I was inspecting the edge of our woods north of the house
yesterday, April 25, and found many hepaticas of various pastel
colors in full bloom. A number of Dutchman’s breeches were in
tight bud already and should be in good bloom within a week.
Based upon wildflower blossoming records of past years in our
woods, this date is not especially early.
Two of our favorite spring flowers are the Dutchman’s breeches
and the squirrel corn, close relatives. The Dutchman’s breeches
generally precede the first squirrel corn by a week to 10 days.
Usually the last of the Dutchman’s breeches are still in good
condition when the squirrel corn is at its peak, thereby
producing a delightful overlapping.
These beautiful and intricately-shaped native flowers belong
to a sub-family of the poppy family, the fumitory family, named
in allusion to the smoky odor of some species. I prefer to call
this group the bleeding heart family.
One member of this small plant group is called climbing
fumitory, mountain-fringe or Allegheny vine, Adlumia fungosa
(ad-LOOM-ee-a fun-GO-sa). It is uncommon enough in
this region so that stumbling across this delicate vine, with its
drooping white to pinkish flowers, climbing over high bushes is
always an unexpected treat. Only one other species grows in
Asia.
All members of this family are known for being slender, weak,
water-juiced, having fleshy rootstalks, feathery much-dissected
leaves and irregular flowers. Their petals are often joined into
a heart-shape or long-spurred corolla. The petals of a flower,
collectively, are its corolla.
The fumitory plant in my life, dating back to childhood, was
the bleeding heart, Dicentra spectablis (die-CENT-ra
spec-TA-ba-lis). Fortunately this favorite flower of
old-fashioned gardens is still being cultivated and sold. I
remember hearing as a boy a story told by my mother that was
based upon the act of picking one fully developed bleeding heart
flower and carefully taking it apart piece by piece, each
individual section representing a part of the little story.
One look at the two dicentras of eastern Wisconsin, the
Dutchman’s breeches and the squirrel corn, will clearly reveal
their close relationship to the bleeding hearts of cultivated
gardens.
Two sepals and four petals of two different sizes and shapes,
intricately formed and folded, usually white but occasionally
pinkish, make up one of the most charming spring wildflowers in
America, surely one that the Dutch people would welcome to their
country.
Old timers referred to them as butterfly banners, eardrops,
soldiers’ caps, or boys and girls. A good many school children I
have worked with in the past, when asked to come up with their
own name for this fascinating flower, named it the "tooth
flower."
These wildflowers, lacking fragrance, often carpet areas an
acre or more in size. They do best where the leaf litter is deep
in woods that will be shaded and kept cool in summer by a rather
dense overhead canopy. I have observed too that they thrive in
rocky ground where rich leafmold has accumulated in the crevices
between the rocks over many years.
Seldom have I seen them grow more than a foot tall. In fact
their one-sided racemes (ra-SEEM) supporting a half-dozen or more
miniature "pantaloons" nod pleasantly downward. Their
name, Dutchman’s breeches, may be somewhat coarse but otherwise
these wildflowers are delicate in all respects.
Pilferer insects are common in nature. Insects of many kinds
obtain nectar and pollen in various ways from wildflowers. It
has been said that by inspecting the holes made in the nectar
spurs of Dutchman’s breeches one can get an idea who the pilferer
was. Holes with jagged edges hint of bumblebees. Holes with
clean-cut, circular shapes can be attributed to wasps while
narrow slits are made by carpenter bees.
The dissected leaves of the later blooming squirrel corn are
slightly more bluish-green than those of its Dutch cousins. Its
greenish-white blossoms, tinged with lavender, are delicately
perfumed like hyacinths and resemble in shape those of the
bleeding heart.
If you suspect that your woodland patches of squirrel corn are
decreasing in size, this may be due to the refined appetite of
your resident chipmunks. They love squirrel corn, lily bulbs,
tulip bulbs, etc. etc. etc.! These wildflowers might more
appropriately have been named "chipmunk corn."
I sit here in the spring woods and think pleasant thoughts of
my boyhood days and my parents’ lovely vegetable and flower
gardens. My heart bleeds for those good old days!
Get down on your knees to inhale the hyacinth-like
fragrance of the squirrel corn, and give thanks for being able to
enjoy a peaceful spring woods.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 05/02/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
