Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 1)

May 1st. When I visited Fort Yargo State Park in mid-February, there were few signs of Spring. The only wildflower plants that were obvious were the leaves of Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) that I found in many places.

The route… I’ve described it here, here, here, and here This walk doesn’t have the variety of wildflowers as my other walk from the Group A Shelter to the Old Fort but it does have some gems. One of the Smallflower (Asimina parviflora) had developed fruit, the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) Orchids had been blooming for a week or so and some Green Adder’s-mouth Orchids (Malaxis uniflora) were beginning to bloom.

Setting out on the trail on another sunny morning; so nice after the many gray days we’d had.

There were many Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum) plants in the grass. The flowers are so tiny that they go unnoticed until the…

seedpods are developing on the stems.

I was checking some lichens on a branch that also had a lot of Amber Jelly Roll (Exidia recisa). I’d never thought much about what happens to a jelly fungus when it dries up. This is what one looks like when it's dry. 

A Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) was warming itself up in the sun.

The woods were becoming more shady. 

Having found the dried-up Amber Jelly fungus, I looked for the…

  

Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica) that had also dried up. It was still there.

One of the hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) in the woods still had a couple of blooms.

Then to climb up ‘The Hill’ to check on the…

Smallflower Pawpaw fruit. Several fruits were still attached.

Two little pine seedlings were still growing in the cavity on a fallen log.

I took the trail to the…

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Many of the flower buds had fallen off; only one remained close to the trail.

There were a lot of Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) butterflies around this spring but they rarely stayed still.

The woods, viewed from the end of the dam, were still a mixture of different greens.

Then off down the trail to the Pink Lady’s Slipper Orchid patch. 

(To be continued…)

Related posts: 

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 5th 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam 
- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 2) 

- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 1) 
- Well… So Much For Walking The Beach 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 4) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 3) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 2) 
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 1)

Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum)

Lepidium virginicum is known by the common names, Virginia Pepperweed, Poor Man's Pepper, or Peppergrass. It’s another one of those plants with small, white flower heads like Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta). It’s easy to miss. At home, I found a small patch of Virginia Pepperweed at the low point along the drive from the road to the house. Someone who shall remain nameless drove the tractor back and forth over this area when reworking the drive last winter. I was afraid that these plants would not grow this year. Luckily about five or six plants survived.

This plant is listed an annual or biannual. It’s not clear that the plants that grew this year are in the second year of a two-year growth cycle. Last year these plants only grew a single spike. This year, a number of the plants branched. They developed seed pods in both years.

The plants – with the little white flower heads. It’s easy to see how they would be missed.

A stalk showing the leaf shape and arrangement.

A closer view of the flower heads.


Close-ups of a flower

The seed pods area developing rapidly as the buds continue to bloom

A close-up of the seed pods

This is the only Virginia Pepperweed plant I found at Fort Yargo State Park – beside the trail along segment 2. It is impressive in the extent of branching. The plants at home only developed four to five branches on a single stem.

The seeds. They are 1-2 mm in length.

Lepidium virginicum (Virginia Pepperweed) is native to North America. It grows in all states in the United States and in all Canadian provinces except Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Interestingly Lepidium virginicum belongs to the same family, Brassicaceae, as Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy Bittercress). Click on an image to view a larger image

Distribution Map:
- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Lepidium virginicum (Virginia Pepperweed)
- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Lepidium virginicum

Identification resources:
Southeastern Flora: Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum)
- Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Gerogia: Lepidium virginicum
- Wikipedia: Lepidium virginicum

Related posts:
- 2010: Year Of The Wildflower