Another signal of spring

By Aaron Horrell

The spring beauty is a small native early-blooming woodland plant. In February, it can be found growing under the dead leaf litter on the forest floor. When daytime high temperatures regularly reach into the mid-50s and higher, the spring beauty feels the leaves covering it warm, and the little flower grows out from between the leaves and blooms.

This plant reseeds itself and may colonize a hillside or a backyard. The spring beauty sports flowers with petals that are white with pink stripes of varying intensity. This wildflower is short lived and will disappear from the scene when trees leaf out and shade the forest floor.

I took this photo the morning of March 10.