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Answer
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Kathy
asked
on
6/2/2006,
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My husband and I love to hike in the Kettle Moraine State Forest in spring. We see a lot of spring flowers like trilliums and violets. We noticed quite a few large patches of a small flower that has white flowers with light pink stripes on them. We can't find in our I.D. book. Do you know what these might be? |
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Jim's answer: |
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Kathy, from your description the wild flowers your seeing are most likely "spring beauties". These small attractive perennials often grow in spectacular patches on the forest floor and is one one of the first spring flowers to bloom. In warmer, protected areas like along slow moving streams or in hardwood forests spring beauties can start to bloom by late March already but most can be seen in April to May. Spring beauties have attractive rose-colored or whitish five-petal flowers which are always striped with dark pink lines. Some people still call them "fairy spuds" because they grow tiny potato-like tubers that were once harvested by Native Americans and early settlers. Although the entire plant is edible the spuds were eaten most either raw or boiled like a potato. Although once an important food source for ancient people, spring beauties serve us better today as "food for the soul" instead. |
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