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| Bloodroot is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in Fox Maple Woods. |
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| Fox Maple Woods Trail topo map. Click map for larger version. |
The 1.1-mile round trip Fox Maple Woods heads through a 41-acre deciduous forest full of large, old-growth sugar maple, basswood and hemlock. That makes for an open forest floor, perfect for ferns and wildflowers, especially spring ephemerals, that thrive in the shade.
To reach the trailhead, from Florence take Wis. Hwy. 70 west. In about 10.5 miles, look for a trailhead on the road’s right/north side. Pull in and park off the side of the road.
The trail heads north into the Fox Maple Woods State Natural Area. Besides the fantasyland-sized trees, there’s a multitude of wildflowers with skipper butterflies and bumblebees darting between them.
Spring flowers
Among the first of the wildflowers to bloom here in spring is bloodroot. Sometimes it pops up from soil that has just thawed. It sports a large white flower, about 1.5 inches wide, with 8-10 petals and a yellow center. The red -orange juice in its stem has been used over the centuries as a dye and an insect repellent. It grows all across Wisconsin.
Dutchman’s-breeches blooms in April. Its white to yellowish flower is a four-parted heart- or triangular-shaped spur that is about 5/8 of an inch long. It flourishes on slopes, needs the shade of trees like sugar maple, basswood and red oak, and grows throughout most of Wisconsin.
Carolina spring-beauty blooms from April to June. Each of its half-inch wide flowers
consists of five white petals with pink-purple veins. It’s very common in New England, the Appalachians, and the Upper Peninsula. In Wisconsin, it grows mostly in the northeast, on the north side of a line from Bayfield to Door counties.
The yellow dog-tooth violet – also known as yellow trout lily – is a striking but common flower that blooms during spring. On each stalk is a hanging yellow flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. If you spot this plant but no flower in spring, don’t be surprised if you still see no flower the next year; it sometimes needs up to seven years to mature enough to flower. It is found in a majority of Wisconsin counties but more commonly in the southern half of the state.
Summer flowers
Nearly identical to the yellow dog-tooth violet is the white trout-lily. It also blooms April-May. On each stalk is a hanging white flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. It can be found across Wisconsin but typically is found in the southern two-thirds of the state.
Often blooming near it is the blue cohosh, a 1-3-foot high bush. A cluster of yellow-green flowers with six petals sits atop the plant, which grows throughout Wisconsin. Don’t eat its blue berries, which are poisonous.
Blooming from spring into summer is the nodding trillium. The flower is a whorl of three wavy white petals that droops beneath the plant’s leaves. Don’t pick any part of this plant as the leaves then may not be able to produce enough sugar and starch for a bloom to appear the following year. It’s one of seven trillium species that grows throughout Wisconsin.
The rose twisted-stalk offers pink bell-shaped flowers that are only a third of an inch long. They bloom each spring and summer. Don’t eat its red berries, though, as they can cause diarrhea. The flower grows only in the northern two-thirds of the state.
Sedge meadow
In addition to the wildflowers and old forest hardwoods, yellow birch with white pines occasionally grow throughout the stand. Scattered white cedar and Canada yew have found niches as well.
There’s a also a sedge meadow covering a 5-acre depression. Not as many flowers grow there, though, and reaching it requires crossing the forest floor, so staying on the trail and avoiding it is best.
In about 0.25 miles, the trail exits the state natural area, but you are still on public land as the Whisker Lake Wilderness Area surrounds it. The route continues through a maple-basswood forest with more flowers ahead.
At about 0.55 miles, the trail arrives at a point farther west on Hwy. 70. Rather than walk the busy state highway in a loop, retrace your steps back to your vehicle.
