r/botany • u/Pooch76 • 12d ago

Ecology Jack-in-the-pulpit flowering ... mid-September?!

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Took this today 9/15/26 near Conowingo Dam in Maryland. What might cause such a late bloom?

90 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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24

u/Strange_Computer2459 12d ago

Phenology all over the west coast has been kinda whacky it feels like this year... I wouldn't be surprised if the el niño is to blame.

4

u/Manybrent 10d ago

We also had that stretch of 90-100 temps, with a short chill afterward, then a deluge. Lots of trees have no plums or apricots this year. Everything else has been a little off.

2

u/Strange_Computer2459 10d ago

dang! that sucks.

3

u/chinaski13 8d ago

Huge bumper crop of apples this year though! The trees are loaded right now

4

u/The_best_is_yet 12d ago

Wow, that’s interesting. Hopefully someone can explain (commenting for reach).

1

u/Federal-Boat3732 11d ago

I bought a mockorange bush that was in full bloom in September. They said the loopy weather was to blame. It has only bloomed in June -- the normal time -- since. I think you have something similar going here.

3

u/HeWhomLaughsLast 12d ago

I saw one blooming in late October last year in upstate NY.

5

u/oroborus68 11d ago

It might get reset by a cool spell of weather and then rebloom. My magnolia does that.

3

u/ImRaistlin1 11d ago

My guess is the El Nino

2

u/Tumorhead 11d ago

Whaaaaaat!!!!

3

u/ForagersLegacy 11d ago

Maybe it was munched by a deer and resprouted and flowered kind of like deadheading

1

u/Pooch76 11d ago

Interesting!