Hastings Scientific and Natural Area - Minnesota, USA

[RickR]

Hastings Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) is within the city of Hastings near the west side of the Mississippi River.  The part that I like consists of a small exposed limestone “escarpment” about a quarter mile long.  The area is home to a dense assortment of spring ephemerals and includes the Snow trillium (Trillium nivale) that is rare in Minnesota. 

I arrived a bit before sunset.  Had I had a film camera, it would have been of no use.  But even digital photography has its limitations, so the photos here are not all that clear.

This has been a ridiculously warm (at least a full zone warmer) and very dry winter.  We have had practically no spring weather: three days with highs in the 50’s, and then 65-79F highs for the ensuing three weeks.  Plants cope the best they can.  Spring seems to be coming about a month early here.

The Snow trilliums have been out for a while already.  The warm winter, or the hot spring, or both has produced the largest plants I have ever seen there in the ten years that I have been observing them.  Although the plants are bigger,  the flowers themselves are no larger than normal.

          

          

Of course, these are only the best flowers. It is clear that the species is not that happy with all this heat in the 70'sF (21-26C) and 55-60F (13-16C) nights.  Most show signs of heat stress in the flowers (or perhaps even a tiny bit of malformation) that I would normally attribute to aged flowering.  You can see, however, that the anthers are barely dehiscing, and the flowers are not chronologically old.  The petals seem a bit more narrow than normal, too.  One can hardly even detect a blue tinge to the green leaves that is normally unmistakeable, even in late stages of growth.  Undulating petal margins are not normal. Most look like these:

             

This is a view of the "escarpment".  Unremarkable by most standards, I know, but for us relative flatlanders it's not a common sight.  It faces north.

               

The preferred habitat for the Snow trillium here is at the edge.  The best examples are always the most difficult to view close up.  A patch of Trillium nivale is at the top left of each photo.

          

          

[Lori S.]

Very beautiful, Rick, even with the little abnormalities you note (which needless to say, I would not otherwise even be aware of).  Wouldn't we all love to have a cliff like that in our yards?

[RickR]

Yes indeed, Lori.  

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is just coming out, and the native Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucularia) almost in bloom:

        

        

Some ferns and Hepatica acutiloba

        

        

          

    

[RickR]

The first wild rosy form of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) I have eve seen.  The mauve coloring is correct from what I saw, but I am not sure if the late evening light was influencing it or not.  It may be more pink in regular daylight.  Pulsatillas, for instance, always seem more blue late in the day or in overcast weather.)  There were about ten sprouts in a 2-3 ft area that all look the same.  I suspect they are actually from the same original clone(?).

              

        

[Lori S.]

It's lovely to see those eastern woodland species.  Everyone will be urging you to collect seed from those pink bloodroots - they are extraordinary!

[McDonough]

Most informative seeing how Trillium nivale grows, and preferring the edges of those rocky escarpments.  My Trillium nivale took a hit a couple years back, where as small a plant as they are, all my mature plants had their tops eaten off by deer (a rare occurence in my yard) soon after flowering.  All that I've seen since then is a couple flowers, such as this year, with a number of smaller immature sprouts, the mature plants either perished or have been set back by being beheaded.  It would seem that the edge of the escarpment as seen in your photos would be a deterrant for deer grazing.

About 4-5 years ago I bought a pink form of Sanguinaria canadensis from Darrell Probst's nursery, but the following year it didn't appear.  I believe it was something like $35, so I was sad to have lost such an expensive plant so quickly.  In the ensuing years there was no sign of any Sanguinaria leaves.  Then today I noticed in bud, a small, undersized plant of pink bloodroot.  Could it be that the rhizome stayed alive all this time but didn't show until it developed enough mass to sprout? Anyway, how fantastic that you spotted a pink bloodroot in the wild, certainly a rare find.

This looks like a most interesting and aesthetically pleasing place to botanize, love seeing the colonies of snow trillium.  What other fine spring ephemerals grow there?

[Hoy]

Rick, what an exciting place!
You say the escarpment is limestone. Does that mean that snow trillium and bloodroot prefere a calcareous soil?

Whatever the colour of rosy bloodroot - it is a beauty

[RickR]

Somehow I missed that these last three messages were even posted, and I just now realized it while looking for something else.

I'm not sure how really pink those bloodroot are since they weren't open.  Recall how the white Multiplex blushed this year on the outer petals.  These were darker, but I don't know...

Mark, your positing that the Snow trillium grows at the rock edges to escape deer is plausible.  There were definitely deer tracks there.  The thought had never crossed my mind.  Rather, I figured the edges would be the first to warm in the spring, yet still stay cool then and provide a very long period of just above freezing weather, which would seem to be perfect for the trillium's preference.

This place is quite rich in wildflower and species.  Off the top of my head:
Trillium nivale
Trillium cernuum
Uvularia grandiflora
Uvularia stellata
Asarum canadense
Dicentra cucullaria
Anemone quinquefolia
Thalictrum thalictroides
Thalictrum dasycarpum
Caltha pulustris
Whatever species of water cress we have
six or more species of ferns
Allium tricoccum
Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (H. acutiloba)
Viola spp.
Actaea rubra
Arisaema triphyllum

Rick, what an exciting place!
You say the escarpment is limestone. Does that mean that snow trillium and bloodroot prefere a calcareous soil?

No, I don't think so.  There are a lot of plants there that grow in acid soils farther north, and these flowers are not growing in mineral soil as alpines do.  They live in the humus on top of the limestone.  Still, I would think they must be at least tolerant of the limestone.

[Hoy]

Rick, I wish your that list of species was an inventory of my woodland plants

[cohan]

Wow- nice place!
I'd be happy to have the pictured species here, for sure!