The Marianist Nature Preserve is maintained by the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) at Mount St. John. This was my first visit, and I hiked a short loop of the trail that took me from an open wildflower meadow at the Sacred Embrace Earthwork, through oak/hickory/dogwood woods to the Woodland Fen, and then along a little side loop trail through the Moist Woods and overlooking the Brother Don Geiger Tall Grass Prairie.

These little white-flowered herbs were blooming all along the stretch of woodland trail leading out to the restored prairie. They were probably the most common wildflower in bloom there. For plants with such a mystical common name, the were disappointingly plain looking. Still, I've heard about these for years and never put a face to a name, so it satisfying to finally see them.