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MAYAPPLES AND DOGWOOD BLOOM IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK

One of the most spectacular displays of Mayapples we have ever seen is in West Fairmount Park, in the woods just north of the Belmont Plateau.

Mayapple flowering, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Mayapple flowering, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

We watched them emerge from the earth, and have waited for them to bloom in the past few weeks as they unfurled their leaves, and revealed their blooming capacities. The Mayapples with a single stem will not bloom and the ones with two stems that diverge in a v shape will bloom.  The  blooms are under the umbrella shaped leaves and can be missed. The best displays in West park are on hillsides that rise up on a side of the trails, so if you turn towards the hillside in the right light, you will see a beautiful and stunning array of waxy white flowers about two inches across glowing beneath the  fresh green umbrellas.

If Philadelphia were to have a city flower, the Mayapple would be solid nominee.

 

 

Isabelle with Dogwood bloom, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Isabelle with Dogwood bloom, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Dogwood flowering, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Dogwood flowering, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

 

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THE HAPPY MAYAPPLE PLACE

Watching the Mayapples come up is joyful.  The little delicate green umbrellas are at it again!  The path between the Recycling Center and the Strawberry Mansion Bridge in West Fairmount Park has a great display of  the earliest emerging Mayapples on the west side of the Schuylkill River.

MAYAPPLES EMERGE FROM THE EARTH IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
MAYAPPLES EMERGE FROM THE EARTH IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Podophyllum peltatum

This colony of Mayapples will go dormant before other later emerging colonies will. Like many plant colonies, this one has a distinct habit of being, different from other Mayapple colonies found in other parts of the park.  They are in a protected ravine, close to Skunk Cabbage, and a small brook. Much lower in elevation than in Morris Park. Beech and Red Maple above.

MAYAPPLES EMERGE FROM THE EARTH IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
MAYAPPLES EMERGE FROM THE EARTH IN WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

When Mayapples first come up they are shiny and perfect. When they do emerge, they grow very quickly. They open up just like an umbrella! Let us know if you find them in your woodland.