~ by Jeff Tryon
With the first sweet breath of spring weather, multitudes will throng to the fabled Hills o’ Brown in search of the woodland’ s most cherished prize, morel mushrooms.
But this spring, while you are out in the woods not finding mushrooms, introduce yourself to another wonderful facet of nature, Brown County’ s abundant population of wildflowers.
If you have walked in the woods for years, you will discover many old friends you’ ve been seeing all your life but never really knew anything about.
You are probably going to see some violets, low plants with groups of small heart-shaped flowers on stalks rising above green scalloped leaves. Look for the light blue-to-purple Dog Violet, as well as the Common Blue Violet which has small blue to white flowers or white flowers with purple veins.
Another purple flower you often see in the woods is the Blue Phlox, known for its color and fragrance.
Brown County
The bunches of small five-stamen trumpet-shaped flowers grow in loose clusters from the top of the stem.
You may recognize the Trout Lilly with brown and green speckles on long elliptical leaves and a stalk with six yellow petals curving out and back. It grows low to the ground and easily blends in with the surroundings.
For years, I have been referring to a certain familiar flower as“ Indian Paintbrush,” until I learned that it was in fact a“ Fire Pink.” Indian Paintbrush, has red-tipped, brushlike bracts that look as if they’ ve been dipped in paint. The Fire Pinks, also known as“ Catchfly” have loose clusters of blooms on long stalks. Three common wildflowers from the poppy family that you are likely to spot in the Brown County woods are the Yellow Woods Poppy, Bloodroot, and Dutchman’ s Breeches.
The little Yellow Woods Poppy is around an inch high, with small yellow flowers and a single pair of deeply lobed leaves.
Bloodroot has a single white flower with a golden orange center growing beside a lobed basal leaf that often curls around the 10-inch stalk. It opens in full sun and closes at night.
Another woodland poppy you might see in the spring woods of Brown County is Dutchman’ s Breeches. True to its name, these
tiny flowers look just like a little pair of short pants, with inflated spurs on the outer petals that form the unique V shape.
There are certain exotic flowers I look for each spring, including Purple Trillium a member of the Lilly family with three deep red petals atop a stalk with broad, green, oval / diamond-shaped leaves.
I am always excited to find Jack-in-the Pulpit, or Indian Turnip, with its distinctive curving, ridged hood( the“ pulpit”) covering a stalk(“ Jack”) about two or three inches tall. I think it looks vaguely erotic; a pulpit is not the first thing that comes to my mind.
If you saw the movie Adaptation or read the book it was based on, The Orchid Thief, you know how obsessed and crazy human beings can become about these elusive,
42 Our Brown County • March / April 2020