There are two abundant but potentially easily overlooked wildflowers blooming in the forest right now. Both are relatively small plants with simple white flowers, but both can be found in relatively extensive patches on the forest floor if you look around.

The first, and one of my personal favorite wildflowers, is the Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense).  Canada Mayflower, also known as False Lily-of-the-Valley, is a small plant between 2 and 6 inches in height.  It begins with just a single leaf with a heart-shaped base, which I started noticing the end of April. By mid- to late-May, they have developed a second, and in some cases a third leaf, and a small raceme of white flowers. Each small flower within the raceme has four down-turned tepals (the outer parts of a flower when they can not easily be distinguished into two kinds: petals and sepals), four erect stamens, and a single pistil in the center.

First leaves of Canada mayflower (photographed May 2 in Wareham, MA).

Flowering patch of Canada Mayflower (photographed May 17 in Mashpee, MA). 

The second is the Starflower. When I first encountered Starflower (Trientalis borealis), it was one of the most vexing flowers to identify. I was looking at an individual plant that had a neat looking 6-petaled flower, and I attempted to identify it using Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Since Newcomb’s Guide is arranged by how many petals a flower has, I was looking (unsuccessfully) in the “6 Regular Parts” section. I later discovered that Starflower is tricksy, and can have anywhere from 5 to 9 petals (although it usually has 7, and is therefore located in the “7 and More Regular Parts” section of the Newcomb’s Guide). Aside from a fairly distinct, pointed, star-shaped, white flower, other useful identifying characteristics include a single whorl of 5 to 10 pointed leaves, and a total height between 3 to 9 inches (although the one’s I’ve seen are rarely over 5 to 6 inches high). Although many plants only have a single flower, it is possible for a single plant to have two.

Starflower (photographed May 17 in Mashpee, MA).

Starflower (photographed May 21 in Hadley, MA).

Have you seen either of these spring forest understory wildflowers?