , Healthy Forests
RANGE SCOTT HARMON
Penn State Forest Resources
Extension
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) After months of drab win
ter hues, wildflowers are bright
ening Penn’s Woods and pro
claiming the arrival of spring.
Many woodland wildflowers
take advantage of the few weeks
when the forest floor is awash in
sunlight after the soil thaws.
Soon leaves from shrubs and
trees will cast shade over low
growing plants for the remainder
of the growing season. To take
advantage of this brief window of
opportunity, many woodland
wildflowers use energy stored in
underground bulbs, roots, or
rootstalks to jump-start the rapid
growth of leaves and flowers.
Many bloom for only a week or
two, although the leaves may per
sist longer.
Here are some flowering gems
to look for in Pennsylvania wood
lands this month. (Most bloom
sometime between late March
and early May):
Harbinger of spring is one of
our first wildflowers to bloom. Its
clusters of tiny white flowers
“sprinkled” with reddish brown
anthers gives it another common
name; pepper-and-salt.
Trout lily leaves have blotches
of color reminiscent of the fish of
the same name. The nodding
flowers can be white or yellow.
Hepatica flowers may be white,
pink, or blue. Each flower grows
on a separate stalk and has be
tween 5 and 12 parts. Because of
its lobed leaves, hepatica is also
known as liver leaf.
Dutchman’s breeches has
white flowers that dangle from
the stem, reminding some folks of
pantaloons hanging on a clothes
line.
POWERED
BY THE
PEPPER
Spring beauty has narrow
leaves and 5-parted white flow
ers, often with pink veins.
Trillium has large petals and
showy flowers that, as its name
suggests, come in three parts.
Our three common native species
have white or purple flowers.
Bloodroot has white flowers
with 8-10 delicate petals around
a golden-yellow center. The deep
ly lobed leaf often curls around
the flower-stalk. As the name im
plies, the “root,” which is actual
ly an underground stem, produc
es a red juice.
A rich mix of native wildflow
ers is one indication of healthy
conditions in the lower layer of
the forest, which is known as the
understory. Healthy forests con
tain a variety of flowers, shrubs,
trees, and other plants, which
occur in layers, from ground level
to the treetops. This variety and
complexity allows many different
animals to thrive and fosters en
vironmental stability. When
strands of this intricate web of
life are missing, the entire ecosys
tem can be altered. Predicting the
effect of missing species on the
whole system can be very compli
cated if not impossible.
However, in some Pennsylva
nia woodlands, the lack of tree
seedlings, wildflowers, and other
plants leaves little doubt that
there is a problem. Two of the
culprits behind a dearth of un
derstory growth are an overabun
dance of white-tailed deer and in
vasive plants.
Like most humans, deer are se
lective eaters. They browse on
their favorite forest plants when
they are available and resort to
less-preferred foods when their
favorites can’t be found. Long
term studies in the Allegheny Na-
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increase in an area, wildflowers
and other ground cover species
decrease.
To compound the problem,
deer generally avoid eating most
ferns. As a result, large expanses
of ferns cover the forest floor in
many Pennsylvania woodlands.
To many people, a verdant blan
ket of ferns in an open, park-like
forest is a beautiful site to behold.
However, these conditions are
signs that something is very
wrong, ecologically speaking.
Without a vigorous growth of
new tree seedlings, the future of
the forest is in jeopardy, and ani
mals that depended on the miss
ing plants for food and shelter
may not find what they need to
survive. Studies in the Allegheny
Forest show that high deer densi
ty causes a decrease in songbird
diversity, in addition to the de
creases in wildflower and ground
cover species mentioned previ
ously.
Invasive plants are another
cause of decreased plant diversity
in the forest understory. Most in
vasive plants come from other
parts of the globe.
In their new home in Penn’s
Woods, they proliferate because
the natural controls that keep the
plants in check in their home
lands do not occur here. Such
natural controls include specific
kinds of diseases and insects.
Like ferns, introduced species
can take over a site, displacing
native plants and preventing
seedlings from developing into
trees.
If you are one of Pennsylva
nia’s half-million forest landown
ers, take another look at your
woodlands. Do you see a diverse
array of native wildflowers and
other low-growing plants?
If not, do you have a sea of
ferns or a predominance of just
one or two types of plants? If so,
chances are that deer or invasive
plants are affecting your wood
lands. While these are tough
problems to address, there are re
sources available to assist you.
The Pennsylvania Forest Stew
ardship Program provides pri
vate forestland owners with in
formation and assistance to
promote healthy and productive
forests. It produces many free
publications, including Forest
Stewardship Bulletin #9; Under
standing and Conserving Biologi
cal Wealth in Our Forests, Inva
sive Plants Fact Sheets, and
From the Woods: White-tailed
deer.
Backyard Composting
Workshops, Free Bins
CHAMBERSBURG (Franklin
Co.) The Pennsylvania De
partment of Environmental Pro
tection (DEP) and Penn State
Cooperative Extension are team
ing up to offer composting work
shops and free backyard com
posting bins to Franklin County
residents.
Each person who preregisters
for a workshop and attends will
receive a free composting bin, as
long as supplies last, and with
the limitation that only one bin
will be given per household.
Two workshops will be con
ducted at the Penn State Cooper
ative Extension Office which is
located at 191 Franklin Farm
Lane in Chambersburg on Thurs
day, May 2. The morning work-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 6, 2002-B9
shop is from 10 a.m.-ll a.m. and
the evening workshop is from 7
p.m.-8 p.m.
A third workshop will be con
ducted on Tuesday, May 7, at
Tayamentasachta, from 7 p.m.-8
p.m. Tayamentasachta, A Center
For Environmental Studies,
Greencastle-Antrim School Dis
trict, is located at 500 Leitersburg
Street, in Greencastle.
To attend the workshops and
receive a free composting bin, you
must preregister by calling your
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion Office at (717) 263-9226.
The workshops are being spon
sored by Tayamentasachta,
PADEP, the Franklin County
Recycling Program, and Penn
State Cooperative Extension.
To request these publications
or to leant more about the Forest
Stewardship Program, call
1-800-235-WISE (toll-free), send
e-mail to RNRext@psu.edu, or
write to Forest Stewardship Pro
gram, Forest Resources Exten
sion, The Pennsylvania State
University, 7 Ferguson Building,
University Park, PA 16802.
The Pennsylvania Bureau of
Forestry and USDA Forest Serv
ice, in partnership with the Penn
State’s Forest Resources Exten
sion, have many upcoming Penn
sylvania Forest Stewardship Pro
grams scheduled throughout the
state. For a schedule, contact
them at the above listed phone
and e-mail addresses.