Fragrant Spring Treat

Trailing Arbutus

For those fortunate enough to find it, Trailing Arbutus, Epigaea repens is a real treat in the early spring. This member of the heath family forms mats of creeping stems with broad oval leathery leaves which can often be found protruding from under the leaves on the forest floor. Some of these mats can be very large in area and quite dense. The stems, leaf margins and veins and the petioles are covered with shaggy rusty brown hairs. The white to pink exquisitely fragrant trumpet shaped flowers bloom from mid-April to mid-May, depending on the weather and the latitude in which it is growing. This year it is blooming now in early to mid-May in the Holland area. The pink color may intensify as the season progresses, but the flowers usually start out white.

Trailing Arbutus

Look for Trailing Arbutus in dry sandy soils of savannah or forest. Trees usually associated with it are oaks, aspen, or pine but could also be found with beech, maple or hemlock. It is occasionally found with other conifers in cedar swamps. This plant is very intolerant of habitat disturbance so should left along when found. Although some sources say that it doesn’t tolerate fire disturbance very well, I have noticed in the Upper Peninsula that the edges turned brown when the surrounding area was burned, but the plant was not entirely affected by the fire. In many instances, large green mats survived while the surround trees and other vegetation as well as the ground were all burned black. It is also protected in Michigan under the Christmas Greens Act.

The bloom time is short so get out and look for Trailing Arbutus, it can be found at the Riley Trails park, north of Holland.