On a recent hiking trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire over Memorial Day weekend, I was delighted to see flowers blooming everywhere. Below are a few of my favorites.

Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense)

Rhodora is a fairly low growing (up to 3 feet high) deciduous flowering shrub. In early spring, this shrub produces bright pink flowers in clusters of two to six. The leaves open only after the flowers have bloomed and wilted. Rhodora can survive in a range of habitats. For example, it is common in lowland wetlands and swamps, but also occurs on the relatively barren summits of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It’s common name, Rhodora, is based on its former genus name; 19th century botanists were unable to justify the inclusion of this species in the genus Rhododendron, and placed this species in a genus unto itself: Rhodora. Today, that decision has been reversed but the old genus name is retained in the common name of this plant.

 

Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum)

Painted trillium has a slender stalk, extending 8 to 16 inches high. Like all trilliums it has a whorl of three large leaves and a three-petaled flower. The coloration of the single terminal flower, white with purplish-pink markings in the center, easily distinguishes this plant from other trilliums blooming at the same time, such as red trillium (Trillium erectum) pictured below. Painted trillium is found throughout New England in moist deciduous forests with acidic soils and in deep shade. 

 

Red trillium (Trillium erectum) for comparison.

Little Bluet (Houstonia caerulea)

Little bluet, also known as azure bluet or quaker ladies, is a small delicate perennial flower that grows in compact tufts 3 to 6 inches tall. The four-petaled terminal flowers are white to pale blue with yellow centers. They are common in lawns, fields and roadsides. In fact, I kept seeing large patches of these small whitish flowers as we were driving down the highway, but was unable to identify them as little bluets until we came to a trailhead parking lot where clumps of little bluets were common in the surrounding grassy areas.

 

Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides)

One of the more common shrubs in the White Mountains understory, hobblebush favors moist deciduous forests up to about 3,000 feet in elevation. It produces flat-topped clusters of white flowers in two discrete forms: an inner cluster of small greenish-white fertile flowers, and an outer ring of 3/4-inch wide showy, white, sterile flowers. This pattern produces a lacy effect similar to that produced by some hydrangeas. The entire flower cluster is quite spectacular, stretching 6 to 8 inches across. It is believed that the outer sterile flowers function to attract insects to pollinate the inner cluster of fertile flowers. Even when not in flower, this plant can be easily identified by its large, round, slightly pointed round leaves. 

 

Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

Bunchberry, also known as dwarf dogwood, is a shrubby deciduous ground cover that spreads through creeping rhizomes. As a diminutive member of the dogwood family, bunchberry produces the same shaped leaves and flowers that are present on its taller dogwood cousins. The leaves are conspicuously-veined, elliptic, 1 to 2 inches long, and are located near the stem tops in false whorls of 4 to 6. The flowers emerge in late spring and consist of a tiny greenish-yellow umbel surrounded by four showy, petal-like white bracts (the bracts are light green when immature, as in these photos). These flowers will give way to terminal clusters of berry-like red drupes, which ripen in August. 

 

Clintonia (Clintonia borealis) 

Clintonia, also known as the blue-bead lily due to the bright blue fruits it produces, is a perennial forest floor plant. It has 2 to 4 clasping and curved, slightly succulent basal leaves, which remind me of the basal leaves of the pink lady slipper. Clintonia has yellow flowers with 6 tepals, which are arranged in small umbels at the end of a long stalk.