The Hemlock Ravine comprises a large portion of the nature preserve. The hemlocks are endangered by an exotic insect, the hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA).
Looking down into the hemlock ravine
Mitchella repens, partridgeberry, rooted in a bed of moss.
New York ferns, Thelypteris novaboracensis, unfurling in the Hemlock Ravine.
This Indian cucumber is still blooming, despite already producing berries.
Our earliest trillium, painted trillium.
A close-up of the lovely star-shaped flowers of Trientalis borealis.
Fern in Hemlock Forest
Rock polypody, Polypodium virginianum growing in leaf litter on top of a rock in the Hemlock Ravine.
Indian cucumber, Medeola virginiana, peeking through ferns, seems to be showing some fall color as the berries ripen.
Wood sorrel, Oxalis montana, a common wildflower in the Hemlock Ravine.
Broad beech fern, Phegopteris hexagonoptera, can form a lush groundcover.
There are many ferns in the hemlock ravine. This is one of the evergreen woodferns (Dryopteris spp.).
Translucent leaves mixed with violets form large patches in seasonally flooded low spots on the forest floor.
Larger hemlocks at the bottom of the ravine.
Close-up of great laurel blossom.
The immense blooms of great laurel, Rhododendron maximum, which can grow to be a small tree, brighten the Hemlock Ravine.
Wayfaring tree, Viburnum lantanoides, is a tall shrub with large velvety green leaves and white blossoms surrounded by sterile petals, similar to some of our hydrangeas. Deer love them and they are becoming more and more difficult to find in the Hemlock Ravine.
Foamflowers growing between rocks.
Wading through ferns in the Hemlock Ravine.
Foamflowers — blossom detail
Trees are powerful enough to lift rocks.
Foamflowers, Tiarella cordifolia, form colonies along creeks and moist, rocky seeps.
Indian pipe, Monotropa uniflora, makes a ghostly presence in the woods.
Red Elder, Sambucus racemosa
Trillium berries
Painted trillium, Trillium undulatum, protected by fencing from browsing deer. The painted trillium depends on special fungal associations and is doomed to die if transplanted into a garden.