Spring 2001

By Bill Glass

After winter’s snow all but melts and days start getting warmer, I begin to anticipate the return of the wildflowers. Although the large, colorful flowers get most of the attention, I like to look for the more obscure and in my view more interesting ones. Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) is one of my favorites. It grows commonly in rich, moist woods, frequently in the floodplain or along the sides of ravines where it can form large colonies.

Evidence of wild ginger can be found early in the spring before it blooms. The rhizomes (thick roots) are often exposed at the surface of the ground, and the buds tend to be barely poking out of the leaf litter. Each of the triangular early leaves are actually two leaves wrapped together, one within the other. The outer silverish, hairy portion is the underside of one of the leaf pairs. These leaves will expand into two large heart-shaped leaves with a smooth upper surface and a hairy underside. The stems are also hairy. It’s the leaves, though, that are most noticeable about the plant and draw you to seek out the small flowers hidden underneath.

As you take a closer look, you’ll see that each plant has a single, small flower that develops between the pair of leaves. The flower is tubular at the base and flares into three sharp-pointed lobes that may be somewhat recurved. The flower is reddish brown in color with some white on the inner surface. The outer portion of the tubular flower is quite hairy as is the flower stalk. The flowers are quite attractive when examined closely, but are often overlooked.

Wild ginger blooms in early spring when there aren’t a lot of pollinators out in the woods. Since the flower isn’t large and attractive and is often partially concealed by leaf litter, it overcomes these potential pollination bottlenecks using its fetid smell and reddish brown flesh-colored sepals to attract flies and gnats that serve as pollinators. To ensure cross pollination, the female portion of the flower (pistil) matures first. Later the flower will turn male with 12 stamens. Because the pistil and stamens aren’t ripe at the same time in each flower, self-pollination isn’t possible for the wild ginger.

After flowering, the wild ginger’s ovary becomes a leathery capsule that inverts toward the ground and eventually releases seeds. The seeds bear an attachment called an elaiosome, a structure that is oily and nutrient rich and is a food source for ants. Ants collect the seeds and carry them back to their nests where they consume the elaiosomes and discard the remaining portion of the seed. The seeds are discarded in the ant’s version of a landfill, which is an ideal place for seeds to germinate. Wild ginger and ants have developed this mutual relationship. Ants get nourishment and, in turn, spread the seeds. Seed dispersal by ants is common in spring woodland wildflowers including bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, hepatica, trilliums, and violets.

You might wonder why this plant is called wild ginger. It’s named after the unrelated tropical ginger that is used as a spice in cooking. The wild ginger’s rhizome has an aromatic spicy smell and flavor similar to the commercial ginger, but not as strong. Native Americans and early settlers used the rhizome as a spice.

The next time you smell or taste ginger, let your mind wander to the wild form of ginger growing in our woods. If you’d like to taste the wild stuff, buy some from a wildflower supplier and grow it under a tree in your yard. As with all our wildflowers in conservation areas, enjoy their beauty, and leave them undisturbed for others to appreciate.