It is a small plant and flower, but its blooms lead the way. Harbinger-of-spring is just that, among the first to signal the start of the annual parade of spring woodland wildflowers.
No more than six inches tall, harbinger-of-spring favors the rich soils of Ohio’s moist woods, often in floodplains along streams or deep in ravines. A member of the carrot family, its leaves are deeply cut, resembling parsley. The small white-petaled flowers form a cluster atop a single stalk.
With recent rains, the reliable areas to look for harbinger could be inundated and hard to access.
“It usually blooms in the next couple of weeks,” said Karen Menard, Metroparks Toledo monitoring and research supervisor. As of the first of this month, she had already seen purple cress, spring-beauty and toothwort blooming on sunny days along the trail at Fallen Timbers Battlefield.
Nature photographer, Art Weber, who took this photograph, encourages visitors to stand back and enjoy the woodland wildflower show at area parks. “Watch especially for some of our showiest wildflowers including bloodroot, trillium, marsh marigolds, trout-lily and phlox,” he said.
