The wildflowers of our brief, blink-or-you-miss-it Adirondack spring have to work fast. They need energy to open blossoms made and tucked in cold storage the preceding year, and they need to produce nectar, pollen, and ovaries ready for seed-making. It's a race to get leaves up, flowers out, and pollen delivered before deep shade comes over the forest and slows things down. Because our spring flowers appear so briefly, they're sometimes called "ephemerals." You won't forget them. Here are images of ephemerals I photographed in our neck of the woods this spring. Can you identify the ones in the image above? You'll find a different photo of the same plant identified below.
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis
Red trillium, Trillium erectum, also known as "stinking Benjamin" and "wet dog"
Foam-flower, Tiarella cordifolia
Carolina spring beauty, Claytonia caroliniana
Painted trillium, Trillium undulatum
Dutchman's breeches, Dicentra cucullaria
Clintonia, Clintonia borealis, also known as bluebead lily (formerly in the lily family)
Starflower, Trientalis borealis
Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense, also known as "wild lily-of-the-valley"
Wild sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis
Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum
Pink lady-slipper, Cypripedium acaule, also known as moccasin-flower