First, we had a reading and a show and tell about dodder (Cuscuta
gronovii) by Dale Hoyt

The reading is from: Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden, by Diane
Ackerman, 2001, HarperCollins, pp. 75-76

Summer is a new song everyone is humming. From atop a
chestnut tree, where spiked fruits hang like sputniks, comes the
sound of a bottle band and the kazoo-istry of birds. On the ground, a blanket
of dry leaves gives sound to each motion: falling berries, scuffling voles, a skink
rising from its bog. Small fence lizards do rapid push-ups as part of their
territorial display. All along the weedy roadways, grasshoppers thrash and rustle in the brush, playing
mating tunes. Grasshoppers are musical instruments. They sing by scraping a row
of . . . pegs on the inside of each back leg against hard ridges on their
forewings. Different species have different calls,
depending mainly on the arrangement of the pegs. There are alto and tenor
grasshoppers, plus a band of crickets and cicadas rubbing shrill songs on their
washboards. The grass has grown tall at last, and the trees offer shade for the first time
in a year.

. . .

Countless
birds seem to be auditioning for their jobs. Large glossy crows sound as if
they’re gagging on lengths of flannel.
Blackbirds quibble nonstop from the telephone wires, where
they perch like a run of eighth notes. I sometimes try to sing their melody.
Because every animal has its own vocal niche . . . summer days unfold like
Charles Ives symphonies, full of the sprightly cacophony we cherish, the
musical noise that reassures us nature is going on her inevitable green way and
all’s right with the world.

Dodder is a parasitic plant that lacks
chlorophyll and leaves. Its orange/yellow stems vine across and around its host.
Where the vine lies close about the host’s stem it sends out haustoria that
penetrate the stem and tap into the conductive tissue of the host. The parasite
gets all it’s nutrition from the host plant.

Not many participants today (8), but the
weather held beautifully.  We walked down
the white trail from the lower parking lot to the power line right of way and
down to the river.  Then walked up the
power line right of way to the top of the hill. 
There was an amazing number of things to talk about.  In fact we found a spade foot toad in the
parking lot before we left.  They must
have traveled up into the Garden area from the power line right of way at the
river where they started.

The first find was a whole batch of
Chanterelle mushrooms.  They lined the
trail all through the woods.  A few spade
foot toads were still around in the power line right of way by the river.  There were a number of plants of interest: Virginia
Buttonweed (Diodia virginiana), Maypop or Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), and Wood Sage or American Germander (Teucrium canadense).  Dale discussed
how the maypop changes to a male or bisexual flower by either holding up its
stigmas (male), or by lowering them to be close to stamens so that when bees
visit the plant they deposit pollen on the stigma.  In this area we observed how high and fast
the Oconee River was flowing and also loaded with silt (red soil).  Because of poor farming practices during the
cotton era, the Piedmont has lost 12 feet or more of topsoil through
erosion.  The muddy river is still
picking up some of that soil and carrying it further downstream.

Two butterflies were seen, even thought
the morning was very overcast: a freshly emerged Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes
tharos). We also heard a few isolated
calls from a Bronze Frog (or Green frog) (Rana
clamitans) in the wetland areas. It
sounded like a very nasal “Gulp.”

Walking up the power line right of way, a
number of plants were discussed:

Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)

Butterfly weed, or chigger weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana)

Castor
bean             

Bitterweed (Helenium amarum)

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum)

Whorled Coreopsis (Coreopsis major)    

Wild Bergamot or Beebalm (Monarda fistuloso)

Rose Pink Sabatia (Sabatia angular)

Crownbeard (Verbesina virginica)

Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana)

Pineweed (Hypericum gentianoides)

Spotted St. Johnswort (Hypericum punctatum

Sensitive Brier ( Mimosa microphylla)

At the top of the hill it was time to
return to the Visitor’s Center for snacks and conversation.

On the way back we did take a short
detour to see the flowers on the Devil’s Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa).  Dale pointed out that the leaf is compound
and huge, so huge that it may be the largest leaf in plants in North
America.  Next to it was the Anise tree (Illicium parviflorum), also in bloom.

 Hugh

The reading this
week, a poem by Walt Whitman (1819-1892), was provided by Hugh Nourse: 

The Dalliance of the Eagles

SKIRTING the
river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)

Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,

The rushing amorous contact high in space together,

The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,

Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,

In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,

Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull,

A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,

Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,

She hers, he his, pursuing.

This morning we took the White trail to the power line
cut, turned left and went downhill to a Trumpet Vine and then returned uphill,
pausing to examine some insects where the White trail enters the woods. Then we
continued up the power line to the fence, turned left, following the fence to
the White trail and returned in the woods back to the Arbor.

The Trumpet Vine (also called Trumpet Creeper),
Campsis radicans, has conspicuous red trumpet-shaped flowers – just right for
attracting hummingbirds. But pollinators are not the only animals attracted to
these flowers. Careful examination will reveal numerous ants hanging out on the
surface of the flower buds and, later in the season, on the surface of the
long, bean shaped seed pods. The ants are in search of nectar, but not from
inside the flower. The nectar they find is secreted by the plant on the surface
of the flower buds and the seed pods. These “extrafloral nectaries” are thought
to attract ants to defend the plant from attack by herbivorous insects and
especially those that might try to eat the developing seeds. There is currently
no direct evidence that this is the case for the Trumpet Vine, but many other
plants have extrafloral nectarines and in some of these the evidence for ant
defense is quite good.

Walking up the hill we passed a stand of very healthy
Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, with
a developing inflorescence. Most parts of this plant are poisonous, but the
young shoots and leaf tips can be eaten if properly prepared (boiling with at
least two changes of water).

Where the White trail
enters the woods we found several different types of insects feeding on the
freshly emerged leaves of a Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Viewing them
with a hand lens is an exciting experience. We saw aphids and the nymphal
stages of a treehopper as well as several forms with fuzzy, waxy secretions
that conceal part of their bodies. (Yesterday I found a aphid lion, the larval
stage of the Green Lacewing (Chrysopa sp.). It has sickle-shaped jaws that
pierce the skin of its aphid prey and suck them dry. It then sticks the husks
of its victims on its back, apparently to serve as camouflage.) Lacewings are
Neuropterans, related to Doodlebugs.

It took us over an hour to walk up the rest of the
power line to the fence, there were so many plants in bloom – summer has
finally arrived! Perhaps it’s best to just list the plants seen: 

The Wild Bergamot was especially abundant. 

As we wandered up the path we met several Botanical
Garden workers engaged in plant rescue efforts. This part of the Garden is
being converted to a Piedmont Prairie and the initial steps involve removal of
much of the broad leaved herbaceous vegetation. (This means, in large part, the
Wingstems that grow so abundantly in the power line cut. We’ll miss their
colorful yellow and white flowers that provide masses of color during the
summer before the goldenrod and ironweed begin blooming.)

Finally, into the woods to cool off and look for
mushrooms! And there were mushrooms galore, especially Chanterelles which
glowed orange against the light and dark browns of the leaf litter. Besides the
Chanterelles we encountered Amanitas and Russulas as well as others that
perplexed us. We need an experience mushroom collected to join us some time and
give us a little guidance.

On the way back we noticed the fruits of two plants
in the shade garden: Camellia and Sweet Shrub. Both surprised us – none of us
had ever seen the fruits of these plants before.

Then it was on to Donderos’ for iced beverages and
the reconstruction of the list of plants we had observed.

Note: There will be no Nature Ramble next week (next
Thursday falls on July 4). Hope to see you all again on July 11.

The reading this week was provided by
Carol Nourse and is from The Garden,
by Freeman Patterson, p. 100:

If it weren’t for
fungi the planet would soon cease to function, probably within minutes.  Like many other fungi, Amanita mushrooms are important to
the collective health of the forest, though I’ve also found and photographed
them in open areas, where other species also live and do their work, often in
gardens. For example, the delicious Agaricus,
often called the “meadow mushroom,” is common wherever there is
decomposing manure of farm animals.

…………..

The visible part of
mushrooms, those weird constructions I love to photograph, are the reproductive
organs. However, the daily work of most species is carried out by mycelia:
fine, fibrous, root-like hairs that invade dead wood and other material,
causing it to decay. Then bacteria take over and complete the process of making
it part of the soil again. One day it occurred to me that we all garden with
fungi and bacteria to a greater extent than we do with shrubs and herbs and
grasses.

The
route:  We went through the Shade Garden and on to
the white trail.  Just past the Power
Line Right of Way we took the Green Trail, then continued to the right on the
White Trail to a large group of Chanterelle Mushrooms. Then we returned the
same way we came.

Our first stop was under the Power Line
on the White Trail.  Gary identified the
white button mushrooms as Puffballs. He told us they should be eaten when the
inside is white, before it becomes yellow. They must be cooked to get rid of dangerous
alkaloids before eating.

Under the power line we also found a False
Caesar’s Mushroom (Thank you Sandra for working with the mushroom guide and
finding some of these names) (Amanita
parcivolvata).  As we rambled along,
we found many more mushrooms than we could name. We only managed to identify about
five. We found many individuals of Black footed Marasmius (Marasmiellus nigripes), a
really interesting small, white mushroom growing on a twig (and eventually
found growing on the trunk of a tree) that had dark thread-like projections
emerging from the wood below the mushroom itself. There were so many
interesting mushrooms to see that we were hardly moving on the Green Trail. We
wanted everyone to see the Chanterelles, we decided to move on to where they
were growing and then come back along the Green Tail at a leisurely pace. Gary
said the Chanterelles (Cantharellus
cibarius) were excellent eating. There were quite a number of them at this
site. We turned around and started back.

The first stop on the way back was for a
mushroom that looked like a Chanterelle, but was growing on wood and not on the
ground. Gary noted that this one was poisonous. I could not find latin name of
the poisonous Chanterelle-looking mushroom. 
But we did find the name (Thank you Sandra) for the red mushroom
bursting out of a white covering, American Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanita caesarea). One of the slime
molds and a coral mushroom were seen along the Green Trail on the return.

In addition to mushrooms we noted several
rattlesnake ferns (Botrychium virginianum),
partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) not
blooming, and pipsissiwa (Chimaphila
maculata). We also identified several trees:  Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata), Scarlet Oak (Quercus
coccinea), mockernut hickory (Carya
tomentosa), pignut hickory (Carya
glabra), shagbark hickory (Carya
ovate), and a tulip tree (Liriodendron
tulipifera).

Don Hunter found our last mushroom off
the trail:  Silver Ear Fungus or White
Jelly Mushroom (Tremella fuciformis).
Gary said that Jelly mushrooms were edible.

As we walked by the old flower garden we
saw wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis). 

Returning to the Arbor, we dispersed with
many retiring to Donderos for coffee and snacks. This was a very pleasant day
with eye-catching mushrooms even if we could not identify most of them.

Hugh

Today’s
reading was from Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder, 1956. This short piece was originally
written for Women’s Day magazine. Ms. Carson intended to expand it later, but
died before this could be done. A short paragraph follows (Roger was her
grand-nephew):

When Roger has visited me in Maine and we have walked in these woods I have
made no conscious effort to name plants or animals nor to explain to him, but have just expressed my own pleasure in what we see, calling his attention to this or that but only as I would share discoveries with an older person. Later I have been amazed at the way names stick in his mind, for when I show color slides of my woods plants it is Roger who can identify them. “Oh, that‘s what Rachel likes –that‘s bunchberry!” Or, “That‘s Jumer [juniper} but you can‘t eat those green berries-they are for the squirrels.” I
am sure no amount of drill would have implanted the names so firmly as just going through the woods in the spirit of
two friends on an expedition of exciting
discovery.

Today’s Route (mostly in the shade due to the
hot weather):

From the Arbor we went past the Dunson Native Plant Garden and
then on to the White Trail to the gate; left at the gate on the old service
road, past the Torreya project, then onto the Blue trail back to the White
trail.

Stuff we saw or talked about:

On the way
down the switchbacks to the Dunson Garden we paused to look at the galls on the
Witch Hazels (we examined these on May 16; see the Ramble Report).

The Black
Cohosh was still blooming even though the inflorescence had fallen over (see
this Ramble Report for more on Black Cohosh).

On the White
trail we stopped where an American Beech and a Hophornbeam stand side-by-side,
making comparison of the leaves easy. The branch of this Beech is low and
exposed to more sun than is usual and its leaves are not typical of the Beech
leaves we normally observe. Because of the increased sun exposure they are
thicker, darker and feel tougher. They are “sun”
leaves. This is typical for many trees – the leaves we see low to the ground
are usually shade leaves – thin, wider
and larger than the leaves in the canopy. The sun leaf thickness is due to an
extra layer of photosynthetic tissue that develops when a leaf is exposed to
high levels of light.

Another
thing we noticed was an absence of fruit on the Hophornbeam. Last year at this
time we saw lots of the hop-like clusters of maturing seeds on these trees.
Many of the canopy species exhibit a pattern of fruit production called masting. (Mast is the collective name for the fruits of all tree species in
an area. The amount of mast varies considerably from year to year and the
mystery is that many trees over large areas synchronize their mast production.
Such years of heavy seed production are called mast years. We usually think of
the masting habit in terms of the canopy species like oak, chestnut, or beech.
But some of the subcanopy species, like Hophornbeam also have the masting
habit. This year is not a mast year for the Hophornbeam.)

We puzzled
over some saplings with compound leaves that I at first thought were alternate
(they were not). When we realized that it had opposite, compound leaves we
decided it must be an Ash, probably a Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica).

Along the
way we noticed a few flowers: Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron strigosum), Spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.), Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria), Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) and Wild Petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis).

We also
noticed a lot of fire ant (Solenopsis
invicta) nests that I can’t resist poking into. There is a reason behind my
madness. Fire ants frequently produce their reproductive castes (future queens
and males) in the spring or early summer and these are released from the nest
soon after a rain. Not many people have seen winged reproductive ants and I’m
eager to show them to everyone, but no luck today. After their mating flight
the inseminated queens separately fly off to a hopefully suitable site, land
and discard their wings. Each solitary queen then begins, by herself, to dig a
nest. She doesn’t feed, living off the energy she gets from metabolizing her
now useless flight muscles. If she’s lucky she will live long enough for her
first brood of workers to emerge and start to forage for food. Then she will
attend to her only function – laying eggs. I’ll tell you more about fire ants
on later rambles.

Finally we
entered the woods and escaped the sun. It must have been 10 degrees cooler, but
just as humid. (The coolness is not only due to the shade but the evaporation of
water from the tree leaves. It takes energy to turn water from a liquid to a
vapor and that loss of energy lowers the temperature considerably. It’s natures
air conditioning!)

Nothing was
seen blooming as we walked through the woods, so we paid attention to the trees
and looked for other things. We did manage to find a few mushrooms (fewer than
I would have expected, given all the recent rain.) One was a pretty white one
about 6 inches high and still fresh. It had the remains of a structure called
the veil on the stem below the cap.
Some mushrooms with veils are poisonous. Unfortunately, other poisonous
mushrooms lack a veil and some with veils are edible. Lacking expert guidance,
it’s probably better to not experiment.

You should
think of a mushroom as a single flower of a perennial plant whose body is
hidden from your sight. This “body” is a complex network of extremely fine
threads, called a mycelium, that ramifies and permeates the soil around the
visible mushroom, sometimes for many hundreds of feet or more. In some cases it
sets up a mutualistic relationship with the roots of trees or other plants,
giving its plant host mineral nutrients in return for sugars. Such mushrooms
are called mycorrhizal, which
literally means “mushroom root.” In other cases the mushroom secretes digestive
enzymes into the soil and absorbs nutrients that are released. These are called
saprotrophic fungi, meaning that they
feed on dead or rotting organic material.

We slipped
past the Florida Torreya (Torreya
taxifolia) protection plantings, noting only that they don’t seem to be
thriving. Then it was back via the Blue trail to Donderos’ (for those who could
stay) to enjoy cookies and beverages.

Dale

Today, we guessed correctly that the 30
percent chance of rain wouldn’t occur before we finished our walk.  To avoid mud because of the heavy rain last
night we went through the International Garden, the Physic Garden, Heritage
Garden, and Flower Garden to the short cut trail to the Orange Trail.  Then we went up the Orange trail to its end
at the upper parking lot.  We also took a
short side trip along the white trail before going to Donderos’ for
refreshment.

Hugh provided a reading from Janisse Ray’s
The Ecology of a Cracker Childhood.  I think most were a little non-plussed.  It wasn’t what they expected:

“A
junkyard is a wilderness.  Both are
devotees of decay.  The nature of both is
random order, the odd occurrence and juxtaposition of miscellany, backed by a
semblance of method.  Walk through a
junkyard  and you will see some of the
schemes a wilderness takes–Fords to one section, Dodges in another, or older
models farthest from the house–so a brief logic of ecology can be found.

“In
the same way, an ecosystem makes sense: 
the canebrakes, the cypress domes. 
Pine trees regenerate in an indeterminate fashion, randomly here and
there where seeds have fallen, but also with some predictability.  Sunlight and moisture must be sufficient for
germination, as where a fallen tree has made a hole in the canopy, after a
rain.  This, too, is order.

“Without
fail in a junkyard you encounter the unexpected — a doll’s head, bodiless; a
bike with no handlebars; a cache of wheat pennies; thirty feet of copper pipe;
a boxy ’58 Edsel.  Likewise, in the
middle of Tate’s Hell Swamp you might look unexpectedly into the brown eyes of
a barred owl ten feet away or come upon a purple stretch of carnivorous
bladderworts in bloom, their BB-sized bladders full of aquatic microorganisms.

“In
junkyard as in wilderness there is danger: 
shards of glass, leaning jacks, weak chains; or rattlesnakes,
avalanches, polar bears.  In one as in
the other you expect the creativity of the random, how the twisted metal
protrudes like limbs, the cars dumped at acute, right and obtuse angles, how
the driveways are creeks and rivers.'”

Our theme for today was ferns, since most
forest plants have finished flowering and the meadows have not quite started
yet.  Bracken ferns in the International
Garden were our first stop.   

First we
reviewed the different parts of a fern: 
The frond is made up of a blade (the “leafy” part) and a stipe (the stem that holds up the
blade.)  The blade has a rachis (the
main vein) and is usually subdivided into smaller pinnae
(singular: pinna) that are each attached to the rachis by a vein.Sometimes the pinnae are themselves subdivided, partially or completely, into pinnules that are attached to the midvein of each pinna.

Bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) is deciduous (meaning the fronds do not
persist through winter) and occurs in almost every county in Georgia.

In the Endangered Plant Garden we found New
York Fern (Thelypteris noveboracensis)
has a blade whose pinnae are shorter at both ends than they are in the
middle.  The Botanical Society taught me
that people in Manhattan are so busy that they burn their candle at both ends –
an easy way to remember New York Fern. 
New York Fern is deciduous.

In the Indian Garden there were two ferns
of interest:The first is probably the most common
fern in the Garden — Christmas Fern (Polystichum
acrostichoides). It has sori (spore producing structures) on the undersurface
of the pinnae at the ends of some fronds (these are called fertile fronds).
Each of the pinnae are shaped like a Christmas stocking with the toe toward the
rachis. Christmas Fern is also quite common in the mountains and piedmont of
Georgia but less so in the coastal plain. 
We see it all year as it is evergreen (not deciduous). 

The second was Royal Fern.  Fertile pinnae are absent at this time of year.  The fronds look more like a locust tree than
a fern.  Usually found in wet, acid soils
(I have found them in the depressed wetland near Track Rock Gap).  Occurs throughout most of Georgia.

The two wildflower and the native grass
beds in Flower Garden elicited some comments. Currently blooming are several
Coneflowers (Echinacea sp., Rudbeckia sp.and Ratibida sp.) and mints (Monarda
sp.).  One of the fun plants blooming was
Horse Mint (Monarda punctata).  It did have the usual mint square stem.  I do not believe it was quite in full bloom
because I do not remember seeing the yellow petals interspersed between the pink
ones.

On the Orange Trail our next find was the
Broad Beech Fern (Thelypteris
hexagonoptera).  It is described as bipinnatifid,which means that the pinnae
are almost “cut” through to the rachis and each pinna is pinnately almost cut
through to the midvein. This produces a rachis with “wings” between the pinnae,
a diagnostic feature for this species. 
It is common in the mountains and piedmont of Georgia but only found in a
few counties in South Georgia.

The next fern was the Southern Lady Fern
(Athyrium asplenoides).  Someone said that it looked very delicate,
and that is a characteristic of this fern. 
This fern tends to cluster, each frond arching, and deciduous.  The rachis can be yellowish green to
reddish.  The blade is broadest near the
base.  It is bipinnate to tripinnate,
finely cut and looks delicate.  It is
found throughout Georgia, except in the sandy pineland in Southeast Georgia.

A break from the ferns was finding a
number of white avens (Geum canadense).  We have seen the rosette that comes in very early
spring, but not the flower, which just bloomed this week.

We also noticed the warty bark of a young
tree, Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata),
a type of Hackberry.

We found several Rattlesnake Ferns (Botrychium virginianum) along the Orange
Trail.  The blade is ternate and
triangular in shape.  It is bipinnate to
tripinnate. The fertile stalk arises from the where the blade branches,
actually the base of the blade.  You will
remember that a fern that looks similar comes up in the fall and the fertile
stalk is attached below the base of the Blade, and is called a Grape Fern.

We looked a long time for the common
Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron),
which was the last fern we found on the Orange Trail. It is common throughout
all of Georgia, with the exception of the Southeastern Coastal Plain. One
characteristic is the shiny dark brown rachis (almost looks black).  Like the Christmas Fern some of the fronds
are partially fertile with sori on the back side of the pinnae.  Each pinna has an ear like projection next to
the rachis.  It is deciduous.

There was some time left so we scooted
out the White Trail across the road to check out the blooming Wafer Ash or Hop
tree (Ptelea trifoliate, which is not
an ash).  There was quite a group of
them.  We could not name the family at
the time.  Looking it up, I found it to
be in the Rutaceae, or Citrus family, which includes the Prickly Ash, Hercules
Club, and Hardy Orange.

We then retired to Donderos’ for
conversation and refreshment.

Hugh

First, some links to items of interest:

Gary Crider called my attention to this wonderful video
about the 17yr cicadas:

The tree book I referred to today is Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America by Donald Culross Peattie. It is
now, unfortunately, out of print in both the original hardback and paperback
editions. Peattie also wrote a companion volume for the Western NA trees. There
is new hardback edition that combines the two original volumes, BUT – it omits
many of the tree species that Peattie originally included. The two original volumes
totaled over 1000 pages; the new edition is only ~500 pages and it doesn’t tell
you that it is an abridgement! Seek out the paperback originals if you can find
them. (An example: I checked out the table of contents on Amazon and discovered
that this new combined edition omits the Loblolly Pine.)

Links to Peattie book at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Todays reading was Advice From a Treeby Ilan Shamir (read by Lili Ouzts):

Dear
Friend,

Stand
Tall and Proud.

Sink
your Roots deeply into the Earth.

Reflect
the Light of your own True Nature.

Think
long term.

Go
out on a Limb.

Remember
your place among All living beings.

Embrace
with Joy the changing seasons.

For
each yields its own abundance:

The
Energy and Birth of Spring;

The
Growth and Contentment of Summer;

The Wisdom to let go like leaves in the Fall;

The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter.

Feel
the wind and the sun and delight in their presence.

Look
up at the moon that shines down upon you and the mystery of the stars at night.

Seek
Nourishment from the Good Things in Life.

Simple
pleasures:

Earth, Fresh Air, Light.

Be
Content with your natural beauty.

Drink
plenty of Water.

Let
your limbs sway and dance in the breezes.

Be
flexible.

Remember
your Roots!

Enjoy
the View!

Our
route: Past the edge of the Dunson Native Plant garden, then on to the White
trail, then the Green trail to the old road and down to the Mimsey Lanier
Center and then following the new road back through the Dunson garden.

We
had such a large group today that it was hard to remember everything that we saw.
I’m sure I’ve omitted several observations, so please make your additions in
the comments.

At
the Dunson garden the Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) was blooming. (An older
generic name for black cohosh is Cimicifuga,
which literally means bedbug repeller, suggesting that this plant might have
been used to keep bedbugs away from bedding. The plant has other medicinal
properties and is threatened because of over-collecting in the wild.)

Along
the white trail we stopped to look at the leaves of Hop hornbeam (Ostrya
virginiana) and pointed out the difference between it and American Beech.
Hop hornbeam leaves are fuzzy and the edges of the leaves have teeth while beech
leaves are smooth, thin and papery to the touch. Their leaf edges are wavy, not
toothed.

Further
along the trail we looked at some Spiderworts (Tradescantia sp.) and discovered
the basis for another common name: snotweed. (Break off a leaf or stem and the
sap is sticky and slimy, like Okra.

We
examined a sapling to refresh our memory of what a compound leaf was and what
the opposite arrangement of leaves looks like. Those of us who have learned our
trees from Dan Williams remembered which tree species have opposite leaves by
reciting the ditty that starts: “MADogs with Beards and Buckeyed Cats. . .” [Maple,
Ash, Dogwood, Old Man’s Beard, Buckeye, Catalpa] We were looking at a Green Ash
(Opposite leaf arrangement, compound leaves with 5 leaflets.)

We
also found a Redbud that had been worked over by Leaf-cutter bees. These bees
carve semi-circular pieces out of the Redbud leaf and take them back to line
the cavity of their nest where they raise their young. They are not restricted
to using Redbud, but they do seem to favor it.

On
the green trail we focused on bark characteristics and found several Shagbark
Hickories (Carya sp.) with their flaking bark and Sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum) with its distinctly ridged bark,
crooked trunk growth, long leaves with tapering ends and wonderfully delicious
honey. (The honey, of course, is made by bees from the nectar of the Sourwood
flowers.)

One
of the girls found a wonderful insect on a decaying log– a Bess Beetle (Odontotaenius disjunctus)! These beetles
have a social life! They care for their young, actually feeding them like human
parents feed their babies (well, maybe not exactly like that, but you get the
idea). They live in small social groups and communicate with each other by
sound. Many of us were able to listen as the captive beetle expressed its alarm
at being restrained. The sound is produced by rubbing the tip of the abdomen
against the hard wing covers. This was a great find!

Ella
also discovered an Oak Apple Gall and a snail shell. The gall is made by a wasp
laying an egg in an oak leaf. The leaf produces a large spherical, hollow
structure, about the size of a golf ball, in response to the egg’s presence and
the wasp larva feeds on the leafy tissue safe and snug inside it’s tiny,
spherical house.

We need the sharp young eyes to
find things for us – bring them back often!!

Further on we came across the skeletal remains of an Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in the middle of the road. The only thing left was some patches of fur and parts of the skull, pelvis and vertebral column, plus a few scattered ribs. Something had a good meal!

The
old road took us past the Florida Cedar (Torreya taxifolia) recovery location. This plant is sometimes
called Stinking Cedar. Regardless of the name, its existence is threatened so specimens
have been sent to several botanical gardens to insure that the species does not
become extinct. On the other side of the road we found Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron
strigosum) in bloom. Judging from the name this might be a plant that repels
insects (fleas perhaps?).

Past
the Lanier Center we found a Red Mulberry(Morus
rubra) with ripening fruit that some of us enjoyed sampling.

We
stopped to look at the Ash just beyond the mulberry. It is probably a Green
Ash, but the fruits are not mature enough to definitively identify it.

Then
it was back to Donderos’ for our usual coffee and conversation. And – the awarding
of the book. The winner was Kaye Giese who was only one off the secret number.

Dale

First we had a reading by Dale Hoyt from Donald
Culross Peattie’s An Almanac for Moderns:

A
man need not know how to name all the oaks or the moths, or be able to
recognize a synclinal fault, or tell time by the stars, in order to possess
Nature. He may have his mind solely on growing larkspurs, or he may love a boat
and a sail and a blue-eyed day at sea. He may have a bent for making paths or
banding birds, or he may be only an inveterate and curious walker.

But
I contend that such a fellow has the best out of life -he and the naturalists.
You are ignorant of life if you do not love it or some portion of it, just as
it is, a shaft of light from a nearby star, a flash of the blue salt water that
curls around the five upthrust rocks of the continents, a net of green leaves
spread to catch the light and use it, and you, walking under the trees. You, a
handful of supple earth and long white stones, with seawater running in your
veins.

Second I read a short item from Aldo
Leopold’s, A Sand County Almanac, page
110. 

Finally
there is Draba, beside whom even Linaria [Toadflax] is tall and
ample.  I have never met an economist who
knows Draba, but if I were one I
should do all my economic pondering lying prone on the sand, with Draba at nose-length.

This is personally interesting to me,
since I was an economist from 1959 to 1995, and during the last few years I was
prone on the ground counting Draba, a rare plant at Rock and Shoals Outcrop
Natural Area.  It is only about 6 inches
high and can really only be seen when it goes to seed.  Never did want to think about economics that
way.

Our ramble today was through the
International Garden to the Endangered Plant Area and the Pitcher Plant
Bog.  Then on to the Purple Trail down to
the River.  Connected to the Orange
Trail.  Stopped at the Mountain Laurel
Bluff.  Then the rest of the way on the
Orange Trail to the Upper Parking Lot.

In the Endangered Plant Garden we saw
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica),
Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum),
a beardtongue (Penstemon spp.), and Cooly’s
meadow rue (Thalictrum cooleyi).  Overlooking the pitcher plant bog we saw  the leaves of yellow trumpet (Sarracenia flava), and the white topped
pitcher plant (Sarracenia leucophylla),
as well as the flowers of Sweet Pitcherplant (Sarracenia rubra) and Parrot Pitcherplant (Sarracenia psittacina).

Down the Purple Trail, Dale found
Turkeytail mushrooms to admire.  We
showed some new participants the very tall persimmon tree.

At the Middle Oconee River, Wade Seymour
and his crew were moving the trail where three feet of the bank had slipped
into the river after the last high level of the river took it from the bank.

Walked up to see how much of the
beautiful mountain laurel (Kalmia
latifolia) was still blooming.  We
once again commented on the way in which the anthers with pollen are spring
loaded in the petals, so that when wind or an insect knock it, the anthers
spring with force and send off the pollen, some of which attaches to the
insect.

Moving around the beaver pond, we spent
some time discussing a fern by the boardwalk. 
It is either Sensitive Fern or Netted Chain Fern. The problem is that
the distinctive characteristic to separate them is the fertile frond.  Only last year’s was available.  We decided again that it is probably Sensitive
Fern (Onoclea sensibilis).

A spittle bug was discovered feeding on a
blackberry.  The insect, a leaf hopper,
uses it’s piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck juice from plants. Plant juice is
rich in sugar but low in protein, so the spittle bug has to suck a lot of it to
get the protein it needs to grow. The excess is kicked into a froth, creating
the spittle covering that hides it from parasitic wasps.  Dale uncovered the insect, so all could see
it.

In the beaver pond, Tim Homan pointed out
the leaves of duck potato (Sagittaria
latifolia).

Next we found the leaves of cut leaf
coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata).  Nearby was the beginning of the many summer
bluets (Houstonia purpurea var. purpurea) that we saw all along the
Orange Trail.

At the stump where the tree fell across
the stream there were several stems of wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) with one in full bloom.

Just past the little bridge over a creek
(that I know as copperhead creek), sweet spire (Itea virginica) was blooming. 
Above it was the fruit of muscle wood (Carpinus caroliniana).  Then
we stopped to admire the broad beech fern (Thelypteris
hexagonoptera).

The last bloom of the day was the wild
garlic (Allium canadense).

We did stop to ask Dale about the huge
number of suckers from the bottom of the trunk of a Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).  The tree was dying at the top, so that the
leader was no longer controlling growth. It puts out a hormone that inhibits
new growth lower in the tree.  When the
leader is gone, the inhibition is released and the plant tries to grow
elsewhere.  In this case it will probably
not work because the tulip tree cannot grow in the shade of other trees and the
new stems will probably die.

The next stop was Donderos for food and
conversation.

Hugh

Before the walk today Emily and I saw a rather
bedraggled fox on the powerline cut.

We had a very large group today, 23 people.

Jack read a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
“This Lime-tree Bower, My Prison.” http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173248 

We started down the walk to the Dunson garden and
stopped by a Bottle-Brush Buckeye to refresh our memory of leaf structure and terminology.
These leaves were palmately compound and they were arranged opposite on the
twig. (Later we would see alternate, pinnately compound leaves when we found
some hickory saplings.) 

Next stop was to examine Witch Hazel Conical Galls.
Earlier Emily and I saw a squirrel helping itself to a nibble of one of the
galls. The tree was well-infested — almost every leaf bore one or more of the
conical structures. They are produced by aphids, which can be seen if you cut a
gall open and examine the hollow interior with a hand lens. Some of the inhabitants
have wings and are capable of flying out to seek out an alternate host plant, a
Birch. The Birch is infested by the aphids in late summer and autumn. They lay
their eggs on the Birch and die. The eggs overwinter, and the new generation of
aphids fly off to find the Witch Hazel in the spring.

At the beginning of the Dunson garden we found
Solomon’s Plume (Smilacina racemosa)
in flower. Further along the path we found two hickory saplings near on another.
These enabled us to see what alternate leaved, pinnately compound leaves look
like. One of the small hickories had a stout, fuzzy petiole and 9 leaflets on
each leaf. This is Mockernut hickory (Carya
tomentosa); the other had thin, smooth petiole and only 7 leaflets on each
leaf — a not-Mockernut hickory (probably Carya
glabra, Pignut Hickory).

Our big surprise: we found Ashe Magnolia (Magnolia ashei) in bloom. Some
authorities consider this to be a variety of Big-leaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla). Several people
sniffed the huge blossoms with their floppy, elongated petals, each with a
reddish purple blotch on the bottom.

Along the way we examined several ferns: New York
Fern (Thelypteris novaboracensis),
Netted Chain Fern(Woodwardia areolata),
Southern Grape Fern (Botrychium
biternatum ) and Marginal Wood Fern (Dryopteris
marginalis). There were also many fresh leaves of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) covering the ground.
The Goldenseal ()  was no longer in
bloom, but many plants had developing fruits. We were also surprised to see a
Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense)
with its maple-like leaves and 
nearly-gone-by flowers. Next to the Birdfoot violets was a flowering
specimen of Fringed Campion (Silene
polypetala), a very rare plant that is endangered where ever it is found.

At the bottom of the Dunson garden we noticed that
the Yucca (Yucca filamentosa) had
finally sent up its flowering stalks, but the buds are still tightly closed.
Last year at this time the Yucca were all flowering. These might flower within
the next two weeks.

The wooden fence below the Dunson garden and next to
the road always has some surprises. Today the blackberries were in bloom and
there were a few that had almost ripened. We also found Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana) and Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), although they will bloom
much later in the summer. Blooming today were a few plants of Heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum) with their
curled inflorescence bearing light purple flowers.

Our next stop was through the fence via the powerline
path. The recent rains that produced the immense chorus of Eastern Spadefoot
toads left temporary pools to the right of the path. Earlier Emily and I dipped
out mosquito larvae and pupae to show to everyone. Many people have seen
mosquito “wrigglers,” but few have seen their pupal stage. (Insects
can be divided into two types: those with what is called incomplete
metamorphosis and those with complete metamorphosis. Like butterflies and
moths, mosquitoes have complete metamorphosis — their life cycle includes an
egg, a larval stage, a pupa and, finally, an adult. In butterflies and moths
the larva is called a caterpillar, the pupa a chrysalis or cocoon. With
mosquitoes the larval stage is the wriggler and the pupal stage is, well, the
pupa. The wriggler is a longish organism that hangs from the surface of the
water and, if disturbed, twitches back and forth. The pupa also hangs from the
surface but looks like a small, rounded lump. When it is disturbed it detaches from
the surface and darts around until it tires. Then it floats back to the
surface. The adult mosquito will emerge from the pupa in a few days.

Due to the overcast there were few flowers open on
the path to the river. We managed to find a patch of Venus Looking Glass (Triodanis perfoliata), with pretty
purple flowers, 1 per stem. At the end of the bridge on the White trail we saw
the white flowers of Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron
radicans) open in small inflorescences. 

Then it was back to Donderos’ via the Orange spur
trail where we relaxed with our favorite beverages.

Dale

Today we started with a recording of the
Eastern Spadefoot frog calls that occurred in the flood plain at the beginning of the
week.  It really brought back the machine
like calls.  One or two frogs was
interesting, but the chorus was incredible.

Bob Walker brought a reading from Daniel
Chamovitz, WHAT A PLANT KNOWS: A Field Guide to the Senses.  (New York: 
Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2012)

The ramble today was long.  Through the Shade Garden out the White Trail
to the power line right of way.  Up the
power line right of way to the fence, along the fence to the white trail again
at the deer fence gate, through to the right, past the radiation control site,
down the hill past the wetlands to the White Trail again.  Then turning right on the White Trail we went
to the Yellow Trail (cutoff), connected up with the White Trail again.  Turning left we followed the White Trail
through the ravine to the Red Trail. 
Going left up the Red Trail, connected up with the White Trail, which we
used to return to the Arbor in the lower parking lot.

The day was gorgeous so everyone lingered
over our finds.  Right in the Shade
Garden were some native plants:  Wild Geranium
(Geranium maculatum), Black Cohosh (Actea racemosa), and Pale Yellow Trillium
(Trillium discolor).  The trillium is
restricted in the wild to the Savannah River drainage.  Next were Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron
canescens).  Followed by the yellow sweet
shrub (Calycanthus floridus) ‘Athens.’ 
Michael Dirr heard of this plant in the Brumby’s yard in the Bedgood
neighborhood in Athens.  He got a cutting
and developed the cultivar we saw today. 
Before leaving the Shade Garden we went by Alumroot (Heuchera villas)
and the sweet spire (Itea virginica).

As we went by the old flower garden we
noted the spiderwort (Trandescantia virginica) and an Iris cultivar blooming.  Where we connected up with the White Trail
coming down from the upper parking lot we found One-flowered Hawthorn
(Crataegus uniflora) in bloom.  At the
power line right of way, we stopped to admire the Southern (or Small’s) ragwort
(Packera anonyma).  Up the right of way we
looked for the Annual Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium rosulatum), but they
were closed up and hard to see.  Beside
the trail, however, a larger blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium sp) prevailed, but
it was also closed up.  The flower of the
day to remember were the robust patches of Nettle-leaf Sage (Salvia
urticifolia).  It has opposite nettle
like leaves, and blue to lavender petals, two lipped corolla, upper lip hood
like, and a white stripped lower lip with three lobes.   At the relatively dry site where we saw Birdfoot Violet several weeks ago, we discussed the 
lichens:  Dixie reindeer lichen
(Cladonia subtenuis), Pixie Cups (Cladonia chlorophaea). and British Soldiers
(Cladonia cristatella).  Just before
leaving power line, we stopped to discuss Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentilla
canadensis). One can distinguish it from the Common Cinquefoil (Potentilla
simplex) by the fact that Dwarf Cinquefoil’s first flower usually comes off the
axil of the first well developed stem leaf. 
The Common Cinquefoil’s first flower usually comes of the axil of the
second well developed stem leaf.  These
flowers are also known as Five Fingers.

Approaching the radiation site on the other
side of the deer fence, we passed cat’s ears (Hypochaeris radicata).  Going down the hill we talked about the
blackberry in bloom and the ugly Autumn Olive (Eleagnus umbellata) now
considered to be an invasive plant, but which has been extensively used as wildlife
food and cover.  James Miller and Karl
Miller, in their FOREST PLANTS OF THE SOUTHEAST AND THEIR WILDLIFE USES, notes
that the fruit provides food for Northern Bobwhite, Mourning Dove, Ruffed
Grouse,Wild Turkey, and numerous songbirds. The fruit is also consumed by Raccoon,
Stripped Skunk, Virginia Opossum, BlackBear, and other mammals.

Dale discussed the spittle bug.  This bugsucks juice from a plant and obtains more than it needs.  The surplus is used as a white foam cover for
the bug to avoid the attack by parasitic wasps.

At the wetland we noted the sedges and
the beginning of cattails and the dried stems of  wool grass (Scirpus cyperinus).  Turning right on the White Trail there was
lyre-leaf sage (Salvia lyrata), summer bluet (Houstonia purpurea).  Needle grass (Piptochaetium avenaceum) was
also in bloom.

Our next stop was for rattlesnake weed
(Hieracium venosum).  Then to the
resurrection fern (Polypodium polypodioides). 
This fern usually grows on trees, but can grow on rocks.  The rock cap fern (Polypodium virginianum)
grows only on rocks.  The distinguishing
characteristic is that the resurrection fern stipe (stem to the first leaf) is
densely scaled, whereas the rock cap fern is smooth and green.  Turning round we found the first of a number
of deer berry (Vaccinium stamineum) shrubs that had just bloomed overnight.   We noted that the leaves of the crane fly
(Tipularia discolor) orchid has now disappeared.  The flower will bloom in the summer.  At the turn for the yellow trail we discussed
whether a tree there is a Red Mulberry or Basswood tree.  The consensus was that it is a Red Mulberry
tree.

At the bridge across the ravine
connecting again the yellow trail with the White Trail, Emily and others found
a plant we never did identify.  Here
though we found Solomon plume (Maianthemum racemosa) blooming.  Along this stretch of trail through the
ravine we also saw the fertile fronds bearing sporangia of the Christmas Fern (Polystichum
acrostichoides).  Just before the next
bridge, tucked in beside a tree trunk was giant chickweed (Stellaria pubera).

As we climbed  out of the ravine, green and gold
(Chrysogonum virginianum) was tucked on the backside of a beech tree. After
crossing the power line and returning to the woods we discovered in bud
Pipsissiwa (Chimaphylla maculatum) also known as Spotted Wintergreen.

Turning left up the Red Trail we noted
Rattlesnake Fern (Botrychium virginianum). 
Connected up with the White Trail again. 
Returned to the deer fence, and then scooted back to the Arbor along the
White Trail.

It was way past time for visiting
Dondero’s where we reviewed all the wonderful things we saw.  Gary and other birders did spot several Indigo Buntings and a Bluebird.  They
also heard a Red-eyed Vireo.

Hugh

We had a large group on this misty, almost drizzly, morning.  Don read an excerpt entitled Extinction by Flowers from The Year of the Moon Goose by T. W. Burger.  We then left the Arbor for the Dunson Native Plant garden to see what changes had occurred since we last visited it.

There were still some Trillium in bloom; especially the Pale Yellow Trillium (T. discolor). There are many of these scattered throughout the garden. We were surprised to see a few bunches of Chattahoochie Trillium (T. decipiens) still in flower. Some Solomon’s Plume (Smilacina racemosa, a.k.a. False Solomon’s Seal) have almost mature inflorescences. Emily noted the differences between this species and “true” Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum). The latter has 1-3 flowers hanging below the stem at each leaf axil while Solomon’s Plume has an inflorescence at the end of the stem. The stem of Solomon’s Plume is also more “zig-zaggy”. Also flowering in this part of the garden is False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve). Nearby the Early Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dioicum) has lost its flowers, but it looks like some seed will be set. We also noticed that the Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) has appeared, but the flowering stalk is nowhere to be seen as yet. We were also surprised to see a few flowers on the Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum).

Further along the garden a few Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon meadia) still had rather ratty blossoms, but, for the most part, these have all gone by and only the flowering stalks remain. Scattered through this bed are two color forms of Hairy-stemmed Spiderwort (Tradescantia hirsuticaulis); one has purple flowers, the other,pink. Avis spotted a lonely Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) flower.

We puzzled over the distinction between Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis) and Netted Chain Fern (Woodwardia areolata). Discrimination of these two species hinges on whether the pinnae (fern-speak for leaflets) are nearly opposite (Sensitive) or alternate (Netted Chain). Our assessment  of this character seemed to be very subjective and inconclusive. The arrangement of the spore-producing structures on the fertile fronds is also very different between the two species, but the fertile fronds are just beginning to emerge we couldn’t come to any decision. I guess we’ll have to wait until next week.

Another surprise was a group of Birdfoot Violets (Viola pedata), freshly planted. (The Birdfoot Violets we saw two weeks ago on the power line are no longer blooming.)

The Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) inflorescences (which bear pale yellow flowers here) are nearly gone.

We also spotted a Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) in bloom. The flowersare green and not nearly as noticeable as the fruit from which the wonderfully evocative regional name, “Hearts-a-Bursting-With-Love,” is derived. If you didn’t get a good look at this flower today it’s worth a separate trip to the garden just to examine them.

As we passed the “tip-up” (the root ball of a fallen tree) we noted the Green-and-Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) in full flower next to a Yellow Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)that has many developing fruits. The juxtaposition of colors and textures of the leaves, flowers and fruits of these two plants is wonderful to look at.

The Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) has finished blooming and there are developing fruits on the plants that have two leaves. We also saw Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea) – no flowers yet.

At the bottom of the garden we looked for the flowering stalks on the Yucca (Yucca filamentosa), but failed to find any. (Several of the Yucca in our yard have sent up stalks already.)

We then headed up the power line and stopped to look at the more abundant plants of this disturbed area. Due to the overcast sky some were not open but both Field Madder (Sherardia arvensis) with the tiny pink-purple flowers and Low Hop Clover (Trifolium campestre) with the small, yellow clover blossoms were very conspicuous. Barbara asked if the Field Madder could be used to dye cloth, as the name implies. The Wikipedia entry states that its root gives a red color that is inferior to that of true Madder.

The Hop clover is so-named because as the individual florets in the flower head turn brown they resemble dried hops. This plant was introduced to North America from Eurasia as fodder and for soil improvement. Like other clovers, which are legumes, the roots harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria. This plant-bacteria symbiosis takes nitrogen gas from the air and “fixes” it into nitrogen compounds that are released into the soil when the plant dies.

On the way up the power line we saw many Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata) in bloom. This is a common plant in the mint family, often seen along roadsides and other disturbed areas. Off to the side someone located Wild Chervil (Chaerophyllum tainturieri) which can be confused with Corn Salad (Valerianella radiata) because both have small clusters of tiny white flowers. But the Chervil has lacy, carrot-like foliage and Corn Salad does not.

Yellow Crownbeard (Verbesina occidentalis) was just starting to come up. The plants are only about one foot tall but the combination of opposite leaves and”wings” on the stem make identification easy. The other two wingstem species that grow in the power line have alternate leaves.

Two exotic trees were seen at the edge of the power line, but we were unable to identify them. Both were flowering. One was almost certainly in the bean family — it had doubly pinnate leaves similar to Honey Locust (Gleditsia sp.)and an inflorescence of large, bright yellow flowers. The other tree was tall, with white flowers high up on the trunk and branches. It had compound leaves lacking the terminal leaflet. This area of the garden is near the old part of the garden that is no longer maintained. It was filled with horticultural varieties and many non-native species. These trees are probably escapees.

The reason for going up the power line was to see an addition to the Garden’s list of species: Annual blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium rosulatum). But due to the cool, overcast weather the plants were not cooperating – all the blossoms were tightly closed. This is a very pretty species and worth a visit on a sunny day just to see it.

We returned back to the White trail where two weeks ago we saw the egg of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly(Papilio glaucus) on the leaf of a Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). That egg has hatched and we saw the caterpillar on the same leaf today. It is only about 1/8 inch in length, dark brown with a white saddle. Some think this is protective coloration and that the caterpillar resembles a bird dropping when it is motionless on a leaf.

As the caterpillar grows it will molt its skin. After the 2nd or 3rd molt the color will change from brown with a white saddle to green with two false eyespots. Then, after two or three more molts it will metamorphose into a chrysalis (the pupal stage) from which the adult butterfly will emerge after a few weeks.

Then it was time to visit Donderos’ for beverages and conversation. It’s a nice day when you see almost 30 species!

Dale