Over the past week I posted about a few spring ephemerals. I wanted to follow up with a look at one key adaptation that all these plants have that allow them to fill that specific niche in our forests.

What: Spring ephemerals all have this amazing knack for erupting out of the ground as the temperatures start to warm but before the canopy closes up. As a great example of convergent evolution (i.e. when disparate taxonomic species evolve similar adaptations for dealing with similar ecological niches), virtually all spring ephemerals have enlarged underground storage systems. Plants have solved the challenge of storing enough energy to complete their lifecycle within the narrow window when the ground is thawed, temperatures are warm enough to photosynthesize, and the trees haven’t leafed out yet by modifying all sorts of parts for food storage (these are called geophytes in the Raunkiaer plant life-form classification scheme). Here are examples of four such systems: 

1. Things like trout lily have modified leaves used for storage. Since the leaves are underground, they lack chlorophyll and appear white. Other spring ephemerals that have this: Siberian squill,

2. Jack-in-the-pulpit has a modified stem, called a corm.

3. Spring beauty has tubers (the plant is also called fairy spud). Other spring ephemerals with tubers: Squirrel corn, dutchman’s breeches.

4. Trilliums and bloodroot sprout from energy stored in rhizomes. Rhizomes are lateral roots. Other species with rhizomes: marsh marigold

5. Other species, like coltsfoot, have taproots. 

Where: Deciduous forests all over!