Spring brings with it warmth and promises a new growth cycle for the numerous plants that inhabit the state of Mississippi. As someone who frequents the longleaf pine savannas that are abundant in the southern part of the state, early spring means seeing Sarracenia alata , Chaptalia tomentosa and Orontium aquaticum flowers. These early Spring flowering species are signs that things are kicking off. But I’ve been missing a piece of the picture.

Sarracenia alata bloom

Because I tend to focus a lot on documenting and learning flora of the pine savanna’s, I’ve missed out on an early Spring movement taking place in a different habitat. A few miles away in a healthy Beech-Magnolia forest, Trillium, Viola and others are reaching for the sky. Whereas sunlight is an easily accessible resource in the healthy pine savanna, it’s a prized commodity in these deciduous forests. These Spring Ephemeral wildflowers take advantage of the light shining through the bare canopy in order to bloom and set seed before their towering neighbors grow their new leaves for the year and block out the sunlight that reaches the forest floor. In an evolutionary race against competitors to be able to pass along their genes to the next generation of plants, these ephemeral plants are doing their best to get a leg up on others in this woodland.

Claytonia virginica

Recently I visited the Bienville National Forest in Central Mississippi for the first time. After spending most of my botanical explorations in longleaf pine savanna’s, it was refreshing to see something different. There beneath a grove of deciduous trees grew a carpet of wildflowers so thick you could barely walk through it. Zephyranthes atamasco, the Atamaco Rain Lily, was the clear show stopper with showy white blooms jutting out of the vegetation all around me but smaller things popped into my vision as well. Claytonia virginica (Virginia Spring Beauty) and their pink-veined flowers covered the ground around my feet. And I would be remiss to not mention the abundant Hexastylis arifolia, the Little Brown Jug plant with their cute leathery brown flowers tucked among the fallen leaves.

Zephyranthes atamasco with Podophyllum peltatum (May Apple) in the background

What appears to us as a beautiful display of Spring wildflowers has so much more going on behind the scenes. The time is counting down as the weather warms and the days get longer until the trees in the canopy are fully leafed out and limit the amount of sunlight that reaches the forest floor. All of these species plus many more are in a rush to sprout up from beneath the leaf litter, bloom and set seed before their energy source is gone. Meanwhile another timed race is taking place beneath the trees and even beneath the wildflowers.

Southern Twayblade Orchid, Neottia bifolia

Before I dove into the complicated and beautiful world of plants, my first love was salamanders. I remember being thrilled to find out that Mississippi had a number of native salamander species and we’re going to end this post by talking about one of my favorites and one that shares space with these beautiful Spring wildflowers. The Marbled Salamander, Ambystoma opacum, lives most of its life underground but emerges from its hiding spots every year to breed.

In late Winter when the rains soak the ground and Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) fill the air with their calls, these chubby salamanders come out of the ground. The seasonal rains fill shallow depressions in the forest and provide them a place to breed and lay their eggs. Marbled Salamanders are usually the first of their kind (Spotted, Mole and Smallmouth Salamanders also have similar life histories and occur in Mississippi) to reach the breeding pools, arriving when the depressions are still mostly empty and laying their eggs beneath logs or other cover items. Females usually stay with their eggs until the rains come, guarding them from predators until they are submerged. These salamanders have learned a lesson in timing; by laying their eggs in pools that only have water part of the year they’re unlikely to be eaten by fish that inhabit ponds and bodies of water that are full year-round.

Trillium recurvatum

These mesic forests are rich and full of plants and animals who have evolved over countless generations to ebb and flow with the seasons and to grow when water and sunlight are abundant. It was a refreshing change in scenery to get to witness this dance. And it shows as a reminder that there’s always more to see behind the scenes.

–The Fairy Bogmother