Early Summer Wildflowers in West Virginia

We almost always see interesting wildflowers on our Monday hikes. Our June 28 hike was no exception.

Mountain Wood Sorrel (Oxalis montana).

Ramps (Allium tricoccum). Ramps are mostly known as an early spring strong onion-y/garlic-y culinary treat. After the leaves have withered away, the flower head appears on a leaf-less stalk.

Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). Everything about this plant is toxic - leaves, stems, roots - except for cooked ripe berries.

This common weed, Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is another plant to be avoided. Like its cousins Cow Parsnip and Giant Hogweed, the sap contains chemicals that make skin extremely photosensitive, resulting in large blisters. (I had personal experience with this as a child - the yellow flowers made a lovely bouquet, but I paid for it later!)

Nothing about False Hellebore (Veratrum viride) reminds me of a true hellebore.

Maybe you could see a slight resemblance in the flowers?

For comparison, here's a photo of one of the hellebores I have in my shade garden. Hellebores are unusual in that they start blooming in the winter.

Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) are just about done for the year. I liked the variegated effect of this mayapple leaf as it finishes its work this year.

Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) - also called Oswego Tea.

Cranberries (Vaccinium spp.) in the Cranberry Glades are tiny plants with tiny flowers - only about 1/4 inch (5-6 mm) across. The cranberries are increasingly difficult to find - wild strawberries (the prominent leaves in the photo above) have just about completely taken over the ground cover.

Pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea) were prominently abundant this year. While not native to West Virginia (they were illegally brought here many years ago from further north), they thrive in the bog environment.

While the flowers were very visible, most of the plants were too far off the boardwalk to see the "pitchers", which are the basal leaves of the plant. The plants extract their nitrogen needs from the insects that get trapped in the pitchers.

The Cranberry Glades are noted for their orchids. This is the Purple-Fringed Orchis (Habenaria fimbriata).

Grass-Pink Orchid (Calopogon pulchellus).