Spring Ephemerals, Spring Peepers

I don't know if I've ever been so happy to see Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) as this year.  Such a refreshing spring ephemeral with it's varied blooms ranging from white to pink to mauve.  It's one of the first flowers to poke up through the leaf litter.  The genus Hepatica makes reference to the liver-shaped leaves.

May-apple (Podophyllum peltatum) is just beginning to emerge with a few starting to unfurl their leaves.

The few Spring-beauty (Claytonia virginica) I have seen this week were in bloom.  Michigan Flora distinguishes this species from Carolina Spring-beauty (C. caroliniana) by the breadth of the leaf (skinny, no petiole for C. virginica, more broad and with a petiole for C. caroliniana).

 Wild Leeks (Allium tricoccum) dapple the forest floor with their bright lime green foliage.  The similar (and less common) A. burdickii lacks red bases on the leaves and has more elongated leaves.

An early Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata), the toothworts are the host plant for the rare West Virginia White butterfly.

One of my favourite sedges, Plantain-leaved Sedge (Carex plantaginea) is in flower right now.  I purchased a few from a native plant sale last year and they have added a nice touch to my backyard (neighbours peer through window, "Harold, he's planting more weeds!").  Speaking of native plant sales, and if you weren't on the mailing list getting slammed with promo emails already, Carolinian Canada is hosting their Go Wild Grow Wild event at the Western Fair Agriplex on Saturday.  I'm planning to check it out, sounds like they've got a wide variety of events, vendors, talks.

Late yesterday I turned a corner walking a forest edge and was delighted to see a large expanse of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) in bloom.  I had seen others earlier in the week still 5-7 warm days before bloom; I think the south-facing bank of sandy Thedford soils had encouraged this population to get rolling early.

I didn't get a photo of the 2 Snapping Turtles mating out in the middle of this pond, but did manage to spot this biggun' basking contently along a stream.

And oh the herps!  Here we've got a Spotted Salamander egg mass.  Lots of Western Chorus Frog and Wood Frog masses, a limited number of Spring Peeper masses, all of these species calling in good numbers right now.  A dark blob hopping across a driveway last night turned out to be my first Green Frog on the year and American Toad was also calling at an irrigation pond.

 

 This Western Chorus Frog blends well with the leaf litter.