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Of all the wildflowers that inhabit the Algonquin Highlands, the Northern Spring-Beauty, also known as the Broad-leaved Spring Beauty, Carolina Cup Lichen and the Carolina Spring-Beauty, is one of the earliest spring wildflowers to carpet vast areas of the forest floor. It is identified by its small, gentle white or pink with deeper pink veins in blooms that contain 5 petals. The Northern Spring-Beauty, which is normally anywhere from three to ten cm in height, has one or two pairs of broad, short leaves below the flowers on the stalk. This particular specie is usually seen from April to May and is found in rich open woods, alluvial thickets, upland slopes and forest edge where the soil is damp, lime-free and full sunlight exposure.
It has been observed that this plant can tolerate not only very cold winters with annual averages as low as –34C, but also can tolerate as many as 60 summer days where the temperature exceeds +30C. During cloudy or stormy weather and at night, the flowers close at night.
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