2016 Catch Up, March and April
Just didn’t have time to keep up with blog entries in 2016.
To catch up on the entries I missed in 2016, I am putting together 4 separate
entries that will cover some of the plants and other odds and ends I took
photos of during my field work in 2016.
Back in northern West Virginia for field work during early
March 2016, and the forested hillslopes were just beginning to green up. Exploring
the forested stream valleys in northern West Virginia, one can only notice the
plantain leaved sedge or seersucker sedge (Carex
plantaginea) scattered throughout the mesic slopes.
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| Carex plantaginea growing along a mesic forested slope |
The plantain leaved sedge is a very common sedge here in
northern West Virginia, and is fairly easy to identify. It’s one of the first
sedges to bloom in early spring and belongs to an ‘informal grouping of
sedges’ that have leaf blades usually greater than 20
millimeters wide. When in bloom, one will probably notice the purple tinged bracts of the male spikes first, then looking closer you notice the dark red purple leaf bases.
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| Carex plantaginea in flower |
Some other 'big leaved sedges' that grow almost within the same habitat as plantain leaved sedge are Carex albursina, Carex laxiflora, Carex
platyphylla and even Cymophyllus
fraserianus. The plantain leaved sedge is obviously a 'harbinger of spring'
in this area!
Another ‘harbinger of spring’ common in northern West
Virginia, and here in southwestern Pennsylvania, is purple cress (Cardamine douglassii). A less common
name for this plant is limestone bittercress because it is usually found
growing near springs or streams in areas of calcareous substrates.
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| Cardamine douglassii |
One look alike species of purple cress is spring cress (Cardamine bulbosa). One way to
distinguish the two is purple cress has a hairy stem and spring cress has a
glabrous stem. And if you dig the plant, you may notice that spring cress has a
‘bulbous’ root system and purple cress has a more or less fibrous root system.
In April of 2016 I conducted field work in Washington County
Virginia within the Valley and Ridge Province. The geology within this area
contains sedimentary rocks such as limestone, dolomite and shale which provides
for some interesting geological features. The photo below was taken in a
pasture field, and shows the karst terrain that is formed in areas containing
limestone bedrock which has been dissolved over many years from surface water.
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| Karst formation |
During spring I am always be photo happy. After a long
winter of snapping photos of mostly dull brown and gray colored subjects, the
new growth of spring always catches my eye and encourages me to take another photo.
One example of a plant that caught this past spring by its fresh green color is
the annual bluegrass (Poa annua).
