Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail (GAP) | Flora | Yellow Violets

At least five yellow violets occur along the GAP. The three most common are the Early Yellow Voilet (Viola rotundifolia), the Spear-leaf Violet (Viola hastata), and the Downy-yellow Violet (Viola pubescens). First of all, why are there yellow violets? Shouldn't violets be violet or at least blue, like the Common Blue Violet found along the GAP? Actually the word violet names a lineage, not a color. All true violets belong to the genus Viola, a worldwide group of roughly 525 to 600 species. The famous Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) first named the purple-flowered species of Europe, but the genus Voila turned out to be far larger than its namesake: as botanists catalogued relatives across the Americas and Asia they kept finding plants with the same floral architecture — five petals and a spurred lower lip, in colors of white, cream, multicolor, and yellow. The genus name stuck; the color palette diversified. Yellow, in particular, is not an accident. It reads well in the dim light of a deciduous understory, where early-spring pollinators—small mining bees, bee flies, the occasional mason bee—are doing most of the work. The dark purple lines on the lower petal of yellow violets are nectar guides, painted to steer those visitors in. On the GAP, this is why Viola hastata, V. rotundifolia, and V. pubescens, are fully legitimate violets despite their yellow petals. Same family tree, same fritillary host role, same spring woodland habit — just wearing the understory’s preferred color.

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

The Spear-leaf Violet has spearhead-shaped leaves. 04.13.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. 04.12.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. 04.14.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. The dark purple lines on the lower petal are nectar guides for the benefit of pollinators. 04.13.26

Downy-yellow Violet. 04.16.26

Downy-yellow Violet. 04.16.26

Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail (GAP) | Flora | Trout Lily | Red Trillium | Hawthorne | Goldenrod | Ramps

Two signature Spring wildflowers of the Alleghenies are now on display: Trout Lily and Red Trillium.

Trout Lily, so-named because it leaves resemble a trout’s belly

:

Trout Lily

Trout Lily

Red Trillium

Red Trillium

A Spring Medley: Left, Blue Cohost (not yet in bloom); then Ramps; then Red Trillium, and on the right Spring Beauties

The Hawthorne Tree is also in bloom

Young Tall Goldenrod. It will not bloom until September.

And of course Ramps are still collectible.

Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail (GAP) | Flora | Yellow Voilets

At least five yellow violets occur along the GAP. The three most common are the Early Yellow Voilet (Viola rotundifolia), the Spear-leaf Violet (Viola hastata), and the Downy-yellow Violet (Viola pubescens). First of all, why are there yellow violets? Shouldn't violets be violet or at least blue, like the Common Blue Violet found along the GAP? Actually the word violet names a lineage, not a color. All true violets belong to the genus Viola, a worldwide group of roughly 525 to 600 species. The famous Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) first named the purple-flowered species of Europe, but the genus Voila turned out to be far larger than its namesake: as botanists catalogued relatives across the Americas and Asia they kept finding plants with the same floral architecture — five petals and a spurred lower lip, in colors of white, cream, multicolor, and yellow. The genus name stuck; the color palette diversified. Yellow, in particular, is not an accident. It reads well in the dim light of a deciduous understory, where early-spring pollinators—small mining bees, bee flies, the occasional mason bee—are doing most of the work. The dark purple lines on the lower petal of yellow violets are nectar guides, painted to steer those visitors in. On the GAP, this is why Viola hastata, V. rotundifolia, and V. pubescens, are fully legitimate violets despite their yellow petals. Same family tree, same fritillary host role, same spring woodland habit—just wearing the understory’s preferred color.

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

Early Yellow Voilet. 04.04.26

The Spear-leaf Violet has spearhead-shaped leaves. 04.13.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. 04.12.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. 04.14.26

 Spear-leaf Violet. The dark purple lines on the lower petal are nectar
guides for pollinators to home in on. 04.13.26

Downy-yellow Violet. 04.16.26

Downy-yellow Violet. 04.16.26

Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail (GAP) | Flora | Common Blue Voilet

The Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia), a native of North America, appears from mid-April into June in open woods, forest edges, meadows, moist stream sides, and roadsides, and is quite common along some stretches of the GAP, at least where the margins have not been mowed. Each flower has five petals: a lower petal marked with darker veins and bearing a short spur, two lateral petals often bearded, and two upper petals more or less erect or spreading. Flowers are roughly a half inch across. The flowers and leaves of the Common Blue Violet are edible and have historically been used as food, but nowadays the plant is more valued for its aesthetic qualities, adding a lovely splash of blue to the mid-Spring palette of wildflowers.

Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) is another early bloomer along the GAP. If you see low-lying splashes of pinkish‑purple along the trail in late March and early April it is probably Purple Deadnettle. A native of Eurasia, it is now widely distributed in North America and thrives along roadsides, field margins, trail edges, and other disturbed sites, including the margins of the GAP, where it is very common and can appear as thick carpets.

Early Purple Deadnettle. 03.28.26

A dense, carpet-like colony of Purple Deadnettle bordering the GAP

Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail (GAP) | Ramps

Ramps Season has begun! For many foragers ramps (Allium tricoccum ) are the Holy Grail of edible plants. I located a dozen or more small colonies of ramps along a small tributary of the Casselman River.

Tributary of the Casselman River

A nice colony of ramps next to a convenient brooklet for washing them.

A small colony of ramps

Another colony of ramps

Ramps

Ramps

Most ramp plants have two leaves. One leaf can be harvested from a plant without killing it.

The whole ramp plant. Authorities recommend harvesting no more than 10% of a colony to  ensure its long-term health. I never harvest more than 5%. The leaves and bulbs can be used in any way you would use onions.

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Don Croner’s Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) | Flora | Spring Beauty

Spring Beauties are out!!! 

Among plants native to North America Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), or Virginia Spring Beauty, is one of the first to flower, often appearing around the middle of March. GAPers are unlikely to see this plant in disturbed areas along the old railroad right-of-way, now the GAP bike trail. Spring Beauties are found in mature hardwood forests of White Oak, Red Oak, Maple, and Hickory trees on either side of the GAP, where they may appear in scattered clumps or even broad carpets. Spring Beauties are a true Spring ephemeral. Their entire above-ground life cycle is compressed into the brief window between snowmelt and the appearance of a canopy of leaves from trees which cast the plants into the shade. By early or mid-Summer the above-ground plant has disappeared completely. It overwinters underground as a small tuberous corm resembling a tiny potato only to resurface again the next Spring. 

The delicate flowers of Spring Beauty are roughly half an inch in diameter and borne in a loose cluster of 5 to 15 blossoms. Each flower has five petals that range from white to pale pink, lined with fine darker pink to magenta veins that serve as nectar guides for pollinators. The petals reflect ultraviolet light, making them highly visible  to bees.