5. The Grand Floral Parade One of the greatest pleasures to be found during a visit with the Appalachian Trail is the opportunity to enjoy the grand parade of colors, shapes, sizes, and varieties of wildflowers as their procession of blooms starts in late winter, proceeds into the spring rains, continues throughout the hot summer months, and lingers long into the cooler temperatures of the fall. An amazingly large number of the wildflowers that grow throughout the eastern United States can be observed on even just one short walk along the trail. (Unless otherwise noted, all of the flowers in this chapter may be found ranging--at least in small isolated spots--in all of the states through which the AT passes from Georgia to Maine.) Whenever hiking wildflower enthusiasts get together, it seems that one of their favorite topics of discussion is about which flower is actually the first to emerge as winter begins to lose its grip on the mountains. There is no one answer, of course. Elevation, latitude, the severity of the winter, and a myriad of other things all affect which flower you'll find first. Due to Virginia's overall lower elevation and resulting warmer temperatures, hikers on that portion of the AT may actually encounter some flowers earlier in the year than people afoot amid the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, or Tennessee. Walkers sauntering along the shoreline of a low-lying lake in central Maine may enjoy the spring flowers sooner than trekkers traversing ridgelines in the White Mountains. No matter where you are, though, there are those harbingers of spring which do make their appearance year in and year out before any of the other flowers in a particular region. One of the earliest plants to emerge from the ground (and also one of the most unique looking) is skunk cabbage, which grows in moist woods and meadows. If you want to find out how this plant received its name, just rub it a bit and bring your hand up to your nose. Although Native Americans inhaled the aroma as a cure for headaches, once you take a sniff you probably won't want to do so again! As a mechanism to withstand the cold (since it sometimes blooms while February snows are still on the ground), skunk cabbage produces its own heat by burning carbohydrates stored in its large root system. Temperatures inside its buds have been found to be as much as twenty-seven degrees higher than the surrounding air. Also fighting winter's cold temperatures, the tiny white flowers of trailing arbutus can often be found buried beneath a late snowfall at about the same time that dogtooth violet--like its western relative the glacier lily--is pushing its way through and above the blanket of snow. True to its name, the spring beauty emerges as the weather gets just a bit warmer. Lining the AT with flowers of pinkish white, the spring beauty is genetically quite interesting. We humans all have a stable number of chromosomes: forty-six. But the number of chromosomes in the spring beauty varies from plant to plant with more than fifty possible chromosomal combinations. Making an appearance along with or soon after the spring beauty, hepatica's white flowers are found up and down the trail. The blooms were once used by farmers as a sign that planting could safely begin. Mayapple's fruit may ripen in May, but it first pushes its way through the ground in March when its umbrella-like leaves form huge carpets spreading out across the forest floor around the AT. In the past this plant was used as a treatment for warts, and even today two substances found in mayapple are used for medicinal purposes--podophyllin is a cathartic and peltatine has been used in experiments for the treatment of cancer. Found at about the same time as mayapple, the dwarf iris was named by the Greeks for their goddess of the rainbow because of its multi-hued petals and sepals. Iris was the messenger of Juno and the rainbow was the bridge she utilized for her frequent errands between the heavens and earth. While dwarf iris and other early flowers such as early saxifrage, periwinkle, and star chickweed (Georgia to New Jersey) are contributing to the interest to be found on the floor of the forest, two small trees or shrubs are adding large splashes of color to otherwise still winter-dull hillsides. Serviceberry's drooping clusters of white flowers are accentuated and set off nicely by the deep, rich purple blossoms covering almost every inch of the redbud tree's branches (Georgia to Connecticut). The pace of the floral procession accelerates when the spring rains of April saturate the soil. Appearing at the same time--or in quick succession--rue anemone, wild ginger, azalea, trillium, Solomon's seal (Georgia to southern New England), false Solomon's seal, Dutchman's-breeches, bloodroot, and fringed phacelia (Georgia to Virginia/West Virginia) turn wooded areas into palettes of color. Since they emerge at the same time and share similar appearances, it can be difficult to distinguish Solomon's seal from false Solomon's seal. It's best done at either the flowering or fruit-bearing time. The little bell-shaped flowers of Solomon's seal hang down in pairs from the stem, while the tiny, starred blossoms of false Solomon's seal extend from the end of the stem. Later in the year, the fruit of Solomon's seal is a dark blue (almost black) berry, easily differentiated from the red berries of false Solomon's seal. Bloodroot's name comes from the red or orange sap inside its root and stem. Another common name for the plant is red puccoon, derived from the Native American word pak , meaning "blood." These earliest inhabitants of North America used the sap as a dye for clothing and baskets. Because it must endure the cold temperatures of early spring, the leaves stay curled around the stem to conserve warmth and do not unfurl until pollination occurs. Excerpted from Nature of the Appalachian Trail: Wildlife, Plants, Geology, and More by Leonard M. Adkins All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
