''Erigenia bulbosa'', also known as harbinger of spring or pepper and salt, is a flowering perennial plant in the family Apiaceae. ''E. bulbosa'' is the only species in the genus ''Erigenia'' and tribe Erigenieae. This plant is known as harbinger of spring because it is one of the earliest blooming native wildflowers of rich forests in the mid-latitude United States. Throughout most of its range it blooms from late February through early April.

Description

It is a small

spring ephemeral An ephemeral plant is one marked by short life cycles. The word ephemeral means transitory or quickly fading. In regard to plants, it refers to several distinct growth strategies. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to perennial plants that emerge ...

reaching only 5–15 cm tall when in flower, and slightly larger afterwards. Each spherical bulb gives rise to a single purplish stem, which terminates in an umbel. The flowers have white

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s and large dark-reddish

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s. The teardrop shaped petals are 3-4 millimeters long, widely spaced and do not touch each other. As is characteristic of the carrot family, the leaves of this plant are sheathed at the base and pinnately divided into many small sections.

Distribution and habitat

Harbinger of spring is an occasional plant in rich hardwood forests of eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is found as far north as central

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and southern Wisconsin, west to the western Ozarks, and south to central Alabama. It is also found in extreme southern Ontario.

Ecology

Its typical associates include spring beauty ('' Claytonia virginica'') and cut-leaf tooth wort (''

Cardamine laciniata ''Cardamine concatenata'', the cutleaved toothwort, crow's toes, pepper root or purple-flowered toothwort, is a flowering plant in Brassicaceae. It owes its name to the tooth-like appearance of its rhizome. It is a perennial woodland wildflower ...

''). All of these early spring blooming plants are pollinated by

solitary bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

s, and to a lesser extent, flies and honey bees. ''E. bulbosa'' has a small daily accumulation of nectar per flower (7–38 µg sugar/flower), but the presence of numerous, closely arranged, simultaneously blooming flowers in the umbel may increase the overall nectar incentive for the pollinators. The nectar produced by ''E. bulbosa'' only contains the sugar

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galacto ...

. ''Erigenia bulbosa'' does not form vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal associations with fungi, in contrast to most plants. These plants are protected in

and Wisconsin as state endangered plants.

Uses

The bulb is edible both cooked and raw. The Cherokee were known to chew this plant as medicine for toothaches; it is unknown what parts of plant they chewed.Dr. Moermann's Ethnobotanical database: E. bulbosa
/ref> This plant is sometimes used in native

wildflower garden Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are native species, local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance ...

s throughout its range.

Gallery

Image:Erigenia bulbosa1.jpg, Whole plant of ''E. bulbosa'' Image:Erigenia bulbosa BB.jpg, ''E. bulbosa'' from Britton & Brown 1913

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15966475, from2=Q5388376, from3=Q19913521 Apioideae Edible Apiaceae Flora of the Eastern United States Ephemeral plants Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Flora of Ontario Monotypic Apioideae genera