River Scenes and Plant Quiz

Some of you know that I spend a lot of time on beautiful rivers in “the land of sky blue water,” northern Wisconsin.
When I see a river purling beside me I always wonder where it’s going, and where it comes from.

I wonder what kinds of fish live in it, and what wonderful plants grow on its islands and forested slopes.

I wonder what it looked like when the early Frenchmen plied its waters. Did the Indians travel this water? Did they fish here and leave arrowheads and spearpoints on the bottom?

Now I must admit that I’ve been misleading. While the statements are true, the photos are not from the northwoods at all (I never said they were!). You may have noticed the absence of birch, white pine, balsam fir and other favorites of the north country. The photos were taken within the city limits of South Bend, Indiana, along the St. Joseph River. No kidding. They’re just snapshots from a point and shoot camera which rarely records the color of the sky correctly.

The city recently completed a multi-use path that follows the west side of the river from Darden Road all the way to Angela Drive. The opposite shoreline is mostly undeveloped – part of it is an Izaac Walton preserve, and most belongs to St. Mary’s College. The city plans to extend the path soon and connect with Mishawaka’s Riverwalk.

Projects like this enhance the quality of life for city dwellers and anyone who visits. Many people use the path for walking, jogging and biking, and it’s common to see canoes, kayaks, and fishing boats going about their merry way on the river. Occasional fishermen (and women) try their luck along the shore. Admittedly, the river is not pristine and pure along this stretch after passing through Elkhart and Mishawaka, and carrying away their (treated) effluent. Even so, the city officials of South Bend and Mishawaka are to be commended for making an effort to improve the quality of life for everyone by making it easier to get outside and get active in a scenic place. The views of the river are surprisingly nice, and they make one wonder if it looked much different in the days of LaSalle, Coquillard, and Navarre.

Finally, since this is a botany blog, here’s a grass that was growing along the path. It has a distinctive look, even before flowering. Can you name it?

Flowers? Heck, where have all the BOTANISTS gone?

Professional botanists and ecologist throughout the United States were sent a questionnaire last year regarding the state of botanical study and practice at the academic and applied levels. Having all but forgotten the survey, I was surprised to find a synopsis of the report in the most recent issue of the Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter. The article directs readers to the full report at the following web address:

http://www.bgci.org/files/UnitedStates/BCAPReportInBriefGov.pdf

I thought this might be an interesting forum (via comments) to discuss the results. So, what do you think? And, more importantly, what does it all mean?

It's A Purple Platanthera Party...

... and you're all invited!

On Thursday morning, on a tip from Derek Nimetz of Indiana Department of Natural Resources - Division of Nature Preserves, Tony and I swung by a site in Lake County, Indiana to find Platanthera psycodes, Small Purple Fringed-Orchid, in bloom. We certainly were not disappointed!


Then, on Saturday afternoon at the Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey in Greene County, Indiana, on a tip from Kirk Roth, I had the opportunity to see the other purple Platanthera in Indiana, Platanthera peramoena, Purple Fringeless-Orchid. (For more information on the results of the Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey, visit my blog entry at Through Handlens and Binoculars.)


It is difficult to argue the attractiveness of either of these purple beauties. Although both are found in Indiana, Platanthera psycodes is found primarily in the northern tier of counties, whereas Platanthera peramoena primarily inhabits counties in the southern half of the state. The habitat in which these two similar looking species grow is also quite different. As Keith pointed out in his post about a year ago, P. psycodes is found in forested seep wetlands, along springy streams, in wet prairies, and in bogs; in Indiana, it nearly always is associated with groundwater-fed wetlands. Conversely, P. peramoena grows most commonly in floodplains and uplands, though it can sometimes be found along ditches, ponds, or lakes. When found in forested areas, as it sometimes is, the plants are spindly and the flowers are a paler color. However, it is often found looking very healthy in open areas that have resulted from disturbance.

These two purple Platanthera are sometimes confused for one another, but if habitat and location weren't enough, taking a close look at the flowers can quickly provide a correct identification.


The photograph above shows the flower of Small Purple Fringed-Orchid; by looking at the lip, you can see where it gets its name. In addition, psycodes means "butterfly," apparently a reference to the shape of the flowers.


The photograph above shows the flower of Purple Fringeless-Orchid. It kind of looks like some loving Saturday morning cartoon character, doesn't it? Although the lip can be erose in this species, it is not fringed as in Platanthera psycodes. Coincidentally, peramoena means "very loving," referring to the beautiful inflorescense.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief Purple Platanthera Party. If you haven't had enough, get out there and find them for yourself! Photographs do not do justice to the elegance of these species.


Reference:
Homoya, M. (1993). Orchids of Indiana. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Science.

Plant Quiz=Panicum flexile

A plant quiz is far from overdue.

The ability to identify grasses without fertile material is not for the faint of heart and is one of the most challenging (and ignored) aspects of floristic botany. Most species can readily be identified by their leaves, sheaths, ligules, stems, pubescence, habit and habitat. Familiarity is the key.

Since this is especially challenging, I'll add a new clue each day until someone gets it right. Good luck!

Celebrating Nature Photography Day, June 15, 2010

Linnaea borealis, Pattison State Park, Douglas County, Wisconsin

Pyrola asarifolia, Pattison State Park, Douglas County, Wisconsin

Cornus canadensis, Erickson Creek Forest and Wetlands, Douglas County, Wisconsin

Calystegia spithamaea, Erickson Creek Forest and Wetlands, Douglas County, Wisconsin

Iris versicolor, Pokegama Wetlands, Douglas County, Wisconsin
How could I not post a few photos on Nature Photography Day??

I've Discovered The Secret To Time Travel!

It's already mid-June. Where did Spring 2010 go? There were so many plants that I had hoped to see in flower this year that have already done their thing. Given that the average lifespan of a human male is approximately 72 years, I only have approximately 38 more seasons to see the spring wildflowers. Sort of depressing, really. Therefore, I've developed a means of time travel to allow me to see the spring wildflowers at various times during the year. All you've got to do is spend April in Missouri/Arkansas, May in Indiana/Ohio, and June in northern Wisconsin.


Take, for example, the genus Trillium. After seeing Trillium pusillum var. ozarkanum, Trillium recurvatum, Trillium sessile, Trillium viride, and Trillium viridescens in Arkansas and Missouri in April, I saw Trillium flexipes, Trillium grandiflorum, Trillium recurvatum, and Trillium sessile blooming in Indiana in May. I was sure I had seen the last of the Trillium flowers for the year, when this week in Superior, Wisconsin, I saw Trillium cernuum in bloom, shown above.


Castilleja coccinea has a long blooming period in this part of the country. Regardless, I have now seen it flowering in Missouri in April and now in Superior, Wisconsin in June (above).


It's been a productive year for finding Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens in flower. I saw this stunner this year first in Arkansas in April, then in Ohio in May, and this week (June) in Superior, Wisconsin (shown above). If I continued my travels north, I could find this species blooming as late as August at the northern extent of its range!


Although Cypripedium acaule blooms in the Chicago Region until mid- to late-June, I was pretty sure I had missed it this year... until I spent time in the Northwoods of Wisconsin this week. Above, it is shown in bloom on June 10 at Erickson Creek Forest and Wetlands State Natural Area in Douglas County, Wisconsin.


When I saw Clintonia borealis in northern Indiana on 26 May 2010, it was already finished flowering and the characteristic "bluebead" fruit were beginning to form. Again, all I had to do to turn back the clock was to go north. This week, it was blooming in profusion in Douglas County, Wisconsin, as shown above.

Okay, so it isn't really time travel, but I'm doing everything I can, given my limited time for botanizing, to essentially slow down the progression of spring. Until a time machine really is created, following plants as they flower from south to north is the best I can do.

Great Lakes Oak Savannas

I've spent most of the last week in the sandy soil oak savannas of northwest Indiana and northwest Ohio. Here are a few photos from my recent travels.


The photograph above is typical of the east-west oriented dune and swale (also called swell and swale) formations in northwest Indiana. This topography is the result of glacial Lake Michigan slowly retreating after an outlet formed in the Valparaiso Moraine that had previously served as the southern boundary of the lake. The dunes (or swell) are characterized by savanna and sand prairie; the swales consist of shrub swamps and emergent marshes. I was in this part of the state last week to complete surveys for federally endangered Karner Blue Butterflies.

The flora in the Oak Openings region of northwest Ohio bares a striking resemblance to that of northwest Indiana, though this region lacks the higher dunes and organized swell and swale pattern found in northwest Indiana. The Oak Openings region formed as glacial Lake Warren receeded after the last ice age. The resulting plant communities consist of sand prairie, savanna, and wet prairie. Disturbances including fire, natural hydrological fluctuations, and impacts from macrofauna kept these plant communities from undergoing succession and becoming forests. Today, we lack the macrofauna and instead have to rely on bulldozers and ATVs to create disturbances necessary to keep the wet sand flats like that shown below from undergoing succession. Areas like this harbor numerous rare plants found nowhere else in the state. I was in the Oak Openings region for the Michigan Botanical Club's annual spring foray.


Lupinus perennis ssp. perennis var. occidentalis (Wild Lupine, below) is blooming right now and is a common component in the sand prairies and oak savannas. This species is found throughout the Great Lakes states and along the east coast of the United States.


Often, Lupinus perennis ssp. perennis var. occidentalis is found in association with Lithospermum caroliniense var. croceum (Carolina Puccoon), as in the photograph below. Lithospermum caroliniense var. croceum is known from a large area through North America ranging from Ontario to Colorado to Arakansas to New York.


Another species of dry sandy soils in prairies, savannas, fields, and sand blowouts is Asclepias amplexicaulis (Clasping Milkweed), shown below. Plants of this species that I saw in northwest Indiana had not yet begun to flower when I saw them last week; however, this plant in the Oak Openings had begun to bloom. Asclepias amplexicaulis is known from most of the eastern half of North America.


In sand blowouts in northwest Indiana, I came across Hudsonia tomentosa (Woolly Beachheather, below). This species, known from most of the northeastern half of North America, is considered threatened in Indiana and extirpated from Ohio. Throughout its range, Hudsonia tomentosa grows in beaches, pine woods, and barrens, and on sand hills.


Lastly, in an oak savanna at Kitty Todd Nature Preserve, we saw Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens (Greater Yellow Lady's Slipper, below). Although it is known from most of North America, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens is a species of concern in many states, and always provides a thrill. You can find this showy orchid in a variety of habitats including forest, savanna, prairie, and fen.

Land of Flowers 5

Asimina angustifolia
This pawpaw was growing in a very sandy soil in a sunny powerline corridor in Madison County. It was a frequent low-growing shrub. I imagine that the gopher tortoises like the fruit.

Campanula floridana
This flower was frequent in the under-grazed sections of the cattle pastures in Okeechobee County.

Kalmia hirsuta
Hairy Wicky was growing in a wetland right on the county line between Madison and Lafayette County.

Passiflora incarnata
This passionflower was growing in the same sandy, sunny powerline corridor as the pawpaw in Madison County.

Richardia grandiflora
This attractive weed was growing along the shoulder of a highway in Martin County.

Ruellia caroliniensis
This wild petunia was growing along the margins of wetlands in Levy County.

Land of Flowers 4

This is a post designed to be a plant quiz for Scott, but any other help would be appreciated. I'll try and give as much information as I can. Even tips to a genus are useful. Some identified or half identified flowers were thrown in for good measure.
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 had not seen this before, but I recognized it as a Polygala. It was growing on the edge of a Cypress swamp in Levy County.

I thought it was cool to see a Sabatia with 7 petals. All of the ones around it had the standard five.

Spiranthes praecox
Tony found this orchid species in the power corridor in Levy County.

Rain Garden, Rain Barrel, and Softening Our Footprint

Many of us who were green when green wasn’t cool are surprised and delighted to experience the sea change in society’s attitude toward conservation. Some of the ideas seem misguided but it's a start. Even TV and radio commercials for businesses like Home Depot mention taking care of the planet. Meijer has teamed up with The Nature Conservancy to avoid selling invasives in the garden center, and energy-efficient lighting is becoming the norm. The list goes on. We now have electric cars and hybrids that are stylish! Recycling is no longer nerdy, and people who drive electric cars look pretty darn cool. Those who still use 6000 horsepower racing engines to get groceries look… not so cool.

Little things that we do to soften our footprint on the earth can have a significant effect if we sustain them over the years, teach them to our children and others, and if more and more people make the effort. Here are some things my wife and I do at our house to go easy on Earth, our favorite planet.

Rain Garden: Water from the roof goes to a rain garden in the back yard instead of a storm drain, where it can gradually seep into the soil. Wetland plants take up water and hopefully break down pollutants. In autumn, some of the detritus from herbaceous plants is mulched into the vegetable garden.

Brick Runnel: Made from scavenged street paving bricks, this porous paving system carries rain water from downspouts to the rain garden. It works beautifully and is fun to watch from a nearby window during a hard rain!

Rain Barrel: We catch rain water for use throughout the yard. The used plastic barrel was purchased for six bucks and I installed a valve near the base where a garden hose can be connected. The valve is a few inches above the base to avoid sediment. At the top we have a circular frame made from reclaimed wood to which is attached hardware cloth (wire mesh) to keep out detritus and window screen to prevent mosquito breeding. The downspout runs behind and underneath the barrel (see photo), and a wooden “diverter” allows water to be diverted into the barrel when necessary. When the diverter is placed in the ‘up’ position, water bypasses the barrel, goes onto the brick runnel and into the rain garden. If the diverter is down and the barrel gets full, an overflow hose (made from an old shopvac hose) sends the water down to the runnel. Scavenged concrete blocks elevate the barrel and allow the downspout to run underneath it. The barrel isn’t too attractive looking, so this year I plan to build a wooden latticework of reclaimed wood and allow a native vine (perhaps Clematis virginiana, Virgin’s Bower) to climb on it. In addition to concealing the barrel, it will provide shade to keep the water cool.

In winter, the diverter is removed and the hole in the downspout is covered with a split piece of downspout held in place with two zip ties. No big deal. The barrel is stored in the garage.

Food: This is what our meals look like. Mixed fresh and frozen vegetables (sodium and fat free) are cooked in a pressure cooker with a variety of sodium-free seasonings. After the pot comes up to pressure in about 5 minutes, it only has to cook another 5 minutes. We use a collapsible metal thing with holes in it to keep the veggies up out of the water at the bottom, and by filling the pot full there are enough veggies to last all week as side dishes. Very little energy is used for this. The fish and chicken that we eat cooks quickly too, but it is cooked fresh every time.

Compost: We have a large vegetable garden which has not seen fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticide in the 17 years we’ve lived here. Instead of a compost heap, we bury kitchen midden and assorted yard detritus right in the ground, all year. Corn cobs are buried very deep to prevent squirrels digging them up. We produce a bucket full of rich organic kitchen midden every week (apple cores, carrot shavings, potato peels, banana peels, orange and grapefruit peels and other assorted food scrap), and burying this in mid winter can be a challenge. So in late fall we dig a series of bucket-sized holes in the garden and pile up the soil right next to them. No matter how frozen the ground, we can dump the bucket and almost always bust loose a large clod of soil to put on top. When that doesn’t work, a bunch of snow will cover it until the next thaw. The sun’s warmth in March and April gets the soil biota going, and by the time we’re ready to turn the soil, it’s just that, soil, with no trace of food scraps, with the exception of the most recent few batches. We have enough sand in our soil that it doesn’t turn to a sticky gumbo – most garden plants like well drained soil. If you have clay this method of composting might not be suitable for garden plants.

Tilling the Garden: After a long winter of reading, writing, and grading papers I tend to be severely out of shape, and meaningful exercise is needed and wanted. I till the garden with a shovel, one spadeful at a time. Turn it over, chop it up, and when a large area is done, rake it out with a garden rake. The workout is strenuous and thorough over the course of a week or two; no fossil fuels are consumed, and the only carbon pumped into the atmosphere is from my own respiration etc., not counting the bare soil carbon loss. It’s a good feeling.

Landscaping: Our landscaping is mostly North American native plants and scavenged materials. The plants are grown from seed and cuttings, and rescued from sites about to be destroyed. We absolutely NEVER use treated lumber for anything. It is shocking to see a children’s jungle gym playground made from that stuff. It’s poisonous and carcinogenic. And unlike a lot of people, we do not mow the grass three times a week. We mow when it needs mowing, and since we don’t fertilize, it doesn’t need mowing very often. By increasing the size of native plant areas, the lawn has been reduced by 30 or 40 percent in the last ten years, and this trend will gradually continue.

Dicentra spectabilis, Bleeding Heart (Fumariaceae), very easy to spread by root division.

Resource Recycling… is exactly what nature does so well. Curbside pickup makes it easy for us to recycle a lot of household waste, and reclaimed materials are used whenever possible. We have an area along the edge of the yard beneath spruce trees where raked leaves, limbs and branches go to rot. When rich soil is needed, we get it there, not from the store.

We are fortunate to live in a town where limbs and branches are collected and ground up for mulch, which is given away free to town residents. They also compost grass clippings and leaves, so rich soil is always available in large amounts. You just have to pick out the occasional radiator hose or milk carton.

Reclaimed Materials: I have built all of the furniture and cabinetry in our house from reclaimed lumber. An example is shown here. The table legs are made from oak 4x4 industrial blocking that washed up on the beach at Lake Michigan during a storm.

In addition, we replaced our old, inefficient windows with good ones from Crestline (made in Wisconsin, ordered through Menards) and my son and I did the work ourselves. Nice, wide window sills were made from reclaimed red oak - good stuff. Two of the windows had sliders that were slightly warped and the company sent new ones right away, free of charge, and didn't want the others returned. I used them to make cold frames for the garden with scavenged rigid foam insulation. They work very well and protect seedlings through many sub-freezing nights in spring. They almost always have to be propped open during the day or the plants will overheat.
Laundry: We do a lot of laundry, and all but the filthiest is washed in cold water. This saves natural gas, puts less carbon into the atmosphere, and saves money. And we only take cold showers…...ok, that might be an exaggeration.

Solar and Wind Powered Clothes Dryer: Finally, after teaching industrial design and drafting for years, I have brought together all of my experience to develop an invention that could save large amounts of electricity, natural gas, and other fossil fuels. I am introducing the KB2010 Solar and Wind Powered Clothes Dryer, guaranteed to work on sunny days, and I plan to sell it for the amazing low price of just 75 dollars plus shipping and handling. See illustration below of this amazing invention in action, and let me know right away if you would like to purchase one.

On a more serious note, can you believe that hanging laundry on a clothesline is against the law in thousands of “communities” in the US? Incredible. These are the same places where it’s against the law to raise the hood of your car. It would be difficult to live and flourish in such a place. http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/join-the-fight-to-legalize-clotheslines/