My Secret Hiking Place-photo essay (Part II of a series?)

Well, I went back to my Secret Hiking Place again to check on the progress over there...I could not wait to get there to see the progress of what I had seen on my last hike and to see what more is going on over there.

Come onnn, I know I am still not done with this Trillium thing...

It is dying back, now.  And I cannot let it go until I tell you what else I have learned about it, because I hate to be WRONG.  So I did more research!  PURPLE TRILLIUM aka Wake-robin aka Birthroot (Trillium erectum) is a Trillium Grandiflora, member of the Lily family and lives in RICH organic ACID soil with SHADE and MOISTURE.  The true plant is getting harder to find because changelings and hybrids are taking its place.  I know I called it a red Trillium, and it is ALSO called THAT.

O.K., this is not part of my secret hiking spot, but I really love this shot!

VIOLA RENIFOLIA, this is!  The flowers are nice on salads and as garnishings, the leaves contain more vitamin C than FOUR ORANGES and are high also in Vitamin A.  Stay away from the roots and rhizomes of violets unless you really know your stuff...some types of the roots can make you pretty sick and are poisonous.  They smell like heaven...

Look at those clouds!  We saw a huge storm coming in later, but then it missed us!

Is this a Wood Anemone?

If so it belongs to the Buttercup family and is RELATED to Columbine!  "Anemone" as a word also means "Adonis" who was borne of the blood of a red-flowered Anemone. It also is called Windflower, Mayflower, or Nightcaps, but really is named Quinquefolia ("five leaf").; it has been used medicinally as an external rub for rheumatism and gout...and to treats corns, so it probably makes good for the 'ole pettycure, too--I mean, pedicure.  You know...

Wild Columbine is soon to open...COLUMBINE, Aquilegia, belongs to the BUTTERCUP family, and of the 75 known species, 25 are native to North America.  It likes open sites where it is steep and rocky and moist, with a thin soil over granitic bedrock, and likes SOME shade.  It resprouts from  rootstocks after brushfiring.  HUMMINGBIRDS love Columbine!  Native Americans have used it for medicinal remedies and MEN used the seeds, pulverized, as a cologne or rubbed it on their hand to attract love.  (And perhaps there are some who still do!)  No wonder this was in the "energized" area of this wood.  Hm....

I've always called this Pitcher Plant, but it's really called Arisaema (japonica)

And THIS is Arisaema triphyllum....both known as Jack-In-The-Pulpit. 

There are eight KNOWN, but purportedly THIRTEEN North American species of Pitcher Plants that are carniverous and grow in swampy places with low pH.  They are perennial.  The roots contain calcium oxalate and are poisonous. They are  hermaphrodites!  Grown from seed they take FIVE YEARS to mature.  I don't know if they are really "Pitcher Plants" in the slang term, though, that's just what I've always called them since I was a little girl. 

Do these look familiar?  Last week I was really taken by how they were unfurling and wondered if anybody knew what they were? 

The last essay shows these a week ago

Well they've unfurled in the higher parts of this area and appear to be STREPTOPUS ROSEUS.  I cannot see the colors of the little hanging buds just yet, so am not sure if they will be white or rose-colored.  Also known as Rose Twisted Stalk, they have been used by  natives for things like fallen womb and seem to have  many medicinal uses which I will not get into since I have not used them first-hand to tell you whether they work or not.  I love how they arch so gracefully!

Does anybody know what THIS is?  I've dug but cannot come up with anything!

I  guess it sort of makes me think of a Canterbury Bell....but I don't think it is related to them...(musing, scratching my head)...

I keep telling them there really are fairies in the forests....do you SEE them?  OR IS IT JUST ME?

In this day and age I don't know how people can EVER underestimate the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of teaching their children about plants and nature.  By the time the *hit hits the fan for them they will need to rebuild it.  I believe that, without a doubt.  Best to start right from the beginning.

I loved, as a child, Elizabeth Gordon's books, and I read them to my children.  She wrote books about The Flower Children, who really are flowers in fairy-like form.  I should have found a link but I didn't think of that.  If I get a chance I will scan in the cover of the book I recently acquired from my Aunt for my daughter and post it in my photos section, mmkay?

Thanks for checking this out, all!!!