Adirondack Foray, Part I

For the past couple of years, Bruce Behan has been trying to get me to join him on a trip to upstate New York to check out the flora in his old stomping grounds just south of the Canadian border.  Luckily, our timing finally worked out this year and I was able to join Bruce three days of botanizing in the Adirondacks in early June.  Our trip started on an interesting note, with a slow leak in the front passenger side tire of the rental car, caused by a screw, as it turns out, before we had even left South Bend.  After getting the tire patched, we were four hours behind schedule, but the next 13 hours of our trip to Blue Mountain Lake were smooth sailing until we were just 25 miles from our cabin and the car started shaking.  Upon stopping, we found that the same tire had gone flat.  No cell phone service, no light, it began to drizzle, and we were changing a tire at just before midnight.  The next morning we were able to find a service station in Tupper Lake, New York that found that we'd run over a nail that punctured the tire just inches from the spot that was patched less than 24 hours previously.  This second tire patching led to another half-day delay, but by the time the tire was patched things were looking up, as the steady rain had slowed to a sprinkle and we were on our way to Silver Lake Bog.

Silver Lake Bog

At the 98-acre Silver Lake Bog Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy, we were able to take in Beech-Hemlock Mesic Forest, Northern White Cedar Swamp, Pine Bluff overlooking Silver Lake, and the namesake of the preserve, Black Spruce-Tamarack Bog.  The mesic forest had an understory heavily dominated by ferns and boreal herbaceous species, whereas Sphagnum mosses and species with an affinity to wet, low pH conditions covered the bog.  A few of the plants we saw included Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum), Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum), Small Pussytoes (Antennaria howellii ssp. petaloidea), Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera), Drooping Woodland Sedge (Carex arctata), Fibrousroot Sedge (Carex communis), Nodding Sedge (Carex gynandra), Boreal Bog Sedge (Carex magellanica ssp. irrigua), Bluebead (Clintonia borealis), Yellow Coralroot (Corallorhiza trifida), Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium acaule), Intermediate Woodfern (Dryopteris intermedia), Creeping Snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula), Western Oakfern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), Catberry (Ilex mucronata), Tamarack (Larix laricina), Stiff Clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), Tree Groundpine (Lycopodium dendroideum), Pennsylvania Clubmoss (Lycopodium hickeyi), Threeleaf False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum trifolium), Black Spruce (Picea mariana), Oldpasture Bluegrass (Poa saltuensis), Bog Labrador Tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum), Dwarf Red Blackberry (Rubus pubescens), White Goldenrod (Solidago bicolor), New York Fern (Thelypteris noveboracensis), Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), Red Trillium (Trillium erectum), and Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum). We also noted Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), Veery (Catharus fuscescens), Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla), Northern Parula (Setophaga americana), Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens), Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), and White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), nearly all by song as our eyes were on the vegetation.

Equisetum sylvaticum

Woodland Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum) was common in the Northern White Cedar Swamp understory.  This member of the prehistoric genus Equisetum is one of those plants that just gives you the feel of a boreal community.  Although not showy in the sense of flowering plants, an understory full of the branched branches radiating in whorls around the stems gives a lacy appearance that is beautiful and intriguing in its own right.  Woodland Horsetail grows in moist soils in open woods, shrubby areas, and meadows.  It has a circumpolar distribution; in North America it can be found throughout Canada and into the northern parts of the United States (but particularly in the northern Great Lakes and New England states).

Linnaea borealis

Also in the Northern White Cedar Swamp and along the boardwalk through the bog we encountered Twinflower (Linnaea borealis), a dwarf shrub with paired pink trumpet-shaped flowers.  This is another species that is more common to the north and that reaches its southern limits in the northern United States with the exception of higher elevation areas in the western part of the country, where the altitide provides a climate similar to that in Canada and the northwoods and allows its distribution to push further south.  Also circumpolar in distribution, this species is found in forests and boggy swamps, and it is no wonder after seeing the cute groundcover why Carl Linnaeus named this as his favorite plant species.

Spring Pond Bog

The following morning we travelled to Franklin County, New York and visited what was expected to be the highlight of the trip, Spring Pond Bog, another Nature Conservancy Property.  We started our hike in Mixed Mesic Forest and walked along an Esker before entering the enormous 500-acre Patterned Peatland.  Some of the more characteristic plants that we saw at this preserve include Striped Maple, Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia var. glaucophylla), Northern Shorthusk (Brachyelytrum aristosum), Fibrousroot Sedge, Coastal Sedge (Carex exilis), Nerveless Woodland Sedge (Carex leptonervia), Boreal Bog Sedge, Threeseeded Sedge (Carex trisperma), Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), Threeleaf Goldthread (Coptis trifolia), Bunchberry Dogwood (Cornus canadensis), Intermediate Woodfern, New York Fern, Tussock Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum var. spissum), Harlequin Blueglag (Iris versicolor), Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), Bog Laurel (Kalmia polifolia), Tamarack, Threeleaf False Lily of the Valley, Black Spruce, Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), Bog Labrador Tea, Starflower (Trientalis borealis), Painted Trillium, and two varieties of Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium var. angustifolium and V. angustifolium var. nigrum). Birds of interest included a cooperative Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis), Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum), Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum), Ovenbird, and Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca).  As you will see below, we were not disappointed, as Spring Pond Bog produced what turned out to arguably be the highlight of the trip.

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea

Another of the characteristic species within the Patterned Peatland community was the carnivorous plant Purple Pitcherplant (Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea).  Purple Pitcherplant is a regular part of plant communities such as bogs, fens, peatlands, and swamps, and I don't think I've ever seen it at a site and not taken a photo of it.  Try as I might, I was soon on hands and knees with my camera out to shoot this charismatic species.  Purple Pitcherplant is known from much of Canada and the eastern half of the United States.

Vaccinium oxycoccos

If you aren't familiar with the plant in the photograph above, you may be surprised to find that the fruit that develops when the flower matures is quite tasty and tart and known as Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos).  This small and easily overlooked plant was common nestled amongst the Sphagnum mosses in the Patterned Peatland at Spring Pond Bog.  It is often mistaken for the similar Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), which is the cranberry that is cultivated for commercial use.  Small Cranberry has smaller fruits, leaves that are strongly rolled down along the margins (revolute) and thickly white underneath, and a tiny pair of reddish bracts that are usually attached below the middle of the flower stalk.  Large Cranberry, on the other hand, has larger fruits, leaves that are slightly rolled down along the margins and pale beneath, and a pair of small green bracts above the middle of the flower stalks.  In addition, flowers of Small Cranberry appear to be at the tips of the plants , whereas those of Large Cranberry are on stalks from the middle of the plant .  Small Cranberry grows in bogs, fens, muskegs, and in tundra.  It has a mostly circumboreal distribution, except that it is not known from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.  Its range extends south into the northern parts of the United States, continuing to southern extents at high elevations along the Cascades and the Appalachians.

Carex oligosperma

If asked to name a sedge that occurs in bogs, my first response would be Fewseed Sedge (Carex oligosperma), so we were not surprised to find that this species was common in boggy areas at Spring Pond Bog.  Fewseed Sedge spreads by underground stems known as rhizomes, allowing it to form mats of vegetation.  This method of vegetative reproduction means that the plant puts most of its energy into its underground growth, so it doesn't flower and produce fruit as often as species that don't spread by rhizomes.  Since it often doesn't have flowers or fruit, it is easily overlooked.  In addition to bogs, Fewseed Sedge can be found in poor fens, marshes, and in openings in swamps through much of Canada, around the Great Lakes, and in the New England States; there is also a disjunct population in North Carolina.

Carex pauciflora

A less common sedge with a similar geographical range to that of Fewseed Sedge and that grows in similar plant communities is Fewflower Sedge (Carex pauciflora).  Finding this plant was the highlight of the trip for about an hour, until as you will see below its status was usurped.  Fewflower Sedge is often a small-stature sedge that is easily overlooked.  The mature perigynia are easily dislodged, and they can stick in animal fur or botanist socks, allowing them to be spread by a means not normally used by sedges.

Platanthera blephariglottis var. blephariglottis

As we were botanizing the Patterned Peatland we began seeing orchid leaves that we suspected belonged to White Fringed Orchid (Platanthera blephariglottis var. blephariglottis), but since this is generally a summer bloomer we didn't expect to see it in flower.  Because of the warm spring, however, we were able to find a few plants on 5 June on which a couple of flowers had opened, and sure enough it was White Fringed Orchid.  This beautiful orchid (don't judge it on my photo!) is known from the New England states and several adjacent Canadian provinces south and west to Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan; there is also a disjunct population recorded in central Illinois.  It grows in bogs and peaty meadows, as well as in pine savannas.

Okay, you've waited patiently, so now the trip highlight.  While gingerly walking through Sphagnum and sedges, I was lucky enough to glance down at the right time and to somehow distinguish the greenish-red lips of blooming Southern Twayblade (Listera australis) from the greenish-red sphagnum that was so abundant in the Patterned Peatland at Spring Pond Bog.  Bruce probably thought I'd been shot with how fast I dropped to the ground to see this 20 cm tall gem.  Upon getting down to its level, we were able to find several more individuals forming a small population. 

Listera australis

You may be thinking... "I thought Scott and Bruce were in New York and were seeing species with boreal distributions... what is this 'Southern' Twayblade all about?"  As its common name suggests, Southern Twayblade is mostly a species of the southern United States, found from Texas and Oklahoma to Florida (with a disjunct plant, one plant, found in Missouri recently by one Justin Thomas).  The scattered distribution of the species then continues north along the Atlantic coast, with a few county records as far north in the United States as Vermont; it is also known from a few Canadian provinces.  Southern Twayblade grows in bogs, marshes, and moist forests and can easily be overlooked.  In fact, the best that we've been able to tell, our observation of this small population represents a first record for Franklin County.  In addition, the species is considered endangered in New York, adding to the excitement of finding it.

Listera australis flower close-up, showing the long lip

The similar Heartleaf Twayblade (Listera cordata) is much more widespread and is found in similar habitats.  The lip on the flowers of Heartleaf Twayblade is smaller than that of Southern Twayblade, and the flowers overall are larger than those of Southern Twayblade.  We spent probably an hour photographing Southern Twayblade and taking measurements to justify our identification, as well as taking notes on the population so that we could report it to the appropriate individuals.

Stay tuned for Adirondack Foray, Part II, which will cover the end of our second day as well as our third day of botanizing in the Empire State.

Better Late Than Never

As I prepare for our annual spring botany trip (this year to the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas), I realize that I never posted more photos from Trillium Tromp 2009. After giving an hour-long presentation on spring wildflowers for the South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society this afternoon, I think I've said enough for one day, so I will let the photos below from our trip to Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia speak for themselves...

Treefrog (likely Green Treefrog [Hyla cinerea]) peaking out from Green Pitcherplant (Sarracenia oreophila), Coosa River Bog Preserve, Alabama

Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Red form of Yellow Thistle (Cirsium horridulum), Coosa River Bog Preserve, Alabama

Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium acaule), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Ruth's Littlebrownjug (Hexastylis arifolia var. ruthii), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Closeup of flowers of Ruth's Littlebrownjug

Largeflower Heartleaf (Hexastylis shuttleworthii), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Closeup of flowers of Largeflower Heartleaf

Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), Old Stone Fort State Park, Tennessee

Granite Gooseberry (Ribes curvatum), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Green Pitcherplant (Sarracenia oreophila), Coosa River Bog Preserve, Alabama

Bashful Wakerobin (Trillium catesbaei), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Little Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum), Cloudland Canyon State Park, Georgia

Furrowed Wakerobin (Trillium sulcatum), Cloudland Canyon State Park, Georgia

Appalachian Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides), Old Stone Fort State Park, Tennessee

Yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima), DeSoto State Park, Alabama

Swamp Angel Nature Preserve

The Nature Conservancy held a "member hike" at one of their premier northeastern Indiana preserves on September 13, 2009, and I was fortunate enough to have a free day so that I could attend. The preserve is known as Swamp Angel. It was named after the love interest of the main character in the novel Freckles, written in 1904 by Indiana wildlife photographer, amateur naturalist, and author Gene Stratton-Porter. In the novel, Swamp Angel disapproved of deforestation for agriculture and other development.

TNC Land Steward Beth Mizell led a brief but informative two-hour hike through a variety of plant communities, discussing the active management that is taking place at the property while we walked. While I would have loved to spend more time botanizing the entire 92-acre property, I very much enjoyed scratching the surface in the savanna and fen communities of this outstanding preserve. The photograph directly below shows a Black Oak (Quercus velutina), White Oak (Quercus alba), and Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) -dominated savanna located on a kame (a gravelly mound deposited by a glacier). This community is characterized by large, open-growth trees and an open understory, and it is dependent upon fire to maintain this structure.

Below is a photograph typical of the fen community. Fens are generally grassy and sedgy communites. This time of the year, grasses and sedges such as Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Bluejoint Grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), Twig Rush (Cladium mariscoides), and Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) are obvious, as are composites including Bristly Aster (Aster puniceus), Flat-topped Aster (Aster umbellatus), Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum), Spotted Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatoriadelphus maculatus), Giant Sunflower (Helianthus giganteus), Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata), Riddell's Goldenrod (Oligoneuron riddellii), and Swamp Goldenrod (Solidago patula). Fens are amazing, particularly because it seems that there is something different in bloom every week of the growing season. They are particularly exciting for me in the early summer, when the sedges (Carex spp.) are in fruit.

Without active management including selective shrub removal and burning, this fen would undergo natural succession and become a shrub-dominated (often called shrub-carr) system. We saw evidence of this succession in pockets of shrubs including Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron radicans), Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa), Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), Pussy Willow (Salix discolor), and Sageleaf Willow (Salix candida).

One of the most charismatic fen species this time of the year is Lesser Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis procera), shown directly above and below. There aren't many flowering plants that can match the gorgeous blue of this four-petaled crowd-pleaser. To see my post at Get Your Botany On! on the differences between this species and the very similar Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita), click here.

Another late-flowering fen species is Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia glauca), shown in the photograph below. Contrary to what the common name suggests, this species is traditionally placed in the Saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae), or sometimes in the Grass of Parnassus family (Parnassiaceae). The egg-shaped leaves and mesmerizing pattern of venation on the petals make this quite an attractive plant. I have to believe that the green veins on the white petals, coupled with the golden false nectaries inside the flower, have evolved for the sole purpose of guiding insects to the center of the flower, where they then collect and disperse pollen.

A less conspicuous but regular component of fens in northern Indiana is Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii), which is treated as a member of the Bellflower family (Campanulaceae) and sometimes of the Lobelia familiy (Lobeliaceae). Pictured below, this species has narrow stem leaves and slightly broader, spatulate basal leaves. The two upper petals remind me of the ears of a jackrabbit.

What makes a wetland a fen is the fact that it is a groundwater-driven system; this groundwater has often become calcareous after flowing through adjacent uplands with limestone substrate. Many scientists consider a fen a system with neutral to alkaline water chemistry, as opposed to a bog, which is acidic. However, I have also read scientific papers that define a fen as a groundwater fed wetland, regardless of chemistry, and a bog as a former kettle lake with no groundwater influence. Using the latter definition, a fen can be a rich fen (neutral to alkaline, nutrient rich) or a poor fen (acidic, nutrient poor). I tend to use the second definition, and Swamp Angel seems to be a good example of a fen with both rich and poor components. While much of the area we saw at Swamp Angel was dominated by fen plants that grow in neutral to alkaline conditions, Beth also took us to a portion of the fen where plants that grow in soils with lower pH values were dominant. This area still was groundwater fed, and was not located in a depression. There are, however, also kettle lakes at Swamp Angel, which muddies the waters a bit, so to speak. The photograph below shows one of these acidic areas bordering a kettle lake.

Within this area, we were rewarded with three parasitic plants: Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), Flatleaf Bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia), and Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea). That's right, these species actually get most of their nutrients from insects that they capture! They have adapted this method of attaining nutrients because they live in nutrient poor habitats. All three of these species have different mechanisms for capturing prey.

Round-leaved Sundew has small green leaves with tiny sugary mucilaginous glands on short red stalks. The bright color and tasty glands attract insects, which then become stuck to the leaf. The plant then uses enzymes to digest its prey. That just doesn't seem fair.

Flatleaf Bladderwort has tiny bladders attached to its leaves. These bladders have miniscule hairs surrounding a trap door that is triggered when the hairs are touched. Because of negative pressure within the bladder, when the trap door opens, water and prey rush into the bladder, and the opening quickly slams shut, trapping the prey within the bladder in the blink of an eye. The prey is then digested. This is the black hole of the plant world, I guess.

Purple Pitcher Plant, pictured below, has leaves that are modified into pitchers that collect rainwater. These pitchers are showy and have a sweet smell, and nectar is secreted around the opening, all serving to attract potential prey. Nectar trails also line the outside of the pitcher, getting stronger towards the opening, luring ground insects up the leaf and to the trap as well. The strongest concentration of nectar, however, is beneath the lid at the back of the leaf. Without being able to resist these sweet juices, an unsuspecting insect has to traverse along the waxy inner surface of the pitcher. This results in most falling into the pitcher. They are unable to escape the trenches of the pitcher in part because of the downward-pointing hairs lining the inside of the pitcher, and they eventually drown or die from exhaustion. The prey is then digested, in part as a result of enzymes in the leaves, and in part by mosquito and midge larvae, and the plant then absorbs the nutrients. This all reminds me of the scene from Batman when the Joker falls into the vat of acid.

Because Purple Pitcher Plant flowers from May to July, we weren't able to see its bloom during our field trip. Below is a photograph of the intriguing purple-red flower that I took at another site in northern Indiana in May 2006.

In the brief time that we were at the site, I recorded 68 plant species within the fen, and another 30 on the kames. Nutrient rich fens are typically also very rich floristically.

This field trip made quite an impact on all who attended. You can read an account from another of the trip participants by clicking here. To see a slideshow of the trip from yet another participant, click here.

Busy week

My busy season is officially in full-swing. This post is simply intended to be a quick update on what I've been up to lately. I hope to post more about my recent travels in separate posts as I have time.

Last Saturday, I led a hike at Bendix Woods Nature Preserve in St. Joseph County, Indiana for Shirley Heinze Land Trust.

The woods were exploding with color; white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum), dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis), and Canada violet (Viola canadensis) cast a white glow across the forest floor.
Splotches of yellow indicated the presence of wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), while prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum) and blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) dotted the forest floor with reds and blues, respectively.

We encountered a brief thunderstorm while on our walk, but once that passed, we were again able to enjoy the wonderful wildflowers at this old-growth forest. Lindsay even found the rare apetalous form of white trillium. The petal-less flowers are said to be a mutation that occurs periodically in this species.

On Sunday morning, I left home to botanize in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia with Justin Thomas, at an event to be know from this point forward as Trillium Tromp 2009.

As the name suggests, our primary targets were trilliums, but we had a great time enjoying a multitude of other species, including the Federally Endangered green pitcher plant (Sarracenia oreophila). I will certainly post more on this trip at a later date.

Bashful wakerobin (Trillium catesbaei)

Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum)

Furrowed wakerobin (Trillium sulcatum)

Green pitcher plant (Sarracenia oreophila)

Thursday morning, I left our campsite near the Sock Capital of the World (Fort Payne, Alabama, of course) and arrived home around 7:30 PM.

I washed clothes and re-packed for a camping weekend in northwest Ohio. While staying at Maumee Bay State Park, we birded at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and Metzger Marsh, tallying 105 bird species (including Prairie Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Summer Tanager, Snowy Egrets, Trumpeter Swans, and numerous Bald Eagles), in addition to Northern Leopard Frogs, Painted Turtles, and Blanding's Turtles.

Lindsay and I arrived home tonight in time to mow the lush jungle known as our lawn. Tomorrow, it's back to the real world, as I head back to work.