This has been a atypical year for the sarvis. The younger ones are just starting to bloom, as the old ones are fading away. I still haven’t seen a flame azalea in bloom, and the dogwood is probably 50-50, half of it out and half of it one the way.
Here’s a photo of a weird “wildflower,” squawroot, that’s up now. According to the University of Pennsylvania:
“Squawroot is a non-photosynthetic plant that relies on a parasitic connection to the roots of host trees (most species of oak and also beech) for its nourishment. It is a perennial that lives up to ten years. Most of the plants biomass is found underground. The cone-like structures that we see are its small, specialized, flowering stems.
Squawroot is more common in older forests, and its presence and relative abundance in a site may be significant indicators of forest age and stability. In areas where oak forests are being replaced by secondary forests that are dominated by maples or other non-oak tree species, squawroot is an increasingly uncommon and possibly threatened plant.”
Here’s the link to the full page:
http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/squawroot.html
