Good Stuff From Saturday

Unlike most snakes that I encounter while botanizing, this Northern Water Snake did not chase me down and start biting. Its calm demeanor was much appreciated! (maybe it was just too cold). It was sunning itself in Hobart, Indiana on the north edge of Lake George.

Erythronium americanum, Trout Lily,
at Warren Woods State Park, Berrien County, MI.

Hepatica acutiloba, Sharp-Lobed Hepatica at Warren Woods State Park, Berrien County, MI.

Caltha palustris, Cowslip, Marsh Marigold

Indiana Dunes State Park, Porter County, IN.

Chrysosplenium americanum, Golden Saxifrage,

Indiana Dunes State Park, Porter County, IN.

For a student of the flora, it's hard to imagine anything nicer than a 70-degree Saturday in April spent in the woods!

Photo Quiz

This time of year can be challenging for me, as people bring in a grass seedling or a basal rosette and ask me for an ID. This plant looked familiar, though. Then I found an old flower stalk. Should be easy, although photographs never capture the exact color and color texture.

Tiny Bumbershoots (Podophyllum peltatum)

What's not to love about a forest floor with little umbrellas here and there? It brings to mind mushrooms dancing to the sound of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" in the classic, "Fantasia." Good stuff!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddTBeNv9PwQ

Recent Photos - Just For Fun

Ever wonder why you wallow around in natural areas trying to get nice photos of some plant that's just about impossible to photograph? Well it's just who you are, and it's just what you do. At such times I am always, always reminded of these thoughts by Robert James Waller: "Existence takes on meaning only when you give it meaning – by making it meaningful. And how do you make it meaningful? By listening to those almost-secret voices within you that, at certain critical times, whisper, “This is me.” In those moments, it’s important to consciously note what you are doing and do more of it – a lifetime of it, in fact."

Hepatica acutiloba - Sharp-Lobed Hepatica

Dentaria laciniata - Toothwort

Claytonia virginica - Spring Beauty

Cardamine douglassii - Spring Cress



Phlox bifida - Cleft Phlox, Sand Phlox

A little Madness in the Spring

Is wholesome even for the King,

But God be with the Clown

Who ponders this tremendous scene —

This whole Experiment of Green —

As if it were his own!

(Emily Dickinson)

Mind Trick

I sometimes feel like someone pulled a Jedi mind trick on me when I first started learning wildflowers. They told me that Rue Anemone and False Rue Anemone are confusing. (If only they had confidently told me that I would easily keep them straight in my head...) Since then, they have been confused in my mind, despite the easy differences. However different the plants are, keeping the names separate is another matter. This post is more for me, than for the expert botanists.

Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone) used to be called Anemonella thalictroides.
Enemion biternatum (False Rue Anemone) used to be called Isopyrum biternatum

Rue Anemone has more petaloid sepals, grows in more upland habitats, and has opposite leaves.


False Rue Anemone has four to five petaloid sepals, grows in low woods and moist soils, and has alternate leaves.

Cute as a Button

While my nieces were searching for the Easter eggs I hid around our yard this afternoon, I noticed that the diminutive white flowers of Draba verna were open. Although I was mostly taking photos of the egg hunt, I couldn't resist taking a photo of this cute little mustard.

Weeds or natives, they're all stunning this time of year!

I've been itching to get out and botanize lately, but I have just been too busy. Saturday was too beautiful to be anywhere but outside, so I made sure that we walked a trail after taking our nieces to an Easter egg hunt held at Potato Creek State Park in St. Joseph County, Indiana. There wasn't very much in flower yet, but all of the signs that we saw showed that we aren't very far away.

Have you ever looked closely at Glechoma hederacea? I'm not sure that I had, until today. This putrid, creeping weed was introduced for ornamental and medicinal purposes in the 1800s. The flowers certainly are pretty, but I can see it being more sought after as an ornamental if the flowers were two or three times the size that they are.

Cardamine hirsuta is one of those weeds that you see so often early in the year that you begin to not even notice it anymore. It flowers and goes to fruit very early in the year, and in May you can hear the seeds exploding from the siliques as you walk through a field where it is present. This mustard truly does have cute little flowers, even though it is introduced.

Another mustard, Cardamine concatenata is native to mesic upland forests, bottomland woods, and rocky bluffs in the eastern half of the United States. You can often find this ephemeral in large colonies in somewhat degraded situations as well as in more intact systems.

Ahh, Claytonia virginica, the genus of which was named for 18th Century botanist John Clayton, certainly is a beautiful sight in spring. Being one of the earliest blooming native plants in this part of the country, my photo library is filled with pictures of this purslane. With a range similar to the previous species, spring beauty can be found in intact woods as well as in disturbed areas such as mowed lawns. The tubers are edible (but should first be cooked), and though small, taste like potatoes.

If you're walking through the woods in April and not paying close attention to the forest floor, you may walk right past Erigenia bulbosa. The flowers of this member of the parsely family have petals up to only 4mm long. Erigenia litterally means "born in the spring," which is why this plant is commonly called "harbinger of spring." The tuber referenced by the specific epithet is supposedly edible, though I've never tried it.

Caltha palustris, one of the more gaudy of the spring wildflowers, is often found in swamps, seeps, and along creeks. It is difficult to not notice this plant in April as you drive past wet areas, as the golden glow given off by a colony of marsh marigolds grabs your attention. This buttercup is native in the northern half of North America, as well as in Eurasia. (By the way, check out that tiny insect hanging out on the petal-like sepal.)

I hope you've all had a chance to get out already this spring. As of few of you have mentioned to me, the spring is developing slowly this year, giving even the busiest of us a chance to enjoy its splendor.

2009 Ohio Botanical Symposium - A Recap

I was up and on the road before any birds had started singing and while the frogs were still going at it on Friday morning... but with good reason. I was driving to Columbus, Ohio to attend the 2009 Ohio Botanical Symposium. By the time I arrived home at 9:00 PM, I had driven for 8 1/4 hours and spent the same amount of time at the conference, but I insist that it was well worth it, and would recommend that any of you with interest attend this event next April.

Greg Schneider led off the event by discussing the best plant finds of 2008. Some of these were species potentially new to the state:

• Carex cherokeensis, found by Rick Gardner and Tom Arbour (a follower of this blog, by the way!)
• Carex complanata, found by the amazing Rick Gardner
• Celtis laevigata, found by Brian Riley
• Juncus validus, found by Tim Walters (click here for a recent account of our own Tony Troche finding this species misidentified in the herbarium at Missouri Botanical Garden)
• Pluchea odorata, found by Rick Gardner, Tom Arbour, and Dan Boone (and yes, he's a descendent of THE Daniel Boone)

Others were thought to be extirpated from Ohio:

• Echinodorus berteroi, found by Dan Boone in an area that is farmed during dry years
• Schoenoplectus saximontanus, found by Dan Boone in the same area as the previous species

Yet others were county records or endangered, threatened, or rare species:

• Aureolaria pedicularia v. pedicularia, found by Rick Gardner and Dave Minney
• Betula pumila, found by Rob Curtis
• Botrychium lanceolatum
• Calamagrostis porteri ssp. insperata, found by Rick Gardner, Tom Arbour, and others
• Carex limosa, found in a former limestone quarry by Rick Gardner and Tom Arbour
• Carex planispicata, found by Rick Gardner, Tom Arbour, and others
• Coeloglossum viride, found by Eric Durbin
• Conyza ramosissima, found by Brian Riley
• Cornus canadensis, found by Dave Kriska
• Crataegus uniflora, found by Rick Gardner
• Cypripedium candidum, found by Rich McCarty
• Eleocharis engelmannii, found by renowned naturalist and Get Your Botany On! visitor Jim McCormac
• Geranium bicknellii, found by Gary Haase
• Myriophyllum verticillatum, found by Tim Walters
• Oryzopsis asperifolia, found by Jim Bissell
• Panicum philadelphicum, found by Rick Gardner and Tom Arbour
• Piptochaetium avenaceum, found by Rick Gardner, Tom Arbour, and others
• Platanthera psycodes, found by Dan Boone and Eric Durbin
• Prunus nigra, found by Brian Riley
• Ribes missouriense
• Salix candida, found by Rob Curtis
• Scleria oligantha, found by Rick Gardner
• Triadenum walteri, found by Jim McCormac, and also in another location by Jim Bissell
• Viola nephrophylla, found by Tom Arbour

Rob Curtis also found a previously undocumented bog, within which grew rare species including Chamaedaphne calyculata, Carex oligosperma, Calla palustris, and Potentilla palustris. Two lichens, Usnea substerilis (new to Ohio) and Ramalina farinacea (discovered in Ohio for the first time in 20 years) rounded out the best finds presentation. As you can see, Ohio has a pretty active botanical consortium.

Karen Goodell spoke next about restoration and pollinators, particularly bees. There are ~3500 species of bees in North America, and ~500 of these occur in Ohio. There is a lot of variation in bee species; some are large and can travel distances over 1000 meters, while others are small and only travel up to 100 meters. Some bee species are specialists and will only visit plants from a single genus, while others are generalists. Therefore, a site with a diversity of species, diverse floral morphology, an abundance of flowers, appropriate nesting substrate, and natural habitat within the foraging range of a variety of species will yield a rich bee fauna. Karen has set up a research project in an area that was old field at The Wilds, and will be restoring prairie over time to see how the bee population responds.

Following Karen's talk was the keynote address, given by Hardy Eshbaugh, one of my botany professors from my days at Miami University. Dr. Eshbaugh's presentation dealt with the challenges to biodiversity in the 21st century, and highlighted the following obstacles that we face:

• There is a lot that we don't know. The example that he gave dealt with our knowledge of invertebrate species, which, as he pointed out, is inadequate. We know mammal species pretty well, and we know that 20% of all mammal species are in danger. If we don't know invertebrate species well, then we have no idea how many or which ones are threatened with extinction.
• Exotics/invasives. We all know the problems we face here.
• Habitat preservation/restoration. Dr. Eshbaugh pointed out that we need to form partnerships to preserve large areas of land. He also discussed the use of easements for protecting land. A study in the Brazilian Amazon showed that a restored or preserved site must be at least ~250 acres, as anything smaller will lose biodiversity over time. Much of our current restoration may be missing the point.
• Education agenda. We need to do a better job of educating the underserved population (urban, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, etc.) on our natural history. He also talked about the importance of good field guides and wildflower pilgrimages, and pointed out that wildflower pilgrimages also have important economic benefits for the towns in which they are held. Also important are botanical societies, but more important is coordination between these societies, which may currently be lacking.
• Science. Herbaria and museums are in danger. This is obviously a very bad thing.
• Citizen science. There are some good citizen science projects for birds, and some nationwide botanical citizen science projects (like Budburst), but the individual states need to come up with botanical citizen science programs as well.
• Economic agenda. There is economic value to nature; we we need to better understand what that value is.

Next to speak was Jim Hickey, another of my botany professors at Miami. Dr. Hickey's talk was about the fern allies of Ohio, and was one of my favorite presentations of the day. He went through each of the groups of Lycopsids (club mosses, spike mosses, and quillworts) and the horsetails, and discussed all of the species in each group known from Ohio and how to tell them apart. Among the species discussed were: Lycopodium clavatum, Lycopodium lagopus, Dendrolycopodium obscurum, Dendrolycopodium hickeyi, Dendrolycopodium dendroideum, Diphasiastrum digitatum, Diphasiastrum tristachyum, Diphasiastrum complanatum, Huperzia lucidula, Huperzia porophila, Huperzia appalachiana, Lycopodiella inundata, Lycopodiella subappressa, Selaginella apoda, Selaginella eclipes, Selaginella rupestris, Isoetes engelmannii, Isoetes echinospora, Equisetum arvense, Equisetum fluviatile, Equisetum sylvaticum, Equisetum hyemale, Equisetum laevigatum, and Equisetum variegatum. If anyone has questions on how to tell any of these apart, let me know, and I can pass on what Dr. Hickey uses to distinguish between the species.

Next, Lenny Rhodes gave an interesting talk on woodland fungi. He showed photos of a variety of species and discussed those that were edible and those that were poisonous. This was a very interesting talk on something I know nothing about.

Finally, John Watts talked about various conservation and restoration projects going on at the metroparks in the Columbus area. The Columbus and Franklin County Metroparks are taking a very active role in preserving and restoring natural resources. The work that they are doing includes land preservation, restoration of prairie, wet prairie, savanna, and woodland, prescribed burning, hydrologic restoration, stream restoration, Wood Frog reintroduction, and Northern Riffleshell augmentation.

If you've read this far, then you obviously understand what a great conference this was, and you should strongly consider going in 2010.

Trillium luteum

Growing on the floodplain of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River with the Bluebells.

Tussilago farfara

Coltsfoot
These flowers were growing in a gravel bar along Rock Creek in Tennessee. The genus gets its name from tussis, which means a cough.

Obolaria virginica

Pennywort
Here is another I flower I encountered while backpacking in TN with which I was unfamiliar. I love etymology; obolos was a small Greek coin.

Pachysandra procumbens

Allegheny Spurge
I went backpacking in Tennessee this past weekend and had a great time seeing wildflowers blooming. I learned a new plant, so I thought that I would share it. Bruce helped me identify the it by photograph. It took me a little bit to associate the leaves with the flowers, since they weren't always together.

Acer rubrum, Red Maple - Beautiful in Every Season

One of the most beloved trees of wet forests - Red Maple - is also one of the nicest yard trees we can have, even in uplands. Here are photos from Saturday of pistillate (female) flowers, staminate (male) flowers, and from last October, autumn leaves. Photos from Chamberlain Lake and Ambler Flatwoods nature preserves in northern Indiana.

Halcyon Days!

How rare and wonderful when two days of warm, peaceful weather occur on a weekend in March! First, here’s a more cheery look at Erigenia bulbosa to replace the dark and brooding shot I posted earlier.




Veronica hederifolia (=V. hederaefolia), Ivy-Leaved Speedwell, was flowering away on a south-facing slope (degraded lawn), near the edge of the parking lot at an abandoned K-Mart in South Bend, Indiana. I’ve found this plant at 7 sites in northern Indiana and southern Michigan, and it is always growing densely and in profusion far and wide. Though attractive, it seems to have the potential of becoming a troublesome weed in natural areas. The setaceous hairs are so numerous that the colonies take on a grey-green appearance from a distance.

Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen, along the Norfolk Railroad in Starke County, Indiana.

Hepatica americana, Round-Lobed Hepatica, flowering abundantly on the summit of a west-facing slope above the Yellow River in Starke County, Indiana.

"Shall not a man have his spring as well as the plants?" Henry David Thoreau, journal, June, 1850.

Spring in CO

Any thoughts on what this is? One of our wildlife staff took a photo of this tree and called it one thing but one of our plant ecologists disagreed. Then discussion ensued as well as collecting of branches from other trees followed by more discussion. But you all are experts so I'm thinking you can clarify it for us (after laughing at us).

Scouring the Steep Ozarkian Slopes

Tony Troche, Lindsay, and I were in Missouri last week to spend some time in the herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden with Dana and Justin Thomas (and their son Eli). On Friday afternoon, we left the Garden and drove southwest to Salem, Missouri, where we stayed with Justin and Dana for the weekend. On Sunday, Tony, Justin, and I took a botanizing trip to Carman Springs Natural Area. Our target was Claytonia ozarkensis, a plant collected only twice in Missouri, and that has since become extirpated from the state. We knew that it was probably a bit early to find it in flower, but we hoped that since we had seen a few Claytonia virginica in bloom further north, maybe at least the leaves of C. ozarkensis would be visible if the plant was indeed present at Carman Springs. We searched along a creek on the exposed sandstone layers that were sandwiched between dolomite, using binoculars when the terrain was not hikable. While we did see some very interesting plants, including the remains of Carex woodii and Parnassia grandiflora and fresh leaves of Selaginella eclipes and Dodecatheon meadia, we did not locate any C. ozarkensis. Maybe next time.

At one point on our hike along the creek, Justin noticed some yellow-green leaves high on a steep face of a bluff. We couldn't resist climbing up this shallow-soil incline to find out to what species these leaves belonged (we eventually found that they were Dodecatheon meadia leaves). On the way up, we came across Hepatica americana (=H. nobilis var. obtusa) in bloom, and we couldn't resist taking photos.

Unfortunately, these photos don't do justice to the incline we were dealing with. This photo of Tony on the slope in an adjacent glade community helps to show the incline, but the area on which the H. americana was growing was even more steep.

In a glade portion of the bluff, we found Verbena canadensis (=Glandularia canadensis) in bloom.

This is just a taste of some of the earliest blooming Ozarkian flora to wet your whistle on this first day of spring.

A Sign of Things to Come

Warm rays of the sun worked their charm on the drab brown of the forest floor, and the delightful little Harbinger of Spring unfurled itself once again - a sign of greener days approaching. Erigenia bulbosa, also known as Salt-and-Pepper, is one of the smaller members of the Carrot/Parsley Family, (Apiaceae, or Umbelliferae). This one was photographed in a lovely Beech forest at Potato Creek State Park, on a gentle south-facing slope, just above a tinkling rivulet on March 16th, 2009. Life is good, and spring is wonderful!

Araceae: Symplocarpus foetidus

I'm guessing we aren't playing the family game this year, but I hope that all of you will continue to post what you're seeing throughout the year here on Get Your Botany On.

Everyone has probably already seen it, but yesterday at Kankakee Fen in St. Joseph County, Indiana, I saw Symplocarpus foetidus in bloom for the first time this year. The morphology of this species is typical of the family Araceae, with a spathe (a large bract enclosing the inflorescence) enclosing a spadix (a club-shaped structure with a fleshy axis), on which the individual tiny flowers are located. The genus gets its name from the aggregated ovaries (symploce is Greek for connection, and carpos refers to the fruit), while the specific epithet foetidus refers to the foul odor of the plant when bruised. If you were a fly, you would love the skunky odor emitted by good ol' skunk cabbage, and it would draw you to the plant, where you would unknownly collect and spread its pollen.

For more information on Symplocarpus foetidus and to read about the other signs of spring I have been observing recently, visit this post on Through Handlens and Binoculars.

Frozen Fronds

Yesterday's failed search for signs of spring was a chilly one, but there was beauty in the forest, even so. This is good old Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides, one of many plants that are green all winter. I enjoyed seeing it embedded in ice, but have to admit I'm ready for a break from ice and snow. These are not DSLR pictures.