Ice Meadows, Late Summer

My visits to the Hudson River Ice Meadows have been limited this summer, due to cautious care for my recovering knee.  Because of that, I missed the full splendor of this site's abundance of rare and beautiful summer flowers. But feeling stronger now, I finally ventured up to this remarkable riverside site north of Warrensburg in early September, hoping to find at least some remnants of what had been blooming there this summer.  My friends Sue and Ruth came with me, as well as did our mutual friend  Alex, an incredibly passionate insect expert (he's the fellow with the bug net in the photo below, no doubt with his eyes on some prize).  Imagine this scene in the winter, with heaps of ice all the way up to the forest's edge, even pushing over some trees, and you'll know how this grassy stretch acquired the name "Ice Meadows."

Few summer flowers were still in bloom, but the Purple-stemmed Asters (Symphyotrichum puniceum) were in their glory, offering many insects their final tastes of nectar and pollen before such sources closed down with first frost.

Most other flowering plants at this site  -- like this Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) -- were well on their way to setting seed.

One of the rarest plants at this site is Sticky False Asphodel (Triantha glutinosa), an Endangered species in New York State.  Dozens and dozens of them grow near the water's edge, and they were immediately recognizable even in seed.

A few of these tall stalks of Canada Burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) still bore a few thread-like white petals, and the jade-green bracts that had held those petals were rather beautiful in their own right.

And here were some actual flowers in bloom, little blue ones called Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii) almost hidden down in the grass.

One of the interesting features of this site is the presence of several spring-fed pools, which help to create damp habitat at this otherwise sun-baked riverbank.  Sad to report, most of the pools were dry, thanks to semi-drought conditions caused by our hot dry summer.  This was the only pool we found that contained any actual water.

The springs must also have moistened the soil around the pool, for we found quite a few of our native  orchids called Sphinx Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes incurva) blooming nearby. This is a species that does prefer a damp habitat.

Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) also prefers damp soil, and the ones we found were already producing nearly ripe fruit.

I don't believe Eyebright (Euphrasia stricta) is particularly fussy about preferred soils, since I usually find these tiny flowers in such low-nutrient habitats as the edges of parking lots, especially at northern latitudes like the Adirondacks. It seemed quite happy here, anyway.   Not a native wildflower, but certainly a pretty one.

Our friend Ruth is a bryophyte fancier, and she must have found some tiny moss or liverwort hiding down in a crack in these rocks. I knew that my knee would not enable me to rise from such a position, so I failed to ask Ruth to let me take a look through her loupe. But I was happy enough to see Ruth so happily engaged.

On our way back toward Warrensburg, we stopped at another interesting site, where huge marble outcroppings jut into the Hudson

Every crack in these marble outcroppings holds growing plants that feast on the lime such calcareous  rocks provide.  The most remarkable plant that grows here is the New England Violet (Viola novae-angliae), and even this late in the year, we could find this super-rare violet's distinctively tapering leaves.

Our native clematis called Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana) sprawled across the rocks, its vines now holding its silky spiraling seedpods that suggested this plant's alternate vernacular name, Old Man's Beard.  I noted the small white puffs below the clematis vines, but I could not put a name to them. I don't believe they belong to the vines they lay beneath.

Here's a closer look at those small white furry puffs. It appears they also might grow on a vine.  Suggestions as to their identity are most welcome!

A sweet fragrance like that of maple syrup alerted me to the nearby presence of Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium), abundant with small papery blooms

Some of the plants of Sweet Everlasting held the pretty flowers, and other plants held the cute puffy tufts those flowers become when they go to seed.

Here were some much smaller "cute puffy tufts," only these were bright orange and clinging to the rocks.  This photo also shows the lime-rich marble crystals this organism prefers.  Called Trentepohlia aurantia, the tufts are composed of terrestrial filamentous green alga. The carotenoids pigments that conceal the green chlorophylla are responsible for the conspicuous yellow-orange color.