bevcraigwhite
Jackson's Cove, north of Wiarton, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario 11/05/16
Dutchman's breeches
Wikipedia says....
"Height is 15–40 cm. The root is a cluster of small pink to white teardrop-shaped bulblets (more precisely, miniature tubers). Leaves are 10–36 cm long and 4–18 cm broad, with a petiole up to 15 cm long; they are trifoliate, with finely divided leaflets.
Flowers are usually white, rarely pink, 1–2 cm long, and are borne in early spring on flower stalks 12–25 cm long. The pistil of a pollinated flower develops into a long pod, narrowed to a point on both ends, 9–13 millimetres (0.4–0.5 in) long.
The pod splits in half when the seeds are ripe. The seeds are kidney-shaped, with a faint netlike pattern. Each one has a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants.
Dutchman's breeches is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, a process called myrmecochory. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.
The leaves and flower stems die back in late spring after the seed has ripened, and the bulblets remain dormant through the summer. In the fall, starch in the bulblets is converted to sugar, and the beginnings of the next spring's leaves and flowers develop below ground.
The western populations have sometimes been separated as Dicentra occidentalis on the basis of often somewhat coarser growth, but do not differ from many eastern plants in the Appalachians."
Jackson's Cove, north of Wiarton, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario 11/05/16
Dutchman's breeches
Wikipedia says....
"Height is 15–40 cm. The root is a cluster of small pink to white teardrop-shaped bulblets (more precisely, miniature tubers). Leaves are 10–36 cm long and 4–18 cm broad, with a petiole up to 15 cm long; they are trifoliate, with finely divided leaflets.
Flowers are usually white, rarely pink, 1–2 cm long, and are borne in early spring on flower stalks 12–25 cm long. The pistil of a pollinated flower develops into a long pod, narrowed to a point on both ends, 9–13 millimetres (0.4–0.5 in) long.
The pod splits in half when the seeds are ripe. The seeds are kidney-shaped, with a faint netlike pattern. Each one has a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants.
Dutchman's breeches is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, a process called myrmecochory. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.
The leaves and flower stems die back in late spring after the seed has ripened, and the bulblets remain dormant through the summer. In the fall, starch in the bulblets is converted to sugar, and the beginnings of the next spring's leaves and flowers develop below ground.
The western populations have sometimes been separated as Dicentra occidentalis on the basis of often somewhat coarser growth, but do not differ from many eastern plants in the Appalachians."