Jack-in-the-Pulpit

A botanical curiosity that changes sex annually and produces brilliant red fall berries that migratory thrushes depend on.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit is a plant that children and adults alike stop to look at closely. The striped spathe curls over the spadix like a preacher's hood, and the combination of green-and-brown striping is unlike anything else in the spring woodland. It emerges in April and May under deciduous trees, holds its unusual form through summer, then transitions to a cluster of bright red berries in fall that are among the most colorful native fruits in the shade garden. Each plant can change sex from year to year depending on available resources: larger, better-fed plants become female and produce berries; smaller plants revert to male. The red berry clusters in fall are a critical food source for thrushes, wood thrushes, and other migratory birds moving through in September. This is one of those plants that rewards people who look carefully at the garden.