Though the subject says “June Blooms” I’m starting this month’s flower series with a plant whose flowers are far less noticable that its leaves.

Wild Yam used to be my mystery plant.  In May I would see a single whorl of pleated, heart-shaped leaves floating above a stem.  (Imagine this plant with only the bottom whorl visible.)

What could it be?  My Newcomb’s wildflower guide requires a flower to key out the identity of a plant so I was stumped.

Eventually I noticed it had matured into a vine with insignificant flowers sprouting from the second whorl.  Newcomb’s said:  Wild Yam, Dioscorea villosa.

The root of this plant was used by early Americans to treat colic and it has other medicinal uses as well.

I like Wild Yam because it’s pretty.  I remember it because it was a mystery.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Glaucous Honeysuckle is blooming now along the Butler-Freeport Trail near Sarver. 

The leaves of this plant are joined at the stem; the flowers sprout above the closed cup of the top leaves.  Glaucous means blue-gray or green and in botany refers to a waxy blue-gray coating.  Since I have never seen this honeysuckle, I’m not sure what part of the plant is glaucous.  Time for a field trip!

For directions and more information, see Chuck Tague’s blog on the outing that produced this picture.

(photo by Dianne Machesney) 

Look for large-flowered bellwort in rich woods.  The flower is one to two inches long with petals that twist around each other.  The flower nods beneath the leaves and the leaves are most unusual.  They’re “perfoliate” which means the stems pierce the leaf instead of the leaf being attached to the stem.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

The green umbrellas you see in the woods right now are May Apples.  They only produce a flower on the plants with a double umbrella.  The flowers sprout at the “Y” where the umbrellas join and hide beneath them, bowing their heads toward the ground.

The flowers appear in May, then the seed pods form in their place looking like a green “apple.”  Hence the May Apple name.

Take a peek under the umbrellas and you’ll see them blooming now in western Pennsylvania. 

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

I love the name of this flower: Fairy Bells (Disporum lanuginosum). 

The plant is about 30 inches high, the leaves droop and the pale green flowers hide beneath the leaves.  The flowers are so delicate they are aptly named fairy bells.  They are actually an Appalachian flower and are hard to find in Pennsylvania unless you’re in the mountains. 

For Dianne Machesney these Fairy Bells were a “life flower” when she took this picture last weekend in the Laurel Highlands.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Look close to the ground for the small dark red flowers of Wild Ginger, blooming now in the western Pennsylvania.

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

Here’s an unusual flower: the Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia). Its white flowers point downward like stars with streamers, hence its name. To see a close-up of the flowers, click on the link.

Shooting Star blooms in May but you’ll have to look for it quickly. The plants dies back in the summer.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

White Trillium are in full bloom throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.  Last weekend I saw them carpeting the hillsides in the Laurel Highlands at Indian Creek and at Wolf Creek Narrows near Slippery Rock. 

Trillium used to be quite plentiful at the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel until the deer ate all the wildflowers.  Fox Chapel fenced the trail a few years ago and the flowers made a comeback.  Here are some Dianne Machesney found there last weekend.

Such beauty!

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

The first time I saw Blue-eyed Mary was at Guffy Hollow near Irwin, PA.  When it grows profusely – as it did there – the forest floor is carpeted in blue. 

It’s blooming now at Enlow Fork.  Don’t miss it.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

These beautiful flowers are blooming now in western Pennsylvania.  They’re called Dutchmen’s breeches because they look like pairs of pants hung upside down on the stem.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)