“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!"

 

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!"

 

 

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!"