April's wildflowers: Fleeting bright spots in the spring forest

I've heard them called ephemerals. Indeed, they tend to be small, bright, and short-lived. Aside from providing us with a pop of color in the still-brown landscape, spring ephemerals provide sustenance to early insects such as queen bumblebees. Ephemerals sprout in unlikely places, peaking out from beneath leaf litter, between tree roots, along streamsides, and in vernal pools. Here are some that greeted me from April 20 -22.

See more articles on spring ephemerals:

Slow down to see spring's ephemeral flowers

Please see my native plant series to learn which to plant and where to find them. 

Spring woodland flowers, Connecticut, April 20 - 22

White trillium, Trillium grandiflorum	Spring beauty, Claytonia virginica
Below and to the right, see blood root flowers unfolding in four stages. Blood root, Sanguinaria canadensis, was used by native Americans for dyes, paint and insect repellent according to Audubon Society sources.