The Striped or Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) has spread and thrived from a small protected area where, ten years ago, Debbie Lux planted several specimens. You will find them now in bloom just beyond the park bench on both sides of the trail when you enter from Medford Leas Way.
This species has spread by rhizomes to both sides of the trail.
The nodding flowers of a plant barely 4 inches tall still has the erect seed capsule from the prior season.
The Cathedral Trail, surrounded by tall Norway Spruce, is totally shaded and dry … a hostile place for other wildflowers but just the right one for this species which prefers an acidic sandy clay. The Gordon Report of 1993 cites this species as a rarely observed inhabitant of the Virginia Pine forest (trail Y1). Other locations for this species are similar dry, shaded forests in Burlington County.
The Wintergreen’s adaptation, leathery non-deciduous leaves, is common to other members of the large and diverse Heather family (Ericaceae) which includes the Mountain Laurel, the Rhododendron, the Blueberry and the Cranberry!
Text and photos by Fred Kahan