Today’s Ramble was lead by Dale Hoyt.

Here’s the linkto Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post
are compliments of Don.)

Today’s post was written by Don Hunter and
Linda Chafin.

30 Ramblers today

Announcement: The
Athens Historical Society will conduct a Ramble
in the Ruins around the old Athens Brick Company site at Sandy Creek Nature
Center on Saturday, March 25, 3:00 p.m. Details can
be found here.

Today’s
route:  Leaving the Shade Garden arbor
we made our way along the back of the conservatory and through the Heritage
Garden on the way to the path down to the Orange Trail spur from the Flower
Gardens down to the Orange Trail and it’s creek.

American South Renovation Garden:

Georgia Rockcress

Georgia
Rockcress (Arabis
georgiana) was recently listed

by the
Federal Government as threatened, with maybe five populations remaining in the
wild, near Rome and at Goat Rock, south of LaGrange and on the Chattahoochee. The
Garden is providing safeguarding for the species, keeping it in cultivation and
keeping seeds. It’s in the mustard family. Mustard flowers typically have four
petals that a cross (a plus sign, +). The family is also known as crucifers,
from the Latin meaning “cross bearer”.

Heritage Garden:

Field Mustard

Field mustard. Besides producing mustard greens
other varieties of this same species include Turnips and some that produce canola oil.

Ornamental Asian poppy (seen near the urn at the end of the
West Ellipse at edge of Heritage Garden)

Orange Trail Spur (between Flower
Garden and bridge across stream to Orange Trail):

Painted Buckeye with no anthocyanin pigment in leaves

Painted Buckeye with anthocyanin pigment in leaves

Painted buckeye.
Sue noticed several Painted buckeyes with recently emerged leaves. Curiously,
one plant had purple leaves while the leaves of another were green. The purple
coloration is due to the presence of a pigment, anthocyanin, in the epidermal
cells of the leaves. Different anthocyanin molecules have different colors,
ranging from red through purple to blue. The red of tomatoes and the color of
grapes and blueberries is due to anthocyanins. Anthocyanin is often present in
the emerging leaves in many plants. It is thought to serve as a sun screen,
protecting the developing photosynthetic tissues from the ultraviolet radiation
of sunlight. So why did one plant lack the purple pigment? Perhaps some plants
lack the ability to make anthocyanin. Plants, like people, vary in many ways –
think of brown eyes and blue eyes. Some of us tan easily on exposure to sun
while others just burn.

Overwintering frond of Christmas Fern

Christmas fern. Their green fronds overwinter, though
a patch of cells at the base of the fronds collapse, causing the fronds to lie
flat against the ground. Come spring, the overwintering fronds wither and die
as new fronds are formed. Their common name derives from the practice of
gathering their fronds for Christmas decorations. We saw some fiddleheads (called
croziers) unfurling beside the trail. Another characteristic of Christmas fern
is the shape of the leaflets (called pinules in fern-speak). Each pinule has an
asymmetrical projection at its base, making the pinule look like a stocking or
boot.

Ebony Spleenwort fern

Ebony spleenwort, another evergreen native fern, is
named for its black stem and rachis. (The stem is the part from the ground to
the first leaflet (pinule); the rachis is the continuation of the stem to which
the pinules are attached.) Though it superficially resembles Christmas fern, it
is much smaller and has the shiny, black stem. Both Christmas Fern and Ebony
Spleenwort will grow in degraded soils that other ferns avoid. Consequently you
will find them growing everywhere in the Garden’s natural areas.

Bloodroot with leaves and fruit

Bloodroot. Last week we saw bloodroot blooming
among the rocks off the edge of the trail. They have now dropped their petals
and formed small, green, spindle-shaped fruit atop the stalk.

Orange Trail:

Three different Rue Anemone plants

Rue-anemone was seen blooming at many locations along
the Orange Trail and on the banks of the stream. Rue-anemone leaves are toxic
and ignored by deer, which may account for their abundance in the woods at the
Garden, relative to other, less well defended woodland wildflowers. Rue-anemone
flowers have no petals – the white petal-like structures are actually sepals.
Ted pointed out that they have to do double duty, protecting the flower buds
and, later, attracting pollinators. Rue-anemone is pollinated by various bees
and flies, which gather pollen only as no nectar is produced.

Common blue violets were blooming in much greater numbers
than the last time we passed this way (February 23^rd )

Violet Wood Sorrel (not blooming yet)

Violet wood sorrel foliage was seen growing densely among
the tree roots on the hillside above the Orange Trail. The purplish-pink flowers
have yet to appear. Its leaves resemble those of three-leaf clover, except they
are purplish or blueish green and are usually folded downwards. Both the purple
pigment and the folded leaves protect the plant from the effects of
overexposure to the sun. Like all members of this plant family, its leaves and
stems contain the mildly toxic oxalic acid, which may discourage deer and other
animals from eating them.

Remains of last year’s Beech Drops flowering stalk

The flower stalks of last year’s Beech drops were seen near several American beech trees above the
trail banks. Beech drops completely lack chlorophyll and are parasitic on the
roots of American beech. They usually occur in such small numbers that they do
not harm the trees. Their purple and white flowers are inconspicuous and will
appear in late spring.

One-flowered Bedstraw seen growing on bank near the violet
wood sorrel.

First of this year’s Wild Geranium flowers

Wild geranium foliage has now emerged all along
Orange Trail. Only one plant is flowering, about one month earlier than usual.

Broad Beech ferns

Broad Beech Fern. This non-evergreen fern has a feature
that allows you to easily identify it: the lowest pair of leaflets, or pinnae, point
towards ground at about a 45 degree angle to the midrib of the frond. The other
pinnae spread more-or-less perpendicular to the midrib. The “rabbit ear”
appearance of the lower pinnae is unique enough to be distinctive. Broad Beech
Fern spreads by lengthy rhizomes, with fronds emerging from points all along
the rhizomes, forming a scattered patch. Some ferns, such as Cinnamon fern and
Christmas fern, form clumps rather than patches. Several fronds emerge from a
single point on the tip of the rhizome, forming a fountain shape as they
emerge. These ferns do not spread rapidly, tending to stay in one place.

May Apples

May apple. Many May apples have emerged, much
earlier than is usual. The umbrella-like leaves will expand to the size of
small dinner plates and those plants with two leaves will bear a flower later
in the season.

Carolina Anole

A Carolina anole
was seen sunning itself on a streamside shrub.

Elderberry is just emerging

Common elderberry is just beginning to leaf out along
the stream.

Orange Trail, below bridge and over to
the Middle Oconee River:

We stopped briefly so many in the group could walk into the
woods a bit to see one of the large patches of Rue Anemone that can be found
growing on the west-facing hillside above the Orange Trail. Linda wandered into
the woods and came out with two ticks which were discovered over lunch.

Sensitive Fern

At the large bridge (Ben’s Bridge), two Sensitive fern fronds are emerging from the muck. (These ferns like
wet feet.) Some of last year’s fertile fronds, dried and brown, were still present.

Southern Grape Fern

A small Southern
Grape Fern or two were also seen
at the bridge, as was more Christmas fern. Southern Grape Ferns are another
“evergreen” fern.

Orange Trail, along the Middle Oconee
River:

Musclewood trunk

Male catkins of Musclewood tree

Closer view of Musclewood male catkins

We stopped at several large Musclewood trees, each covered with male catkins. They are still
immature but will be producing pollen in a few weeks. No female flower clusters
were seen on this or other Musclewood trees in the vicinity. This is the first
time in five years that Dale can recall seeing these particular Musclewood trees
flowering.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

American South  Renovation Garden
Georgia Rockcress	Arabis georgiana
Heritage Garden
Field mustard	Brassica rapa
Ornamental Asian poppy	Papaver orientale
Orange Trail
Painted buckeye	Aesculus sylvatica
Christmas fern	Polystichum acrostichoides
Ebony spleenwort	Asplenium platyneuron
Round-lobed hepatica	Anemone americana
Bloodroot	Sanguinaria canadensis
Rue anemone	Thalictrum thalictroides
Common blue violet	Viola sororia
Violet wood sorrel*	Oxalis violacea
Beechdrops**	Epifagus virginiana
One-flowered bedstraw	Galium uniflorum
Wild geranium	Geranium maculatum
Broad beech fern	Phegopteris hexagonoptera
Mayapple	Podophyllum peltatum
Bedstraw/Catchweed	Galium aparine
Carolina anole	Anolis carolinensis
Common elderberry	Sambucus canadensis
Sensitive fern	Onoclea sensibilis
Southern grape fern	Botrychium biternatum
Musclewood/American hornbeam	Carpinus caroliniana
*foliage only
**last season’s dead plants