Does this young forest look mundane? Uninteresting?
It’s quite the opposite!
At a fraction of an acre, it occupies a little corner in a long-abandoned ag field in St. Joe County, Indiana – out of cultivation for at least 30 years. Most of the surrounding land is yellow clay at the surface, and forests in the vicinity are Beech-Sugar Maple. But this little corner is dominated by Red Maple, with occasional Black Cherry and Sassafras on a sandy substrate. Unlike other Red Maple forests, this one is not in a low lying flat, but upland. The sand is almost certainly underlain with clay, keeping moisture at the surface for long periods of time.
When Red Maple forests aren’t too shady the herbaceous vegetation can be pretty exciting, especially if you like ferns, club mosses, and sedges. I first botanized this site in 1997 and found hundreds of Daisyleaf Grape Ferns (Botrychium matricariaefolium).
In 2008 I was startled to find Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) and Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata).
Downy Rattlesnake Plantain Orchid (Goodyera pubescens)
Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)
Last week I went there to photograph Botrychium dissectum and its segregates and was fortunate to see a tiny Spiranthes orchid in seed. Its identification is guesswork, but diminutive Spiranthes ovalis is a possibility.
On the same visit I saw the lovely Shining Club Moss (Lycopodium lucidulum)!
Interestingly, the club moss was growing right at the base of a tree where water gets funneled when it rains. If you’ve never observed this, it’s worth donning a rain suit and going into the forest while it’s raining. All of the water that doesn’t drip from a tree’s limbs or get absorbed by the bark gets funneled right down the trunk, and even during moderate rain, water comes gushing down. Some plants take advantage of this. For example, Spinulose Wood Fern (Dryopteris spinulosa) will grow anywhere in mesic and wet forests, but in dryer sites it survives at the base of tree trunks. Watch for this – it’s a common sight, at least in northern Indiana. Dryopteris intermedia does this too, as shown in this photo from Warren Woods in Michigan. We should keep this in mind when doing native landscaping. And we should never pass up a chance to botanize a Red Maple forest!
Florist's Fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
The focus of the field trip was to see the fen, which I had never been to. The park is fairly new and not too far away, so it is worth a visit. Most of the park is restored/planted prairie. The prairie is a little lacking in diversity, but the Big Bluestem was impressive. The fen was to the left of the Sycamore stand in the background. The field trip had a good turnout, despite the sprinkles. I was happy to see a fen.
I found this Spiranthes orchid while venturing out to identify a tree. (It turned out to be a Persimmon.) There were several around. I believe that this is Spiranthes cernua, since it has a larger lip, multi-ranked flowers, and nodding flowers.
I love close-up views of Spiranthes. This is the same flower as the photo above. The flower was on a stalk that was at least 18 inches.
This Spiranthes was in the same fen, but quite a ways from the first orchid. This was near the open marl run that had a lot of wonderful fen species like Grass-of-Parnassus and Purple False Foxglove blooming. I believe that this is Spiranthes ovalis, since it is on a slender stem with small flowers, a lip that is less than 5mm, it wasn't flowering in the spring, it didn't have a green center, and the flowers were arranged in three ranks.
Close-up of the S. ovalis. According to Orchids of Indiana by Homoya, this is primarily a southern Indiana species that occurs further north along the Wabash River. It is supposed to prefer partial shade, which was not the case here, but it was in calcareous soil.
This orchid was growing along a dry trail border in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario.
This attractive flower was growing in the dry sand and sunny banks of Lake Okeechobee. It was completely prostrate. I think it might be Tribulus cistoides or Punctureweed.
This interesting flower was growing in saturated soil in wetlands and in upland areas within a sunny power corridor in Levy County. It might be Aletris obovata, which would fit the reported Florida distribution.
Polygala cymosa
I thought it was cool to see a Sabatia with 7 petals. All of the ones around it had the standard five.
Spiranthes praecox
At a fraction of an acre, it occupies a little corner in a long-abandoned ag field in St. Joe County, Indiana – out of cultivation for at least 30 years. Most of the surrounding land is yellow clay at the surface, and forests in the vicinity are Beech-Sugar Maple. But this little corner is dominated by Red Maple, with occasional Black Cherry and Sassafras on a sandy substrate. Unlike other Red Maple forests, this one is not in a low lying flat, but upland. The sand is almost certainly underlain with clay, keeping moisture at the surface for long periods of time.
Interestingly, the club moss was growing right at the base of a tree where water gets funneled when it rains. If you’ve never observed this, it’s worth donning a rain suit and going into the forest while it’s raining. All of the water that doesn’t drip from a tree’s limbs or get absorbed by the bark gets funneled right down the trunk, and even during moderate rain, water comes gushing down. Some plants take advantage of this. For example, Spinulose Wood Fern (Dryopteris spinulosa) will grow anywhere in mesic and wet forests, but in dryer sites it survives at the base of tree trunks. Watch for this – it’s a common sight, at least in northern Indiana. Dryopteris intermedia does this too, as shown in this photo from Warren Woods in Michigan. We should keep this in mind when doing native landscaping. And we should never pass up a chance to botanize a Red Maple forest!
