When you take a walk in the woods in December or January, you might not expect to see much color other than brown aside from evergreen trees such as Holly, Pine, and Eastern Red Cedar. If you look closer among the fallen leaves, you might be surprised to find little patches of green provided by small plants that remain green through the winter. First you might notice the Christmas Ferns which are abundant in the park.
The smaller ebony spleenwort fern with its attractive black stem also remains green through much of the winter.
As you walk, you can find other low growing green plants. One of the most attractive is the Striped Wintergreen named for the white stripe along the veins of its leathery leaves. This small evergreen plant thrives in acidic, dry woodlands.
Another common woodland plant seen in the park is the Cranefly Orchid, one of our native orchids. It is unusual in that its leaves appear in the fall but disappear later in the spring before it flowers in late summer. Dark green on the top, the leaves are purple underneath. In Deep Run Park it is interesting to note that the leaves of the Cranefly Orchids growing in one place can look different from those growing in another location. You can find plants with solid, dark green leaves in a higher wooded area and those with pronounced spots on the leaves in a low lying area near a stream. It makes you wonder, is this because of differences in the habitat or just a variation in the plant?
