Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for The Charlotte News
CHARLOTTE — Dozens of Charlotters traversed Pease Mountain in search of spring ephemerals on April 26. The “here-today-gone-tomorrow” wildflowers bud during late April and early May, soaking up the sun before the surrounding trees resprout their leaves and take the light from them.
The flowers only live for a few weeks and retreat before the summer solstice, making them a popular springtime attraction for hikers trying to catch a glimpse.
“I’ve always been interested in the types of vegetation that I see in the forest,” said Mike Yantachka, one of the day’s hikers. “The springtime is an especially good time to go out and see flowers you don’t get to see at other times of the year.”
Charlotte’s Trails Committee invited Alicia Daniel, director and founder of Vermont Master Naturalist, and committee member Stephen Hale, to help lead the walk.
“I love being out in nature with other people who love being out in nature,” Daniel said. “It’s a very satisfying and joyful thing for me.”
Some attendees, like Daniel, had a lot of experience in naturalism. One participant studied herbalism in school, and another brought their own wildflower guide. Daniel encouraged the more experienced hikers to help educate the newcomers.
“I try to empower people so they can continue to do this without having an expert taking them on a wildlife walk.” she said.
During the walk, the group spotted six ephemeral species.
The most abundant were the hepatica, a buttercup-adjacent perennial that blooms pink, purple and white. Daniel said that hepatica are often mistaken for another ephemeral: the spring beauty.
The two ephemeral species have similar coloration and blooming cycles, but spring beauties are set apart by a pale magenta streak and have one less petal.
Another ephemeral the group found, the trout lily, can have different-colored stamens — the flowers’ male reproductive organs. The species can be recognized by its long, golden petals, and those fuzzy appendages can range from bright yellow to a deep red. Daniel said that the color variance helps attract more pollinators.
Attendees learned how to spot these flowers that are often easy to miss. Daniel said that ephemerals tend to frame the edges of a hiking trail and instructed the group to look out for tiny spots of bright colors and flowers with rounded leaves.
The morning jaunt was part of Charlotte’s Earth Month initiative. The town dedicated the month of April to different nature-focused events and education, and the events even continued into May. This ephemeral walk was a lesson on floral history and traditional herbalism.
The group came across a patch of pale flowers with a root stem the color of blood. The aptly named bloodroot, or sanguinaria, is used by several indigenous nations like the Meskwaki, Haudenosaunee and Omaha for medicinal purposes, Daniel said.
She explained that the flower can be ground up in small amounts and ingested to alleviate stomach pain or used as a salve to heal surface level wounds and rashes. The root’s rich color can be harvested for a dye or paint. She warned, however, that ingesting large amounts of bloodroot can be detrimental to humans and animals.
Appreciating these flowers’ history in that hands-on environment was one of the main reasons for the trek.
“It’s so nice to replace virtual reality with natural reality. It’s important to actually sense things, touch things, experience things, in a loving way,” Daniel said.
The walk concluded after several hours, and the hikers returned to the base of the mountain. Several participants mentioned how important it was to go on the walk and get out into nature with their neighbors, especially after a long winter.
“We all need to be more connected with nature,” Yantachka said. “That’s the reason a lot of us live in Vermont. I went on this hike to learn something new, and I did.”