By April, Ohio woodlands are beginning to come alive; songbirds have begun to migrate, Spring Peepers fill warm evenings with their primal melody, early butterflies flutter about, and wildflowers become more numerous and varied. One of the earliest is the Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). With its bright yellow flowers, it is a sunny sight for sore eyes.
Also known Celandine Poppy, it begins blooming in March in rich, moist woods, floodplains, and moist bluffs. The flowers get up to 2" wide; they have 4 petals, numerous stamens, and 1 pistil. The leaves, which are opposite or basal, are pinnately into lobed or tooted segments. It can be found from western Pennsylvania south to Virginia, and west to Tennessee and Missouri, up to Wisconsin. Its species name, diphyllum, means "two leaves."
Celandine (Chelidonium majus), introduced from Europe, is attractive and aggressive. It can be confused with Wood Poppies, but the flowers are much smaller, less than 1" wide.
The 1st century physician Dioscorides wrote, "It seems to be called Chelidonia because it springs out of the ground with the swallows appearing, and doth wither with their departing." Its generic Chelidonium is from the Greek "of swallows." It grows in moist soil at the edges of woods and along roadside, and can be found in most of the eastern half of North America.
Another spring wildflower, Lesser Celandine, is similar in name and flower color only. It is a member of the Buttercup Family, and each flower has up to a dozen shiny petals.
Two of the east's most delicate spring wildflowers are poppies: Dutchman's-Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis).
Both have finely dissected, fernlike leaves, both grow in rich woods - often side-by-side - and both have elegant and unusually shaped flowers. Dutchman's-Breeches' flowers look like white pants, upside down as if dangling from a clothes' line; Squirrel Corn flowers are white to very pale lavender, and are shaped like hearts, just like their cousin's Wild Bleeding Heart (D. eximia). While Dutchman's-Breeches are named for their flowers, Squirrels Corn is named for its yellow tubers, which are said to resemble kernels of corn, and for the behavior of squirrels, digging for food.
In 1923 Huron Smith wrote in Ethnobotany of the Menomini Indians, "(Dutchman's-Breeches are) one of the most important love charms of the Menomini. The young swain tries to throw it at his intended and hit her with it. Another way is for him to chew the root, breathing out so that the scent will carry to her. He then circles around the girl, and when she catches the scent, she will follow him wherever he goes." And all this time I've been using breath mints.
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