They’re so distinctive. There is something very proper and elegant about them, like they would never consider leaning, or demanding attention by being colorful, or blowsy and over-large. The most ornament they care to sport is some tasteful stripes.
This is from May 5, 2014. (I have quite a backlog of photos.) These are native to the east and midwest.
Jack in the Pulpit, Indian Turnip (Arisaema triphyllum)
A hardy groundcover — tolerates poor soil, dry conditions, deer, rabbits, pollution… Has a milky, poisonous sap that repels herbivores. Forms a dense fluffy blanket about a foot tall. Tiny flowers that start lime-green and yellow, and age to red. Has narrow-leaved foliage reminiscent of cypress trees, hence the name cypress spurge. (The common name “spurge” comes from the Middle English/Old French word “epurge”, meaning “to purge”, because these plants were used as purgatives. (Poinsettias are spurges!) Native to Europe, introduced to North America in the 1860s as an ornamental, and is now a harmful invasive that has really colonized Charles River Peninsula.
Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
The skunk cabbage has been up for weeks. It came up through the ice and snow—skunk cabbage flowers make their own heat, so that the temperature inside the sculptural spathe is considerably warmer than the surrounding air. You can see in these shots that some of the tips got frostbitten. Now that everything is melted, this marsh looks black and primordial, with green and wine-colored fingers reaching up through the muck. Native to eastern North America.
I first heard the peepers on April 5. It’s been a long winter—last year the peeper debut was March 28, the year before was March 12. This afternoon at Ridge Hill, they were dazzlingly loud. It was fantastic. The winter forest roaring back to life!
Eastern Skunk Cabbage, Polecat Weed, Swamp Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
Bonus picture: this is the kind of action that immediately follows sloshing around in the swamp. 
When I saw this I wondered if it had a disease or a parasite, but it turns out these are tiny green flowers. This plant is in the Nettle family, but has no stinging hairs. Can be about 3 feet tall. Likes wet and shade. Attracts moths and butterflies.
Smallspike False Nettle, Bog Hemp (Boehmeria cylindrica)
I had a request from Alert Flowerophile Mary to identify this weedy plant growing in a field in central Illinois. The flower heads are thistle-like and were green, but by the time she photographed them in late August, were brown. They’re about 6 feet tall.
I had shot the same variety while traveling across Pennsylvania June 29…
Turns out, this is called Teasel. Has small lilac flowers, but we missed those. Can grow to over 8 feet. Sessile leaves growing together at the stem. The seeds are winter food for birds, especially goldfinches. A cultivated version was widely used in textile processing until the 20th century; they used the dried heads to comb wool to raise the nap (to tease up the fibers — origin of the name!). Native to Eurasia and North Africa.
Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris)
This is not a pretty picture, but at least you can get the idea of what Stinging Nettle looks like — the greenish flowers are on long droopy spikes (racemes) coming out of the axils (where the leaves are attached). Leaves are opposite and coarsely toothed. The stem and the undersides of the leaves have bristly hairs which cause painful stings if they touch your skin. It feels similar to a bee sting and is caused by an acid that covers the hairs. Stinging Nettle has also been used medicinally for thousands of years — stems, leaves, and root. Native, but also common around the world. (Photo taken June 25, 2013)
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
This is a dramatic, rare wildflower I admired in the garden of Dr. Wesley Whiteside, and he gave me some! Can grow to 2.5 feet tall. The flowering stalk is leafless and has a single flower, which is a sort of green hood (spathe) and a long spadix extending out like a dragon’s tongue. (In this photo, you can see 3 of the “blossoms.”) Will have berries later in the summer. Closely related to Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but more rare. The foliage is very toxic, so deer leave it alone, but many birds like the berries. (Although something ate all the leaves off the tops of two of mine!)
Also, many wildflowers are noted as preferring disturbed areas —this is the only one about which I’ve read “the presence of this species is an indication that the original woodland flora is still intact.” (illinoiswildflowers.com) Native perennial. (Photo taken June 5.)
Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium)
In the ginseng family, which explains why the bloom looks so much like dwarf ginseng, but with three umbels at the top of the stalk, and leaves that tend to grow umbrella-like over the flowers. Will have purple-black berries, which are edible and a little sweet. This is not “true” Sarsaparilla. 1-2 feet tall. Native.
Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)
The first Jack in the Pulpit of the season, a very dramatic black and green striped and slightly ruffled one! Some folklore from Wikipedia: “One account from the Meskwaki Indians states that they used it to determine the fate of the sick by dropping a seed in a cup of stirred water; If the seed went around four times clockwise, the patient would recover, if it went around less than four times they would not.” Native. Photo: May 3, 2013.
Jack in the Pulpit, Indian Turnip (Arisaema triphyllum)
There is a bit of meadow where these stalks have emerged. They seem few and far between so I wouldn’t feel right harvesting them. But they look good! (Later when they fruit, they’ll have small red berries that are poisonous to humans.) There is an asparagus recipe in the oldest surviving cookbook, which is a Greek book from the third century AD. Native to Europe, Africa and Asia. Introduced to North America around 1850.
Wild Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)
