Spring Wildflowers are blooming in Kilmer Woods
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) are unfurling their mini-umbrellas.
Elsewhere spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) and trout lily (Erythronium americanum) carpet the forest floor. While the white and pink blooms of the spring beauties are everywhere the yellow flowers of the trout lily are few and far between. It takes number of years for the trout lilies to build up the energy reserves to bloom but the speckled foliage is still wonderful addition to the forest floor. Anecdotal accounts suggest that some species of wildflowers were much more common in prior years but have presumably declined due to overbrowsing by deer. Several student research projects have set up deer and rodent exclosures to examine this question.