It's always a happy day in June when I spot one of my favorites: first jack-in-the-pulpit growing wild by the brook in the moist shade this morning.

Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit, bog onion, brown dragon, Indian turnip, American wake robin, or wild turnip) is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from a corm. It is native to eastern North America, occurring in moist woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, and south to southern Florida and Texas.

Then, while searching the Internet for interesting poetry or writing about jack-in-the-pulpits, I found the most charming book of essays published in 1902, titled Jack-in-the-Pulpit. I was able to download free a copy of this entire essay collection by a Maine journalist, and I look forward to dipping in to it over the course of the next few weeks to discover what this more than a century ago writer has to say about his love of growing up in the New England woods.

Kalmia latifolia, commonly called mountain laurel, calico-bush, or spoonwood, is a broadleaved evergreen shrub in the heather family, that is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana.  [Wikipedia]

All photos copyright Kelly DuMar, 2017 unless otherwise attributed