Interannual variation in spring weather conditions as a driver of spring wildflower coverage: a 15-year perspective from an old-growth temperate forest.

Spring ephemerals are wildflowers found in temperate deciduous forests that typically display aboveground shoots for a period of 2 months or less. Early spring, before the canopy leaves out, marks the beginning of the aboveground growth period where ephemerals acquire nutrients and resources via aboveground tissues. Several studies have shown that spring ephemeral reproduction is affected by spring temperature, but few have looked at how weather conditions of the current and previous seasons, including precipitation and temperature, influence aboveground growth.