Don Hunter’s album of today’s ramble can be found here.

Thirty-one ramblers met at the arbor at 8:30AM. 

 

Today’s reading: Dale read a passage from Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall
Kimmerer’s second book:

On a day like this, when the fiddleheads are unfurling and
the air is petal soft, I am awash in longing. I know that “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor‘s
chloroplasts”
is good advice and yet I
must confess to fullblown chlorophyll envy. Sometimes I wish I could
photosynthesize so that just by being, just
by shimmering at the meadow‘s edge or floating lazily on a pond, I could be doing the work of the world
while standing silent in the sun. The shadowy hemlocks
and the waving grasses are spinning out sugar molecules and passing them on to
hungry mouths and mandibles all the while listening to the warblers and
watching the light dance on the water.

It would be so satisfying
to provide for the well-being of others – like being a mother again, like being needed. Shade, medicine, berries, roots; there
would be no end to it. As a plant I could make the campfire, hold the nest, heal the wound, fill the brimming pot.

But this generosity is beyond my realm, as I am a mere heterotroph, a
feeder on the carbon transmuted by others. In order to live, I must consume. That‘s
the way the world works, the exchange of a life
for a life, the endless cycling between my body and
the body of the world. Forced to choose, I must admit I actually like
my heterotroph role. Besides, if I could photosynthesize, I couldn‘t
eat leeks.

Todays
Route:  The route today took us into the
International Garden through the Southeastern section across the Flower Bridge,
then through the Asian section, the Rare and Endangered Plant section, and
American Indian section to the Purple Trail. 
The Purple Trail led us down to the Oconee River.  We then turned left on the Orange Trail and
climbed a spur up the heath bluff. 
Further up the  Orange Trail
several people had to leave early as we passed the bridge to the Flower Garden.
The rest continued on the Orange Trail to the upper parking lot.

Arbor:  Sandra noticed that the wisteria on the arbor
has sent a vine over to an adjacent gingko tree.  If not addressed, it will be a major presence
in the tree by the end of Summer.

Meadow
in the American South garden: The meadow in the
Southeastern section

Virginia spiderwort

included the following flowering plants: lyre leaf sage,
coreopsis, Virginia spiderwort (with varying colors of white, blue, and
purple), and the sandhill bluestar (Amsonia
ciliata).  There might even have been
an A. tabernaemontana with its wider
leaves.  Finally there were several  Gaura plants blooming.

Rock
bridge through International Garden:  Crossing the
Flower Bridge we noticed an unidentified caterpillar on a dianthus. In the
water garden below were yellow flags (Iris
pseudacorus).  At the time I thought
this was a native iris, but it is a Eurasian import.  The leaves of lotus had emerged, but no stems
for flowers yet.

Bottlebrush buckeye inflorescence

On the other side of the bridge we noticed the bottlebrush
buckeye that was just sending out flower racemes.  It will be spectacular later. In the Asian
section we stopped to admire an asian Styrax that was blooming. In the Rare and
Endangered Plant Garden  representing the
Age of Conservation in botanical history, we stopped at the bog.  Only a few flowers were showing.  From a distance they looked like the rare
white topped pitcherplant (Serracenia
leucophylla) with purple flowers and mottled whitish-reddish leaves as tall
as the flowers.

Mayapple fruit

In the American Indian section we mostly saw mayapple plants,
many with apples.  At least one or two
mayapple flowers were still blooming.

Purple
Trail:  As we turned on to the Purple Trail a
jack-in-the-pulpit presented 
itself.  We stopped to discuss the
ability of this plant to change gender. 
If

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

the plant gets good light and water so the corm can store many
nutrients by August, then the plant will be female in the spring.  If not, it will only generate male flowers.  It takes more nutrients for the plant to
produce seeds than pollen. To distinguish the flowers you must take apart the
spathe because the flowers are on the “jack”. 
[This link has more information or see Timothy P. Spira,  Wildflowers
and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont,
p. 335, and Carol Gracie, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast, pp.
105-106.]

Someone picked up a flower from the
ground and asked if it was from a trumpet vine. It was actually from a cross
vine, faded maroon with a yellow center. 
We looked up in the trees to see if we could spot the vine, but no one
could. While looking up into the trees someone noticed a large nest. Ed thought
it was too neat for a squirrel’s nest. We stopped by the large white oak to
point out what the fuzzy poison ivy vine looks like with no leaves.

Ed pointed out that the American holly by
the trail was a native, and that it was being nibbled on by many insects.  Non-native hollies that escape into the
natural areas are pristine and unblemished because they do not provide food for
the insect population. That is one good reason for planting natives in your
yard rather than imports. Nearby was a hophornbeam tree that was circled from
low to high with holes drilled by a sapsucker. 
Dale has noted that the sapsucker obtains not only the sap from the tree
this way but also the insects attracted by the sap.  Around the natural areas of the Garden we
notice this happening with many of the hophornbeams.

On the ground was the fading leaf of the
cranefly orchid.  Green on top and bright
purple underneath, it is found along the trails all through the winter.  It disappears about this time of year and
later in the summer it may produce a stem with a raceme of flowers. They are
hard to see while walking the trails because the tan and yellowish flowers
blend with the background leaf litter. Not all leaves will produce a
flower.  Adjacent to the leaf of the
cranefly orchid was partridge berry forming a nice ground cover. Next was
Elliot’s blueberry, which is sometimes called highbush blueberry.  Sue asked what the species is for a low bush
blueberry (also called deerberry).  It is
Vaccinium staminium  The species name indicates that the stamens
stick out way beyond the bell of the flower.

Hophornbeam disk mushrooms

Don had noticed that hophornbeam disc mushrooms
(little white dots) were not on the hophornbeam with the sapsucker holes we saw
earlier, but he soon found one with disc mushrooms that we could all see. 

Rattlesnake fern

Nearby was a very nice sample of a
rattlesnake fern with its fertile frond standing up like the rattles of the
snake. Those at the back of the line observed

Inside an Oak apple gall

Dale opening an oak apple gall to
show its typical internal structure.

At the old electric fence we stopped to
notice all of the chalk maple trees in the area.  They are an indicator of more basic soils
(more calcium), and are thought to occur here because of a seam of amphibolite
that crosses here and goes up the creek by the Orange Trail. The grounds
keepers have cut off the old Purple Trail here which had become terribly eroded
as it sloped down to the river.  We
enjoyed walking the new contoured trail built by Walter Cook.  On this new trail we stopped to look at the
silverbell tree that had been in bloom several weeks ago, the last time we
walked this trail.

Orange
Trail:  Reaching the Orange Trail we once again
pointed out the cat scratch like bark of the hophornbeam and the smooth sinewy
trunk of the musclewood tree.  The
musclewood tree is usually only found near water, while the hophornbeam is a
very common understory tree in all the natural areas of the Garden.  This time someone noticed the leaves of a
crossvine on the musclewood tree.

As I was noting another crossvine
crawling up a river birch tree, Don told me to hold still.  He photographed an inchworm on my hat. Jack
wanted to know about another vine that was very thick and smooth, not
fuzzy.  It was a grape vine. We stopped
to tell again the story of the damming of the beaver pond for water
purification.  The tale appears in many
of our earlier  reports.

The
Heath Bluff:  Some took a treacherous side trip up to the
heath bluff along the river at

Mountain laurel

this point because the mountain laurel was in
bloom.  It is a great sight to see
because it is not common in the Piedmont and is usually restricted to such
bluffs along rivers. We talked about the anthers that bend from the center into
a pocket on the petals.  When a bee comes
to collect pollen from the flower it triggers an anther to pop up and dust the
bee with pollen. 

Reading about this later, I discovered
that as the flower matures, if the anther has not been triggered by a
pollinator, it will pop on its own and self pollinate the flower. [See Timothy
P. Spira, Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian
Mountains and Piedmont, p. 291] The striking leaves of rattlesnake weed
were also present below the mountain laurel. These leaves are all basal and
conspicuously purple veined.

Tulip tree flower

Return
to Orange Trail:  Along the Orange trail again we saw tulip
tree flowers that had been dropped to the ground by squirrels.  We also noticed the leaves of duck
potato.  The name refers to the tuberous
roots that can be eaten raw or cooked and taste like potatoes. At the bridge
built by Ben Tonks and his helpers we again looked at the sensitive ferns,
distinguished by fertile fronds that cling to the rachis instead of spreading
out like the branches of a tree, as they do on netted chain fern. Moving along
the trail Don found a kidney leaf buttercup. 
We also saw the delicate looking southern lady fern.

Mayapples were spreading like crazy.  A huge patch of mayapples may really be only
one

Mayapple with fungal lesions

plant that spreads from its roots. 
Someone asked about the yellow spots on the leaves.  A little research reveals that that is
evidence that  a fungus has infected the
leaf.  The two main species of fungi
affecting mayapples are Septotinia
podophyllina (which attacks new leaves) and Puccinia podophylli (which is a rust that forms orange pustules on
leaves of differing ages).  The latter is
particularly lethal to seedlings. [See Carol Gracie, Spring Wildflowers of
the Northeast, p. 136]

Next we pointed out the slope on the bend
in the creek where we often observe in early January the first wildflower
blooms of hepatica.  They are followed by
bloodroot.  The leaves of both can still
be seen covering the slope at this time, although the flowers are now past.

Smokey-eye boulder lichen

We
stopped to look at the smokey-eye boulder lichen and an Indian strawberry.  Violet wood sorrel was in bloom.  Wild yam leaves  on the ground and climbing hydrangea leaves
on the tree next to it rounded out the stops up to the bridge to the Flower
Garden. Those who had to leave early took the trail back to the flower garden,
but an equal group wanted to finish the Orange Trail. I estimated we could be
in the upper parking lot by 10:30AM, and we did make it before that time.

There was a severe wash down the slope to
the river.  I believe it could be called
a class I tributary because it had no branches. Along the river banks were
heartleaf wild ginger, river cane, and yellowroot.  The yellowroot that grows around the
prominent boulder by the side creek does not seem to have as many stems as in
previous years. Crossing the side stream we found broad beech fern.  Wild geranium and sweet shrub were in bloom.
In the spot where a lot of rue anemone were in bloom previously we only saw
leaves, but just past the

Wool sower oak gall

fallen tree one little bloom was hanging on.  Next was a flowering blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium sp). Beyond there were many
rattlesnake ferns. The big find was a Wool sower oak gall caused by secretions
from grubs of a small wool sower gall wasp.

As we walked up the hill we talked about
the head erosion point and whether it was still eroding upstream.

The final stop was to look at the bark of
black cherry when it gets older.  Emily
calls this bark “burnt potato chips.”  By
this point in the trail we had left the streamside and ravine slope area and
were in the transition forest changing from pines to hardwoods.  The black cherry is a common tree in that
natural community.

When we reached the upper parking lot,
many retired to Donderos for refreshments and conversation.

Hugh Nourse

SUMMARY
OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Common Name	Scientific Name
Lyre leaf sage	Salvia lyrata
Coreopsis, Lobed Tickseed?	Coreopsis auriculata
Virginia Spiderwort	Tradescantia virginiana
Eastern bluestar	Amsonia tabernaemontana
Beeblossom	Gaura sp.
Yellow flag	Iris pseudacorus
Unidentified Moth on dianthus	Order Lepidoptera
Bottle-brush buckeye	Aesculus parviflora
Styrax	Styrax sp.
Tussock moth caterpillar	Family Erebidae
Mayapple	Podophyllum peltatum
Jack in the pulpit	Arisaema triphyllum
Crossvine	Bignonia capreolata
Poison ivy	Toxicodendron radicans
American holly	Ilex opaca
Hop hornbeam	Ostrya virginiana
Partirdge berry	Mitchella repens
Cranefly orchid	Tipularia discolor
Highbush blueberry	Vaccinium elliotii
Hophornbeam disc mushroom	Aleurodiscus oakesii
Rattlesnake fern	Botrypus virginiana
Oak apple gall
Chalk maples	Acer leucoderme
Musclewood	Carpinus caroliniana
River birch	Betula nigra
Geometer moth larvae	Family Geometridae
Mountain Laurel	Kalmia latifolia
Rattlensnake weed	Hieracium venosum
Tulip poplar	Liriodendron tulipifera
Duck potato	Sagittaria latifolia
Sensitive fern	Onoclea sensibilis
Kidneyleaf buttercup	Ranunculus abortivus
Southern lady fern	Athyrium asplenoides
Smokey-eye boulder lichen	Porpidia albocaerulescens
Indian strawberry	Duchesnea indica
Violet wood sorrel	Oxalis violacea
Wild yam	Dioscorea villosa
Climbing hydrangea	Decumaria barbara
Hearleaf wild ginger	Hexastylis arifolia
River cane	Arundinaria gigantea
Shrub yellowroot	Xanthorhiza simplicissima
Broad beech fern	Phegopteris hexagonoptera
Wild geranium	Geranium maculatum
Sweet shrub	Calycanthus floridus
Wool sower oak gall	Callirhytis seminator
Black cherry	Prunus serotina