Shades of Spring by Joshua Heston Fleeting moments of astounding beauty. A landscape of browns and grays changed, seemingly overnight, into an artist’s palette of transcending color. The warm gust of a southern breeze. Duck fluff of white oaks, actually small blooms and tender new leaves, suddenly dapple the forest floor in tentative shade. And…
Sarvisberry by Joshua Heston EDITOR’S NOTE: The small, unassuming sarvisberry tree has a rich history in the Ozark hills, a history which details the important, at-times poetic, relationship between man and nature. The article below is a reprint, permitted from the College of the Ozarks’ Ralph Foster Museum and for that, I am quite grateful.…
Dogwoods by Joshua Heston The flowering dogwood has come to symbolize the Ozarks — as well as the Upper South — which isn’t really a surprise. There are few scenes prettier than an Ozark mountainside in April. The dogwoods — white, pink, and red — mingle with the redbud and wild plum beneath the white…
Mayapple by Joshua Heston Looking like so many foot-tall green umbrellas, mayapple colonies are found throughout the Ozarks in April. A forest understory plant, Podophyllum peltatum spreads primarily by an underground tuber system. PLATE 2. PLATE 3. The most striking part of the mayapple, however, is rarely seen. Borne on a single, succulent stalk beneath…