Moving through the countryside, take note of rose or purple flower clusters among spring’s new greenery.

They adorn shrubs of rhodora, a native member of the heath family, related to mountain laurel, rhododendron and heather. Being shrubs, they may begin with a single stem but will add more over time.

Enjoy these one-to-three-foot wild bushes when they’re in spring bloom. Their oblong leaves may appear at the same time, or just after flowering. After a while, those leaves will slowly dry and the plants will subside into the rest of woodlands’ anonymous summer greenery.

Come winter, rhodoras will lose their leaves, preparing for cold and snow. They can take our kind of winter; further south, the weather may be too warm for them, so we’re privileged to have them survive in our rural wetlands and soggy slopes.

Although their botanical name is Rhododendron canadense, rhodora flowers aren’t quite like rhody blossoms. Petals are separated, rather than forming little trumpets in that flowery ball.

When the plant genealogists (known as taxonomists) first studied rhodoras, the shape of the florets confused them and for years; rhodoras were thought to be stand-alone plants. Then, probably in many of their reasoned argument sessions, the botanists realized that rhodora belonged with the other heaths and were recognized as relatives-in-good-standing (whew!).

Anyway, it’s spring and they’re in Maine, one of the northeastern states where they belong. Enjoy their brief and gaudy season.