“Bringing in all the rest”

Since it was impossible to keep up with submitting a new blog entry every month, I am force to cram the remaining plants of 2015 in this one. So here is a scaled down list and information of interesting plants I came across during field work from July to September in 2015.

Sometimes I get lucky and I am assigned a survey that is close to my home. It's welcomed since I don’t have to be away from the family too long. In July I had an opportunity to conduct a plant survey that was about 5 miles from the home. Though I was looking forward to the reduced time on the road, I wasn’t too excited about the possibility of finding new plant species I haven’t already come across in the past.

Well, of course I did come across an unfamiliar sedge species fairly quick, the hairy-fruited sedge (Carex trichocarpa). This sedge was a dominant species within a large, 2-acre wetland which was probably once a pasture many years ago. Kind of exciting when I find a new sedge species to add to my personal list, especially since I found it so close to my neck of the woods. When I ran the sedge through Gleason and Cronquist later that afternoon it was a very easy sedge to key, another bonus.

Hairy-fruited sedge with habitat in background

The first field characteristic I noticed about the hairy-fruited sedge was its growth habit. This was a large population and it was obvious immediately  this sedge doesn’t form 'clumps' (cespitose) but spreads by long creeping rhizomes which produces far more vegetative shoots than fertile shoots. The next field characteristic I noticed was the large vegetative shoots that are reach about 3’ high, and have a cluster of 2’ long arching leaves near the shot apex. 

Vegetative shoot of hairy-fruited sedge left
and fertile shoot on right.

Taking a look at the reproductive shoot of hairy-fruited sedge you will first notice the dark red to purplish color band at the sheath apex. Next you will notice separate male and female spikes. The female flower spikes are long (4 cm to 7 cm) and narrow (1 cm to 1.5 cm), and separated along the stem, while 3 to 6 male spikes are clustered at the tip. The perigynia are hairy and posses a 2 mm to 4 mm double toothed beak which are mostly straight.

Female spikes of Hairy-fruited sedge

Another area I surveyed near my home was a large wetland mitigation area that contained a huge detention pond. Within 5 minutes of walking through this area, I spotted another new plant species I never identified in the field before. There, growing within the outflow area of the detention pond was river bulrush (Schoenoplectus fluviatilis).

Inflorescence of river bulrush (Shoenoplectus flaviatilis)

The river bulrush stood out like a sore thumb among the broad-leaved cattails and rice-cutgrass within the area. Seems the most common bulrush species I see 95 percent of the time here in southwestern PA is great bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani), and three-square bulrush (Schoenoplectus pungens) the other 5 percent of the time. River bulrush is kind of unique due to the presence of leaves along the entire stem and inflorescence bracts that are similar to the stem leaves. All other species of schoenoplectus species found in PA have an inflorescence bract that appear as a continuation of the stem and lack stem leaves. In PA, river bulrush is considered rare though it is considered fairly secure across its north central range here in the US.

A question that came to mind when I first found the river bulrush was how did it get here? The detention pond had to of been constructed within the last 20 years or so. I say this because I used to hunt deer and squirrels in this exact spot growing up in the 1980’s and the area looked completely different. What I remember seeing where the detention pond now sits was a large forested valley with a perennial stream running through with various hillside wetland seeps. So possible this river bulrush is a transient plant that may have traveled here via soil brought in during construction of the detention pond or transported by water fowl.

Another new plant species for me this year was mud-hyssop (Gratiola neglecta). I came across this plant on a gravelly, sandy shore along a perennial stream in McKean County PA. As soon as I caught site of this plant I knew I was unfamiliar with it.

Mud-hyssop (Gratiola neglecta) 

Though the mud-hyssop isn’t a rare plant species in PA it is a new one for me and I was glad to add it to my personal species list. I always tell myself there are only about 3000 vascular plant species growing here in PA, so chances are pretty good I will come across a few I don’t know every now and then!

Probably my favorite plant genus is Spriranthes. I had a chance this year to survey for Case’s ladies-tresses (Spiranthes casei) in northern PA and what a challenge. One of the biggest challenges was to gather enough specific identification information to help distinguish Case’s ladies-tresses from similar Spiranthes species in the field.

Case’s ladies-tresses growing out of old railroad tie

The field characteristics I used to separate Case’s ladies’-tresses from look-alike plants such as nodding ladies-tresses (Spiranthes cernua) and yellow nodding ladies-tresses (Spiranthes ochroleuca) were the upper sepal length of 7.5 mm or less, single loose spiral flower arrangement, and creamy colored flowers with a distinctive yellow throat.

Case’s ladies-tresses inflorescence, 'lose' spiral of flowers



Nodding ladies-tresses inflorescence, 'tight' spiral of flowers

One of the highlights of 2015 was the chance to take part in the field monitoring of the federally endangered northeastern bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus). I was able to visit 4 environmentally different sites in south central PA that contained populations of northeastern bulrush.

 

The sites ranged from sparsely vegetated depressions (vernal pools) to completely vegetated emergent wetlands, to inundated emergent wetlands. One thing that stood out after visiting all 4 sites was northeastern bulrush seemed to prefer growing in those specific areas within each site that experienced seasonal fluctuations in water level. This is no surprise for the experts of northeastern bulrush but it is an import habitat characteristic when trying to determine suitable habitat for the species.

 

The most obvious visual characteristic for northeastern bulrush is the drooping orientation of the mature inflorescence. People will describe the overall look of the inflorescence as ‘exploding fireworks’, where the arching rays appear as 'trails' and the tight cluster of spikelets the main area of 'explosion'. That’s how I ‘see’ it?

 

Mature inflorescence of northeastern bulrush: Exploding fireworks

Careful though since many of the northeastern bulrush individuals I saw flowering within the sites didn’t have the obvious ‘exploding fireworks’ inflorescence.

 

A very interesting characteristic of the northeastern bulrush is their ability to form bulblets within the leaf axils and even within the inflorescence. I am not familiar with the complete reproduction behavior of northeastern bulrush but my hunch is this species can dominate the vernal pool habitats fairly quick if enough individuals begin to produce these axillary bulblets.

'Bulblets' developing within the inflorescence
of northeastern bulrush

'Bulblets' developing along  the stem
of northeastern bulrush

One of the associate plants growing within a particular northeast bulrush site was golden-club (Orontium aquaticum). Golden-club is very distinctive in the field when in bloom and even when not in bloom. As you can see by the photo below, golden-club has large, elliptic to oblong shaped, dark green, petiolate leaves. When you squeeze the leaves of golden-club you will notice the sponge-like texture which comes from the many air sacs inside the leaf.

Golden-club (Orontium aquaticum) 

This plant can be found growing in shallow water along the littoral zone of lakes and pond and even streams and wetlands in muddy to peaty substrates. Unfortunately golden-club blooms in the spring and I observed the plant in the late summer. The flowers of golden-club are borne along the apex of a spadix and possess a bright yellow perianth during anthesis.

 

 

"Until Next Time, Keep Botanizing!"

June is here!

"Summer is here and things are popping up fast"

June 2015 was a very good month for botanizing. My surveys kept me in the southwestern most corner of PA, yet I did get a chance to travel back up to McKean County which is located along the north central border of PA and New York State. Though I live in southwestern PA, I haven’t been able to botanize much of the southern most portion of Washington County or most of Greene County. This is mainly due to the lack of public land in the area.


Much of Greene County and southwestern Washington County is still pretty much free of large cities and suburban sprawl. The area consists mainly of rolling hills and moderately steep stream valleys covered in a patchwork of active agricultural land, fallow fields, woodlands, and forests. Most of the forests in this area are early to mid-succession stage, though some isolated mature forest tracks do exist, especially along ravines and steep hillslopes.

Short’s sedge (Carex shortiana) is one plant that seemed to pop-up during plant surveys more than expected in southwestern PA this year. Short’s sedge doesn’t have a PA legal status right now though it does have a proposed PA status of rare. This is one of my favorite sedges due to the ‘flattened’ chocolate chip-like perigynia that make the sedge easy to spot in the field when mature. Only thing is the perigynia mature quickly and fall.

Short's sedge growing on an old abandon
logging road positioned on an inactive floodplain

Some additional characteristics to look for to help identify Short’s sedge after the perigynia fall are the light green foliage, large ligule, and the gynecandrous (male on bottom and female on top) arrangement of the flowers within the upper most spikes. Short’s sedge is usually found in disturbed habitats such as mixed-forb wetlands that are usually associated with calcareous substrates. Look for Short's sedge within emergent wetlands or moist fields that have developed due to past disturbances.. Most of the populations of Short's sedge I came across this year has been growing in old natural gas and transmission line ROW's. One indicator plant species for Short's sedge is meadow sedge (Carex granularis). If you see meadow sedge within a disturbed wetland here in southwestern PA there is a good chance the area is suitable for Short’s sedge.



The chocolate-chip
like perigynia of Short's sedge

A new PA listed plant species I was able to finally identify in the field this year was Nuttall’s hedge-nettle (Stachys cordata), which has a current legal status of endangered in PA.

 

Nuttall's hedge-nettle

In a forest setting I was able to spot this stachys species from approximately 30 feet away due the plants large, heart-shaped leaves that stood out among the semi-open understory layer.



Nuttall's hedge-nettle population

 One of many Nuttall’s hedge-nettle look alike plant species here in southwestern PA is wild germander (Teucrium canadensis). Nuttall’s hedge-nettle is usually found growing within rich, mesic forest slopes while wild germander is usually found growing in more open habitats such as along forest edges, fencerows, or floodplains. When contrasting Nuttall’s hedge-nettle with other look alike plants (Stachys tenuifolia and Stachys palustris) in the field you may first notice that Nuttall’s hedge-nettle leaves are usually much longer and wider.

Wild germander leaf on left and
Nuttall's hedge-nettle stem on right

 Taking a closer look at the stem of Nuttall’s hedge-nettle you will notice the long hairs along the stem edges and also along the flattened angles. Most other stachys species found here in southwestern PA have glabrous stems or hairs only on the angles, except for Stachys palustris. Though Stachys palustris has as a shorter calyx than S. nuttallii.





Wild germander stem on left (glabrous) and
Nuttall's hedge-nettle stem on right (pubescent)

Taking a closer look at the flowers of Nuttall’s hedge-nettle and wild germander you will notice that an upper lip is present for Nuttall’s hedge-nettle while absent in wild germander.

Wild germander flower spike on left
and Nuttall's hedge-nettle flower spike on left



One plant species here is southwestern PA that doesn’t have a legal status but is proposed rare is yellow leaf-cup or bear’s-foot (Smallanthus uvedalius). The only real look alike plant for yellow leaf-cup is Polymnia canadensis, which goes by the common name white leaf-cup due to the white petal flowers this species develops.




White leaf-cup and yellow leaf-cup flower heads

Though I was familiar with yellow leaf-cup before this survey, I have to say this year was a learning experience for me. We located a few new populations of yellow leaf-cup during the survey and it seemed most were shared with white leaf-cup plants. So I learned quickly how to spot the differences in leaf characteristics between yellow leaf-cup and white leaf-cup. This came in handy when driving home from the field and doing a little roadside botanizing!

The photo below shows one stem each leaf of both species leaf-cup species. You will notice that yellow leaf-cup has palmately lobed leaves while the white leaf-cup has a pinnately lobed leaf.

White leaf-cup leaf on left (pinnately lobed) and
yellow leaf-cup leaf on right (palmately lobed)

 Another feature to look for to separate white leaf-cup from yellow leaf-cup is the difference in stem pubescence. White leaf-cup has an obvious pubescent stem while the stem of yellow leaf-cup stem is glabrous.




White leaf-cup stem on left (glabrous) and
yellow leaf-cup stem on right (pubescent)

 

During late June I was back up in McKean County PA surveying for creeping snowberry and oblong-fruited serviceberry. Didn't locate anything too out of the ordinary in McKean County in June though I did come across some interesting plants. The next 5 plants below are ones I saw in McKean County PA that I just don’t see too often and wanted to share.

The first plant is a fern called long beech fern (Phegopteris connectilis) which I haven’t come across in about 10 years.



Long beech fern (Phegopteris connectilis)

 The most obvious field characteristics to help identify this fern is the lowest pinna pair which is not connected to the rachis by wings as is in the more common long beech fern (Phegonoptris hexagonoptera). I do come across the broad beech fern often here in southwestern PA which has more of a range across PA than long beech fern. Long beech fern is usually in the more mountainous areas of PA and the northern and northeastern counties in the state. 

In the same area that I found  long beech fern I had a chance to observe 2 shrubs which some people may confuse while in the field. Mountain maple (Acer spicatum) and striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) are similar in that they both are large shrubs or small trees that have simple, opposite, 3 to 5 lobes leaves, though looking closely one can see obvious differences. First striped maple has smaller, almost fine, double-serrated leaf margins with U-shaped sinuses, while mountain maple has larger, coarser serrations with V-shaped sinuses.



Mountain maple on left and stripped maple on right

 Sometimes to confirm identification it’s a good choice to look at the buds. Mountain maple has pubescent buds and twigs while stripped maple has glabrous buds and twigs. Bark difference is obvious in that stripped maple has white stripped bark while mountain maple does not.

Staying within the same cool mountain stream habitat in McKean County, hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) is another plant species I took time to photograph. Below is a photo of a patch of hobblebush I came across along Panther Run in McKean County.

 

Hobblebush habitat

This was a very immature population of hobblebush though great to see none the less. Seems this shrub is commonly browsed by deer in PA contributing to it scarcity. As I was told years ago, this plant gets its name due to the thick, dense patches it forms that cause people to trip or hobble as they walk through.

The hobblebush has a northern and central distribution in PA. It also has some very distinctive characteristics that help distinguish it from other viburnums in the field here in PA. First of all hobblebush is found growing mainly along the banks of cool mountain streams or ravines. During the growing season you will notice the opposite, large broad leaves that are 4 to 6 inches across, with heart-shaped leaf base and margins that are finely serrated.

Leaves of hobblebush

Next take a close look at the terminal bud of hobblebush and you will notice the bud is ‘naked’ (without bud scales) and covered in rusty to tan colored hairs.

The last plant I wanted to share is purple avens (Geum rivale). This plant has a northern distribution in PA, mainly the northern most counties that border New York, though you may come across purple avens in the central PA counties at higher elevations.

Purple avens flowers

Purple avens is not too difficult of a plant species to identify when in bloom due to the large flower heads that are about ½” to ¾” across with dark purple sepals and pale purple petals. When not in bloom focus mainly on the habitat, because purple avens is usually found in peaty wetlands or marshes in the northern counties and if you are lucky enough to have a seed head to inspect look for the plumose style tip.

 

"Until Next Time, Keep Botanizing!"