Rhodora

Right now, wildflowers are doing an amazing job of brightening up PEI’s spring landscape. Even bogs – habitats that go unnoticed most of the year – are putting on glorious displays of colourful Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense).

Islanders are lucky enough to live in one of the few places in the world where we can enjoy Rhodora’s amazing spring show. While many of PEI’s native plants are also common in central and western Canada, or extend down the Atlantic coast of the US, Rhodora’s range is much more restricted: it’s only found in Atlantic Canada, northern New England, and the St. Lawrence River region of Quebec and eastern Ontario.

I think Rhodora’s beauty, abundance, and restricted range make it an excellent candidate for a provincial or state flower – dare I say a better choice than our weird-looking Lady’s Slipper or New Brunswick’s pedestrian Violet? (I can’t argue with Nova Scotia’s choice of Mayflower). Although it didn’t make the cut for a provincial or state emblem, Rhodora does have its honours, including a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the name of the well-respected journal of the New England Botanical Society.

Part of what makes Rhodora flowers so eye-catching is their habit of appearing before the plant’s leaves; followers of this page may recall that the term for this is ‘hysteranthous’ (a trait shared by the Red Maple flowers we looked at in April). This confers several advantages to the plant: the pre-leaf flowers get more sun, are more visible to insect pollinators and more accessible for wind pollination, have a longer period to set seed, and beat the later-flowering competition to water, nutrients, and pollinators. It is a bit of a gamble, of course, and a late frost can wipe out an entire year’s blossoms.

Both flowers and leaves are sensitive to temperature, and even a small change can affect the timing of their appearance by several days. Earlier, warmer springs are expected to narrow the window between flowering and leaf-out in hysteranthous plants, reducing or eliminating their ecological advantages. Whether plants like Rhodora – and their insect pollinators – will adapt quickly enough remains to be seen.

In the meantime, take advantage of being able to enjoy this spectacular annual part of PEI Untamed!