I found this plant in a forest today while hiking. I was having trouble getting a good focus to zoom in. They look like tiny peppers on the end of a bare stem.



Any ideas what these might be? I've never seen them before.

Drought stressed wild garlic (Allium triccocum)? They normally are straight up.

Could it be something like Orobanche uniflora?

https://www.guilhemmansion.com...

Any chance of a return visit to get a pic of the open flower?

Maybe Erythronium?

CalPolygardener said:Maybe Erythronium?

Good thought, seed pods. I have some wild Erythronium, the flowers and leaves are long gone. I can check later to see if there are any pods since I'm also in Ontario, although two zones colder than the OP.

If I have time next week, I might head back over there. I'll see if they've changed in any way.

They're one of the few plants growing around there. That forest is oddly barren in the center.

Erythronium could be a match. I have seen E. americanum in many of the other local forests. Do they shed their leaves when they produce seeds?

To me, those heads look like they haven't opened yet. Erythronium seed capsules don't have the abrupt shoulders that your pics show:
http://www.efloras.org/object_...

I can't say I have ever observed E. americanum during the seed production. I always assumed leaves are still present. Flora of North America makes no mention, although it does regarding Allium tricoccum. But the FNA isn't very consistent with its descriptions, as it is written by many, many different taxonomy botanists. Also, that would be an incredible find to discover any eastern American Erythronium that is so floriferous.

I sure don't know that much about northern North American woodland herbaceous flora, but I've spent a good bit of time in the woods and other such environments around here in the Ohio River valley region.

In looking at those two images - and noting a key statement by Macrocentra (..."That forest is oddly barren in the center...") - I wonder if we are observing the emergence of some wetland plant. It would make sense for such flora to have long stems to support the foliage when this site is seasonally under water.

Nymphaea odorata? Sagittaria latifolia? Pontederia cordata?

"Somebody tell Tree-boy to go back to woody plants..."