May Flowers

"What's going on here? It's mid September and I writing a blog entry about observations in May?.  Guess 2015 has been a busy field season so far, that’s life.”

Thinking back I certainly do remember May as a busy month, mainly due to the number of projects going on all at once. During May, I was conducting wetland delineations, botanical surveys, an invasive plant survey, and even plant mitigation work. Having the opportunity to be involved with this variety of environmental tasks is certainly one reason I enjoy what I do for a living.

The month of May started off with a declined trillium (Trillium flexipes) transplanting project in Beaver County Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources required a transplanting mitigation for 2 populations of declined trillium we identified during a botanical survey in 2014. Declined trillium was a topic of conversation between many botanists here in PA this year. Declined trillium has a legal status in Pennsylvania as threatened, and just this year the state has posted a hybrid form listed as Trillium x 1 (reserved for Trillium erect and Trillium flexipes hybrids) as proposed threatened. Seems many people are under the impression the plants being identified as declined trillium in southwestern PA may possibly be hybrids and not a pure Trilium flexipes.  Below are photos of the ROW area for each of the 2 declined trillium sites we conducted the transplanting.

Site 1 - Area of ROW declined trillium plants were removed for transplanting

 

Site 2  - Area of ROW declined trillium plants were removed for transplanting

As always, the job was made harder than it should due to the fallen trees within the ROW where declined trillium transplants had to be removed. We ended up transplanting a total of 10 declined trillium plants from Site 1 and 35 from Site 2.

Basket of declined trillium transplants
 

As with most transplanting tasks, we always try and establish transplant plots as close as possible to the original area the plants were removed. The declined trillium transplant plots were situated next to the ROW on very steep slopes containing shale talus substrate. The photo below shows the transplant plot at Site 1. The 10 declined trillium individuals removed from the nearby ROW were transplanted into this plot which will be monitored for the next 3 years.

Declined trillium transplant plot
 

The next task for May was completing an invasive plant survey in Cambria County Pennsylvania within Prince Gallitzin State Park. Mainly we surveyed an existing gas line ROW and transmission line ROW using a modified protocol of the Montana Methods of Invasive Species survey methodology. The most difficult thing about this survey was trying to spot Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) in the seedling stage within the grass dominated ROW’s areas. With most Japanese stiltgrass seedlings, you can still use the following characteristics for identification: silver color area of offset midvein area, reddish culm base , inrolled emerging leaves, and hairs along sheath margins and also surrounding the collar area of sheath.

 



Japanese stiltgrass seedlings

As with any field work, if you are a botanical geek you are always looking for that 'ODDBALL PLANT', whether it’s a rare, threatened, or endangered plant or even an invasive species you’ve never seen before. During the invasive survey work we did come across that 'ODDBALL PLANT'. The oddball was a few bushy bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus) plants scattered within a gas line ROW. Bushy bluestem has a PA legal status of Technically Undetermined and a PA proposed status of Rare. So for us here in PA, bushy bluestem is kinda cool to see every now and then.

Bushy bluestem is another topic of conversation between some botanists here in PA just like declined trillium.  Some PA botanists want to delist the plant and consider bushy bluestem in no danger or threat what so ever. This is due to to the increasing number of new populations being discovered, especially within disturbed sites such as fallow fields and old strip mine areas. Though other PA botanists consider these new populations of bushy bluestem to possibly be the result of seed mixes and therefore not true native populations. That is a topic for another time though. Below are a couple photos of the bushy bluestem we found along the ROW in the park.

Bushy bluestem plant
 

Bushy bluestem population mixed with a few plants of Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)
 

The highlight for May was  taking part in a running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) workshop, held in Elkins West Virginia. For the last year or two I’ve been trying to set time aside to visit a population or two of running buffalo clover but could never find the time or specific location to visit. Finally I got the opportunity this year and I was very satisfied overall with the workshop. The people at WV DNR were very accommodating and provided a very useful workshop.

If you never had the chance to see this federally listed plant in the field, running buffalo clover has some very distinctive vegetative features that can you help identify it in the field. Five characteristics you want to look for to help you identify running buffalo clover are: presence of stolons originating from a central crown, lack of leaf chevrons (though central vein of leaflets appear a lighter green to whitish color than the leaf blades), a pair of trifoliate leaves subtending a single stalked flower head (one flower stalk per node), and glabrous stipules with green veins.

Running Buffalo Clover Stolon

 

 

Running Buffalo Flowering Stem

 As I have mentioned in past blog entries, here in Washington County there are many steep wooded slopes with calcareous substrates.

Typical hillslope seen in Washington County PA during May 

A particular sedge I tend to see fairly often while walking along calcareous wooded slopes in May is James’ sedge (Carex jamesii). This year I’ve noticed this sedge is highly variable in its leaf color and length of culms. Possibly this variability is just due to age, but not sure. 

James’ Sedge

James’ sedge is on the Watch List here in PA, though in my neck of the woods here in southwestern PA it seems to be doing well.

The last two plants I would like to share in this May blog entry is American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis). If I had to pick a favorite plant family I would have to at least consider the buttercup family, (Ranunculaceae). I would possible choose the buttercup family mainly because of the variability among its members. Goldenseal is a memeber of the buttercup family and one of the most interesting plants because of the variety of colors (deep green emerging leaves, creamy filaments, lemon anthers, dark red berry, golden orange root) and unique morphology (showy apetalous flower, peduncle developing from the node of a sessile cauline leaf) the plant posses.

Goldenseal Plant

Ginseng is always a pleasure to see growing in the woods here in southwestern PA. I have come across many small patches of ginseng over the years, yet finding a large population of 100 plus plants is something I have never seen. Some tell me the large populations can still be found out there somewhere.
 

Ginseng Plant

The reason I took a photo of ginseng this past May is for me, it was fairly early in the growing season to noticed ginseng. Usually I will notice ginseng later in the summer around July or late August when the spring ephemerals have senesced. If you harvest ginseng you certainly know how easy it is to spot in September when the leaves turn a nice bright yellow before senescing.

 

"Until Next Time, Keep Botanizing!"