Two new forest plants for my life list!

 

We have been taking weekly walks at Center Point Preserve, in Bowdoinham, and have been following the changes in the springtime plants as the season unfolds. On May 10th, eagle-eyed Drew spotted the closed flower bud of a species that we hadn't seen before. I photographed the plant and identified it using two apps on my phone; Leaf Snap and Seek. Both apps told me that the plant was Polygala paucifolia, also known as Fringed Polygala. This flowering plant is in the Milkwort family.

One week later, on May 17th, we noticed Fringed Polygala all along the side of the trail in sunny spots. This time, the flowers were open. We could see how appropriate another common name for this flower is: Bird-on-the-wing. Doesn't it look like a bird is flying? So gorgeous!

The other flower that is new to us is in the lily family of plants, the Painted Trillium, Trillium undulatum. What an incredibly stunning flower! We only saw this one on May 17th. What are the characteristics that you look for to find a trillium? How many petals? 3. How many big leaves? 3. And, the stem is 8"-20" tall.

Then, on May 23rd (today) we saw them everywhere in the woods! Some were near the side of the trail while others were further off the trail. I counted around 60 trilliums during a quarter mile of our walk. Once you know what to look for, you see so many more! They live in cool, moist woods. How many do you see in this small section of the forest? Note that they don't all have flowers yet. I count 7.