Skunk-cabbage
(Symplocarpus foetidus)

Description: Our earliest wildflower and perhaps our strangest, consisting of a tough, leaf-like "spathe" which protects and hides the yellow, club-shaped "spadix" covered in tiny flowers.

Habitat: Swamps in deciduous woodland.

Height: 1 m

Flowering: March - April

Jack-in-the-pulpit
(Arisaema triphyllum)

Description: This curious plant grows in moist, rich woodland soils. The light green spathe (the "pulpit") partly encloses and covers the spadix ("Jack") which carries tiny flowers. Leaves eventually overtop the flower.

Habitat: Moist areas in mature deciduous woodland.

Height: 40 cm

Flowering: May - June

Blue Cohosh
(Caulophyllum thalictroides)

Description: Perennial woodland wildflower with distinctive shiny purple stems. Flowers are leaf-like, greenish-purple. Leaves die back by summer and just the flower stalk and blue seeds remain.

Habitat: Rich, deciduous woods.

Height: 50 cm

Flowering: April - May