Andrew Trundlewagon's photos with the keyword: forest

Plants behaving badly: Beech-drops (Epifagus virginiana) are parasitic plants that grow on the roots of beech trees. They only emerge above ground to flower. Beech-drops lack chlorophyll as they obtain all their nutrients from the host trees with most of their life spent underground attached to the tree root. In this way they can survive in the deep shade of the forest floor. The flowering plants are about 20 to 30 cm tall and look like dead sticks until backlit, when the delicacy of their flowers appears.

Not a great beauty, this is the rather ominously named American cancer-root (Conopholis americana), a plant of the dark woods that spends most of its life below ground parasitizing the roots of oak trees. It emerges as spikes of creamy white flowers that lack both leaves and chlorophyll as it gains all its nutrients from its host. It’s a member of the broomrape family and is native to Eastern Canada and the USA. Apparently, it doesn't harm the oak trees, and lives for only ten years, which is not long in the life of an oak.

Female hairy woodpecker.

A blasted tree,

These are called Dutchman’s breeches, a spring flower of the forest floor. The flowers are pollenated by bumble bees. Other insects bite holes in the flowers to get at the pollen and nectar but this doesn’t pollenate them. The seeds are taken by ants to their nests. They eat the outer coating but dispose of the seeds in the nest “garbage dump”. The seeds grow there, safe in the nest and feeding on the ant nest detritus. St Bruno near Montreal.

White trilliums from the forest floor. A spring flower of the forest floor. They turn slightly pink as they age. The seeds are dispersed by ants which carry them to their nests to eat the outer coat. The inner seed is not eaten and can germinate. These plants are among the favourite food of deer. St Bruno near Montreal. The government of Quebec considers these to be vulnerable due to over collecting. This is especially a problem as it can take up to fifteen (!!) years for the plants to flower from germination, In addition, as noted above, they are often eaten by foraging deer which may also reduce their numbers. Since it takes so long to flower it is impractical to grow in greenhouses or commercial cultivation, but the unscrupulous are tempted to harvest it (illegally) from the wild for their gardens. Having said all this where they can be found they tend to be common and can form quite extensive patches of bright white that enliven the woods a few weeks after the snow melts. The very slow life cycle is summarized from the biodiversity web page of Quebec Govt (Rough English version follows). "Espèce poussant à l’ombre. Floraison au début du printemps. L’autofécondation prédomine et le taux de fécondité varie de 68 % à 88 %. Il faut deux levées de dormance pour la graine. Une première période de froid permet le débourrement de la racine. Un réchauffement subséquent puis une seconde période de froid débourrent le cotylédon. Il faut trois ans de plus pour qu’émerge la première feuille. Le stade juvénile à trois feuilles est atteint cinq ans ou plus après la germination, et la première fleur est produite sept à dix ans plus tard. Le trille blanc aurait quinze stades de développement; sa croissance est donc extrêmement lente. Les graines possèdent une caroncule charnue qui attire les fourmis, ce qui contribue à leur dispersion sur des distances de 4 ou 5 m." "This species grows in the shade and flowers in early spring. Self-pollination predominates and the fertility rate varies from 68% to 88%. Two periods are needed to break dormancy. A first cold period allows the bud to grow from the root. A subsequent warming then a second period of cold is needed to form the cotyledon. It takes three years for the first leaves to emerge. The three-leaf juvenile stage is reached five years or more after germination, and the first flower is produced from seven to ten years later. The white Trillium has fifteen stages of development; and therefore its growth is extremely slow. The seeds have a fleshy cover which attracts ants, and this enables their dispersal over distances of 4 or 5 m. "

Red trillium is a common spring plant of the woods. It smells of rotten meat, and attracts flies to pollenate it. It is sometimes called Stinking Benjamin (according to the book, I've never actually heard anyone call it that). St Bruno near Montreal.