Today’s Ramble was led by Linda Chafin.

Since Don was unable to attend today’s
ramble the photos that appear
today were taken by Ramble volunteers: Ted (tl) and Catherine
(cc).

Today’s post was written by Linda
Chafin with minor additions by Dale Hoyt.

Fifteen ramblers, a smaller than usual group, perhaps due to the
elevated heat and humidity that is settling in for the summer, met today,

Announcement:

Rambles will meet at 8:30 AM during June, July
and August, no matter what other sources of information (website, Flagpole,
ABH or Garden newsletter) tell you. Rambles should end at approximately 10 AM.

Today’s reading: We
began the ramble with Bob Ambrose reciting a poem he’d written some years ago after
traveling in China and viewing the once mighty but recently dammed Yangtze
River. Though not written about Georgia’s environment, its message – the tragic
loss of irreplaceable ecosystems to blind human growth – could not be more
pertinent.

Yangtze
Blues

Three Gorges Dam Memorial Park, China

January 4, 2013

Far away, well east
of Eden

virile rivers carved
a valley

through the age of
long ago.

Now stretching out in
black earth flatness

cotton patch competes
with paddy

tractor vies with
buffalo

below the rolling
orange groves

with fences lined in
climbing jasmine

border rows of
sycamore.

Here in the highlands
of Hubei

I can hear its song

rising out of mist
and mountain

gray home of gods now
gone

refuge of wayfaring
mystic and misfit

place where the wild
torrent

courses through
gorges

once upon some time
ago.

But now the long
river

languishes

flat and heavy

murky deepness drowns
Three Gorges

sighs behind a
concrete slab

controlled and still

until release.

To wander

ancient river plains

that birthed and
nurtured

feudal lords

a brand new land

of grit and coal

of dusky skies

that smother cities

town and village

torn and pillaged

taken into concrete

borg till onward

into paradise

of tollway road

and high rise rows

in cities of ten
million

souls, new centers

that were meant

to sparkle, broker

fortunes, beckon

dreams and draw

beleaguered masses

forward, soar

into the gray-brown

skyscape, lined

with cranes

and belching stacks

that stitch the land

and sky with smog

and seal the earth

beneath the load

of human progress.

East meets West

and ups the ante

heeds the siren

staggers forward

fading into midday
haze.

And from the
highlands of Hubei

so very far away from
Eden

I can hear the good
earth groaning

crushed beneath a
billion souls

just seeking their
century

salvation in wealth.

And so the modern
world goes

as Gaia sighs and
turns to stone

to wait upon a wiser
age

when sages and
keepers

will come once again.

(This poem was published in Bob’s first
book of poetry, Journey to Embarkation,
available at fine bookstores everywhere in Athens.)

Today’s route:
Linda led the group through the Shade Garden and into the Dunson Native Flora
Garden, where we stopped to look at Early Meadow-rue, a knee-high plant in the
genus Thalictrum. Linda recently discovered a new-to-the-Garden
Meadow-rue along the river and wanted everyone to see the familiar Early
Meadow-rue for comparison.

What was seen:

Today, was a very “froggy” day — we saw lots
of very small toads, probably American Toads, most of which were nearly
invisible on the forest floor and even on the moss-covered sidewalk – “invisible”
due to camouflage, not any magic qualities inherent in toads.

Sawfly larva (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) [cc]

Nathan spotted a caterpillar look-alike resting on a
leaf. Caterpillars are the the larvae of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths).
This look-alike, is the larva of a Sawfly, a kind of Hymenoptera (an Order of
insects that includes ants, bees and wasps AND . . . Sawflies). Sawfly larvae
differ from moth and butterfly caterpillars in having one more pair of abdominal
legs – eight pairs instead of seven. The abdominal legs are not true legs; they
are not segmented. Instead they are stumpy protuberances from the abdominal
wall. The true legs arise from the three segments behind the head. Sawflies
cannot sting. The sting is a modified ovipositor and in sawflies the ovipositor
is just that – an egg laying device. Only in the ants, bees and wasps is the
ovipositor modified to deliver a sting. Sawflies represent the ancestral
condition of the Hymenopterans, before the evolution of the sting and the maggot-like
larval stage.

Black cohosh inflorescences glow like candles in the dark. [tl]

We noted that the Dunson Garden is a very different place
than it was a month ago, when Trilliums ruled the forest floor and a score of
other spring ephemerals were in peak flower. Now the visuals in the Garden are
dominated by the tall white spikes of Black Cohosh flowers and the trilliums
have either melted away or are in fruit. Dunson seems to be resting, waiting
for summer’s heat to bring on the flowers of such plants as the Hammock
Spider-lily.

Purple milkweed [tl]

On the sunny, western end of the Dunson Garden, we saw
how one of the Purple Milkweed plants had been heavily munched, presumably by
Monarch caterpillars. Purple Milkweed plants hidden within the Elderberry’s
branches had not been attacked. We also admired the federally listed Smooth
Cone-flower, which is in peak flower now. Its large, long-petioled leaves are
glossy and hairless, especially compared to the roughly hairy leaves of the
common Purple Coneflower.

Wild Blue Indigo seed capsules [tl]

The Blue Wild Indigo plants we admired in full flower
two weeks ago are now bearing the inflated legumes that characterize this genus
and confirm its membership in the bean family. We took a tiny detour to walk up
the road and look at Woolly Mullein, a European species with huge leaves,
densely covered with white hairs. Some people call this species Flannel-plant
due to the thick, hairy leaves. Although exotic, it is not (yet) invasive in
our area.

Wild Rye [tl]

Deer-tongue grass [tl]

As we walked in the powerline right-of-way on our way to
the river, we saw several different cool-season grasses which Linda was able to
identify, having just returned from a five-day class in grass identification.
Cool-season grasses are those that flower and set seed in the spring, usually
by the end of June. Among others, we saw Wild Rye, Silky Oat Grass, River Oats, and
Deer-tongue Grass, with its bristly leaf sheaths and wider than typical grass
leaves.

Susie shows us how tall Piedmont Meadow-rue is. [tj]

Turning left on the white trail at the river, we walked
just a few hundred feet to see the “new” Thalictrum, which is called, appropriately enough, Piedmont
Meadow-rue. Although not listed as rare in Georgia, Piedmont Meadow-rue is
known from only seven Georgia counties. Most Meadow-rue species are much
shorter but this species, Thalictrum macrostylum, can grow to more than
6 feet tall. Covered with white tassel-like flowers in late May and June, it is
a dramatic sight in the otherwise “green tunnel” along the river. The
Garden’s Conservation Horticulturist, Heather Alley, will attempt to cultivate
the plant if it sets seeds this year, but without other plants of the same
species nearby with which to share pollen, it may not produce seed. According
to records at the UGA Herbarium, Piedmont Meadow-rue was last collected in
Clarke County in 1929, by John “Botany” Reade, the founder of the UGA
Herbarium and Director of Biology and Professor of Botany at the University of
Georgia for 30 years.

Stinging Nettle [tl]

At that point, the group turned around and headed back to
the Visitor Center for some much needed liquid refreshment. Along the way,
Linda stopped the group to point out Stinging Wood Nettle and called out
“Don’t Touch!” too late for Nathan, who had already grabbed a stem.
But, budding field biologist that he is, Nathan laughed off the painful
sensation inflicted by the plant and was soothed somewhat by an impromptu
compress of Curly Dock, reputed to help with nettle stings.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES

American toad	Bufo (Anaxyrus) americanus
Sawfly larva	Hymenoptera: Tenthridinidae
Early Meadow-rue	Thalictrum dioicum
Black Cohosh	Actaea racemosa
Hammock Spider-lily	Hymenocallis occidentalis
Purple Milkweed	Asclepias purpurea
Elderberry	Sambucus canadensis
Smooth Cone-flower	Echinacea laevigata
Blue Wild Indigo	Baptisia australis
Woolly Mullein Flannel-plant	Verbascum thapsus
Wild Petunia	Ruellia carolinensis
Wild Rye	Elymus glabriflorus
Silky Oat Grass	Danthonia sericea
River Oats	Chasmanthium latifolium
Deer-tongue Grass	Dichanthelium clandestinum
Piedmont Meadow-rue	Thalictrum macrostylum
Stinging Nettle	Laportea canadensis
Curly Dock	Rumex crispus