Above are a few odds and ends from my short hike on Snake Hill last weekend. From top: poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata), a particularly beautiful milkweed that grows in partly-shaded forest habitat; shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica), an enchanting, shade-loving evergreen perennial that sends up stalks of drooping white flowers in early summer; eastern cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis spathulata), considered one of the premier edible mushrooms when young; rock harlequin (Corydalis sempervirens), a delicate biennial beauty that inhabits rock ledges and dry woods; hillside blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), distinguished from lowbush blueberry by its broader, smoother-edged leaves; white bergamot (Monarda clinopodia), also known as basil beebalm, a shade-tolerant Monarda with white, purple-spotted flowers; and a lovely eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis), on alert for intrusive human beings bumbling about with their photo-optical devices.
