Hiking at Buzzards Roost

Friday
Today we went a bit further afield for our exercise, an area known as Edge of Appalachia Preserve in Adams County. The trail is a little over 4 miles return, and takes you up through forested slopes to a view point, called Buzzardsroost. There were other people on the trail, but not many, so it was no problem keeping the required distance. It was early in the season to appreciate fully the view, since the leaves on the trees are only just beginning to come out, but there were a number of wildflowers to be seen. The large white flower in my collage is the White Trillium, the pink flower I’m afraid I don’t know the name of. One of the most distinctive in the woods at this time of year are the Mayapple leaves, shown top right, pushing their way up through the forest floor, like a lot of little green umbrellas. Mayapple is a common native woodland plant that is widespread across most of eastern North America. It typically grows in colonies from a single root in open deciduous forests and shady fields, riverbanks and roadsides. The upright stems grow from a shallow, creeping, branched underground rhizome, composed of many thick dark or reddish-brown tubers connected by fleshy fibers and downward spreading roots at the nodes. Each terminal bud produces a shoot. The mostly unbranched 12-18 inch tall stems are topped with umbrella-like leaves. The leaves remain furled as the stem elongates in the spring, unfolding when the stem nears its full height. Each smooth, pale green, rounded, palmate leaf has 5-9 shallowly to deeply cut lobes. There are one or two leaves per stem, each up to a foot across, when fully developed. Only stems with more than one leaf will flower.  Flowering stems produce solitary flowers in the axil of the two leaves. The nodding, white to rose-colored flowers appear in April or May and are about 2-3 inches wide. Although the flowers are quite showy, they are short-lived and often hidden by the leaves.
It was a beautiful day, and it felt so good to connect with nature during this difficult time.