I drove up to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary the other day to see their new wildflower gardens and take some wildflower photographs. The gardens have just started to bloom so there were a few flowers to photograph, but peak season will not be for a few weeks.

After spending some time in the gardens, I decided to hike the Silver Spring Trail which is sometimes closed in the morning for bird banding,  and it was now the middle of the afternoon. Maybe there would be something new on the trail.

Wow! I certainly made the right choice! There it was… right on the side of the trail. I have not seen a Jack-in-the Pulpit since I was a little girl, so I was surprised to see one on the Silver Spring Trail. I had never seen one there before and  I almost missed it, as you can see looking at the 2nd photograph. It’s hard to see Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

A Jack-in-the-Pulpit gets it name because it looks like a preacher in a pulpit. It has a green and purple striped hooded tube the grows right beneath a large 3-part leaf. Within the tube is “Jack” (the preacher) that will be covered with miniscule flowers that become bright red berries in August. I will have to keep an eye on it this summer. So cool…

Have you ever seen a Jack-in-the Pulpit?