Wild Ginger
Wild Ginger lacks the perky flowers of other early spring
ephemerals. In fact, most hikers miss its flowers entirely
--- to find them, you have to lift up the leaves and look for a little
brown cup that does not really resemble a flower at all. Whenever
I see Wild Ginger flowers, I think of the related species Little Brown
Jug, named for the brown blooms that resemble another product of the
Appalachian mountains.
Once, I
wondered why Wild Ginger has such drab blooms hidden away where no one
can see them. Most of the other early spring ephemerals are
pollinated by flying insects that are attracted to the bright colors
facing the sky. But Wild Ginger has gone another route. It
seeks out ground-dwelling beetles who stumble upon the Wild Ginger
flowers as they amble across the leaf mold, crawl inside, and then
wander back out covered with pollen to dust the pistils of the next
flower. Later, ants collect the seeds and carry them back to
their burrows where some sprout and turn into new plants. Now I
find myself asking myself --- why should Wild Ginger flowers look up
when they have so much to gain by looking down?
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