A Short Guide to Spring Ephemerals in Southern West Virginia

Spring ephemerals are a special class of flowers that bloom before trees leaf out. They are the first spots of color on the brown hillsides of West Virginia. To help you identify the different flowers you see on your journeys through Southern West Virginia, we have put together a short guide to some of the flowers you may see. 

How to identify plants

A general look: 

Think about your surroundings and the conditions the plant is growing in, such as soil type, sunlight, and moisture. Then note the plant size and structure. Is it like a bush? Does it have a single stem coming from the ground?

Leaves:

Look at the leaves. Are the leaves simple or compound? Simple leaves are just a single leaf sprouting from a stem, like a maple leaf. While compound leaves branch out into leaflets, like those on walnut or locust trees. 

For compound leaves, are the leaflets arranged in a round or palm-like manner? That would mean they are palmately compound, like a clover. If the compound leaves are like a bunch of leaves coming from differing sides of a single stalk, kind of like a fern, are known as pinnate. 

Next, what is the shape of the leaf like? Is it like an arrow? Or is it like a long oval? Or is it like a big, round circle? When you examine the leaf shape, take note of its veins and look for how the lines move through the structure.

Leaves can grow opposite each other on a stem, swirling around the stem (whorled), or alternating up the sides of a stem. Noting how the leaves grow out from a stem can help you determine what plant you’re looking at. 

Flowers:

Flowers are an easy way to identify a plant. An oxeye daisy bloom differs greatly from a rose. Some flower differences include color, flower shape, petal shape, petal size, petal growth orientation, number of petals, number of blooms per plant, and smell. 

Now that you know some of the basics on what to look at while identifying a plant, here are some examples of spring ephemerals you may find along the trail. 

Examples of Spring Ephemerals

Woodland Crocus (blooms February to April)

These are just a few of the many spring flowers that you find along trailsides. If you’d like to learn more about plants or plant ID, keep an eye on our calendar for guided walks at WV state parks and the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.