Samples of a Driftless Woodland
From a short walk last weekend in a mature hardwood forest, occasional light. A delight to see a slow-growing plant like wild ginger covering the whole hillside–like a form of living time laid out in space. The thin but consistent layer of leaf cover makes all the difference in what can grow and thrive on the forest floor.
wild ginger, a slow grower at about 6 inches per year, spreading a hundred or more feet downhill
Huge stands of Ladyfern (Athyrium filix-femina) wherever the tree cover was heavy. In any window where a tree fell and the canopy broke open, the ferns were burned away
Something in the Osmorhiza genus, likely aniseroot. My eye was captured by the segmented, almost fern-like lobes of leaves on this plant.