April Field Season Begins to Take Off

 March was a very cold month here in southwestern PA, seems the typical phenolgy around these parts during that time was at least 2 weeks behind. Due to the cold month, many of the spring ephemerals were still far behind in development in PA during the end of March and beginning of April.

Colt's foot along roadside seep.

 I used to be a big fan of recording spring ephemeral blooming dates, but for some reason I stopped many years ago. Each year the common colt’s foot (Tussilago farfara) was always the first plant species I would record blooming. Seems I would always be able to catch a glimpse of the bright yellow flower heads poking up along bare wet roadside banks while driving home from work. Above is a photo if colt’s foot I took on April 4 along  the roadside seep where I’ve been watching this plant announce spring for the last 18 years.

Colt’s-foot is a non-native, sometimes weedy species, yet it does posses some interesting characteristics. Colt's foot has a unique flowering habit for an herbaceous plant. The flowers emerge, bloom and mature well before the leaves fully develop and expand above ground.

Once a wildflower enthusiast or field botanist learns to identify colt’s-foot they may not take the time to often to stop and put colt’s foot up to their hand lens. Though sometimes even the more common or non-native plant species are worth a second look.  

 Another early spring ephemeral I used to record the phenology of every year is snow trillium (Trillium nivale). I am lucky enough to have a fairly large population of this amazing species within walking distance of my house here in southwestern Pennsylvania. The first blooming date I ever recorded for snow trillium was March 26, 1995.

Beetle that I disturbed trying to pollinate snow trillium. Not sure why the beetle is upside down!

I have completed a handful of botanical surveys for snow trillium here in southwestern PA over the last 5 years. For one snow trillium population located back in 2012, we were required to conduct a transplant mitigation for the snow trillium plants located within a proposed gas line right of way. Basically we dug up the snow trillium within the proposed right of way and transplanted them to areas just outside the limits of disturbance.

Snow trillium transplant site.
You can see the pipeline right of way on the right side of the photo where the snow trillium were removed.

This was the first official transplanting mitigation I was asked to perform, and to my surprise it was a success. In 2012 we transplanted 235 total snow trillium plants from the proposed right of way, some  individual plants some were in clumps of plants. 

Clump of transplanted snow trillium.

Part of this snow trillium transplant mitigation was to monitor the transplants for 3 years. The final results of the 3 year monitoring period in 2015 was an increase of 31 new individual snow trillium plants from the original 235 transplanted in 2012.

 Two sedges that are sort of ‘harbingers-of-spring’ here is southwestern PA are twisted sedge (Carex torta) and brome-like sedge (Carex bromoides). Twisted sedge is a very recognizable sedge here in southwestern PA. Due to its early blooming period and dark, purple-brown pistillate scales it hard to mistake twisted sedge for any other sedge species blooming during spring. Even in late fall and winter you will notice the tussocks of twisted sedge dominating the banks of perennial streams within western PA.

Female spikes of twisted sedge.

 When conducting field work in southwestern PA the brome-like sedge is one plant species I use as a semi-indicator of bottomland wetlands. Though this sedge is easy to identify in spring when in flower, by the beginning of July when the perigynia have usually ripened and dropped, all you can depend on for identification is vegetative characteristics and habitat.

Tussock of brome-like sedge.

During the last two weeks of April I conducted a habitat assessment in McKean County PA for oblong-fruited serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana) and creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula). I was excited about this field work because it has been a couple of years since I have been able to botanize in the high plateau section of PA near the New York border.

Creeping snowberry is a plant I haven’t seen in many years. Fortunately I was able to locate a known population of creeping snowberry within a bog in Elk State Forest, Elk County PA. It was very beneficial to see this species again in the field, just to get my eyes adjusted again in recognizing this unique bog plant resident. Not sure how many creeping snowberry plants I walked passed at first, but it did take me a few times zigging and zagging through the immediate area of the known population site to locate the first patch of creeping snowberry.



Section of creeping snowberry stem.



 I visited another bog located in McKean County where both oblong-fruited serviceberry and creeping snowberry is known to grow, yet couldn’t locate either of the species. Large cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) was very abundant in this bog and this made it very difficult to keep my eyes focused on scanning the sphagnum moss hummocks and logs for creeping snowberry. The large cranberry seemed to form a heavy carpet everywhere along the sphagnum hummocks and deep pitted terrain.



Bog/swamp in McKean County PA.



 Creeping snowberry and large cranberry have many similar vegetative characteristics, so finding a creeping snowberry plant growing among large cranberry takes some patience and keen eyesight. Below is a photo of both creeping snowberry and large cranberry for comparison.

Creeping snowberry on top, large cranberry on bottom.

 Finally came across large toothwort (Cardamine maxima) this past April, which was one of many plants I am hoping to locate this year. Like many of the plants I finally do come across that I search for I found it by luck. I say luck because the small population of large tootwort I did find was growing in the 'wrong' habitat. Large toothwort was certainly not on my radar screen when I was walking through the area I found it. Seems large toothwort perfered habitat here in PA is moist wooded ravines and slopes, not exposed alluvial floodplains were I notice it growing this April.

Large toothwort, showing alternate leaf arrangement

This mustard is said to be a hybrid between cut-leaved toothwort (Cardamine concatenate) and two-leaved toothwort (Cardamine diphylla). Other than the alternate leaf phyllotaxy of large toothwort, you may first notice the deeper cut leaves when trying to pick this particular plant species in the field or trying to separate it from more common two-leaved toothwort. Here in PA, large-leaved toothwort does not have a legal status for protection but does have a proposed status of PA Threatened.

 

If you haven't noticed I just got around to publishing this April post on July 6. Better late than never! Seems finding time to focus on keeping up with this blog was slim over the last few months!

 

 

"Until Next Time, Keep Botanizing!"