West Virginia forests support
a wondrous array of flora and fauna. An
estimated 2,200 species of
vascular plants inhabit the state. To follow their appearance
through the seasons Earl L. Core's The Wondrous Year,
West Virginia Through the Seasons is a fine guide.
His treatise, Flora of West Virginia, is crammed
with diagrams and details. A 1998 book also tracks
the flora and fauna of the state's four seasons: Jim
Clark's West Virginia: the Allegheny Highlands.
The present flora resulted from plant migrations and
mutations over an enormous period of time. At the end
of the Mesozoic era the Appalachian region was uplifted
and converted from a low plain into a mesophytic area.
Subtropic species migrated elsewhere and the newly uplifted
peneplain adopted mesophytic flora from Europe, Asia, and
North America -- descendants of our present indigenous species.
Pleistocene glaciation narrowly missed West Virginia by
25 miles. With the ice came Canadian species. Remains
of tundra in West Virginia persist today as glades.
As the sheet of ice withdrew
and the climate warmed, many northern species disappeared
and southern species advanced from the Coastal
Plain and the Mississippi Valley up valleys of the Ohio,
New, and Potomac rivers.
in West Virginia brings the promise of renewal.
Winter's contemplation is given life in springtime.
"In the spring a young man's fancy turns to thoughts
of love," said Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1842.
Another sweet love is maple syrup, enjoyed first
by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. In March,
as sunny days prevail in the highlands, sugar maple trees
are tapped, the sap drains, and then it is boiled.
Cressy greens, which
are pungent leaves of plants belonging to the mustard family,
are a staple of rural church dinners beginning in March. And
so are ramps, those indescribably flavorful
cousins of onions which appear in April and are the main
course at ramp feasts in several central counties.
Serviceberry trees or shrubs are early bloomers
in April producing a sweet, juicy fruit largely ignored
today but prized by Native Americans.
And then there is May. "All things seem
possible in May," commented Edwin Teals in 1953.
During April and May there is a remarkable abundance of
West Virginia wildflowers as may be seen on wildflower
hikes at state parks and state forests.
The climax of colorful native
spring flower blooming occurs in May. White:
bloodroot, mayflower, toothwort, trillium, some violets,
and buckbean. Green: hellebore.
Yellow: marsh marigold, lousewort, buttercups,
some violets, and the familiar dandelion. Pink:
claytonia, wild pink, wild geranium, and lady's slipper.
Red: red trillium, fire pink, and Indian
painbrush. Blue: violets including
johnny-jump-ups, bluets, wild blue phlox, bluebells (cowslip),
blue-eyed Mary, and the tiny speedwell. Intriguing native
viola are described in: http://www.au.gardenweb.com/...
Last updated on Monday, July 24, 2000