Botanical Errand-running

Two days of rain in a row.  You won't hear me complain, since we really need the water.  Also, with the soggy weather discouraging me from outdoor adventures, it gave me a chance to run a number of little botanical errands, most of which could be accomplished just a few yards from my car. 

I've been collecting and pressing botanical specimens for a couple of years now, and I finally have the GPS device that can pinpoint each plant's location.  So yesterday and today I drove around to various sites to take the GPS readings, then came home to prepare the documentation to accompany each specimen.  Tomorrow I'll be meeting with folks from the Adirondack Botanical Society for a meeting at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, so at last I can hand these specimens off to botanical professionals who can then document the plants' existence in their respective counties.  And I won't have to worry any more that my cats will rip them apart.

The first stop on my GPS run was the Wilton Wildlife Preserve, where last year I found a single plant of Tall Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) growing right by the road.  And sure enough, there it was again as big and bright as ever.

This is a plant that is not supposed to grow in Saratoga County, nor has it been found in any county nearby, so it was quite a surprise to find it in Wilton last year.  This is a plant that is really hard to miss, since it surely lives up to its name, being taller than any other plants surrounding it.

We are surmising that this plant's seed may have slipped into Saratoga County along with grass seed
imported by the state for its grasslands restoration project here at Wilton Wildlife Preserve.   There certainly are a lot of really interesting native grasses to be found now at this site.

My next stop was the Orra Phelps Nature Preserve, also in Wilton, to get a GPS reading for specimens of Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita) I collected last September when they were in bloom.   When I reached the site, I was dismayed to see that the poplars and pines we cut down a couple of years ago were once again encroaching on the open space where dozens of these radiant-blue flowers can usually be found each late summer.  I think next time we cut these trees down, we should paint their stumps with an herbicide to prevent their regrowth.  Or else brush-hog the site each late autumn after frost.  If we don't clear this site, I'm afraid the gentians will disappear from this, the only place where they are known to grow in Saratoga County.

While still at Orra Phelps Preserve, I also took a GPS reading on a huge shrub of Rosebay Rhododendron (Rhododenron maximum) that grows by a stream.  State floral records do not show this plant as growing in Saratoga County, but it's certainly thriving happily here at Orra Phelps.  It's possible that it was planted by Orra, but I also find this shrub growing in a woods near the Yaddo Estate in Saratoga Springs.  I haven't yet collected a specimen, because I always seem to miss its blooming season.  I can see by spent flower heads on this shrub that it did indeed bloom this summer.

Next stop was Bog Meadow Nature Preserve just outside Saratoga Springs, but on my over there from Wilton, I pulled off into a vacant lot along Ingersol Road.  This dry, open, sandy "waste place" of disturbed soil was the first place I ever saw the bushy tumbleweed-like plants of Winged Pigweed (Cycloloma atriplicifolium), a plant that's native to more central states of the U.S., but which can now be found in more eastern parts of the country.  I gathered a specimen and took its GPS coordinates so that it can now be recorded as present in Saratoga County.

My purpose in visiting Bog Meadow Nature Trail was to obtain coordinates for Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), which grows there in a swampy area along the trail.  Of course, there's not a sign of the plant this late in the year, but I know exactly where it grows so I was able to take a reading to accompany the pressed specimen I obtained a year ago last May.

Mission accomplished, I hurried back to my car before the next rainstorm, but stopped in my tracks when I saw these lovely buds of Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum).  I think these buds are as intricate and beautiful as Ukrainian Easter eggs, and if you look close, you can already see the web of fine threads that encase the buds, a feature that is diagnostic for this, one of our few native thistles.

Just in case there was no record of their presence in Saratoga County, I did take a GPS reading of their location, and sure enough, when I checked the records at home, they were not in the atlas for this county.  I'll have to return in a couple of weeks when they are in bloom to obtain a specimen.  Wearing thick gloves.  Those prickers are sharp!

My progress back to my car was also slowed by the sight of this beautifully red Red Trillium fruit . . .

. . .  as well as by these bright-orange tines of Spindle Coral poking up from the path.

Okay, last stop was Yaddo, an artists' colony on the outskirts of Saratoga Springs that has extensive wild woodlands as well as manicured gardens that are open to the public.  Luckily, I had gathered specimens of both the flowers and the fruit of American Bladdernut (Staphlea trifolia) in May and June of 2011, because by the spring of 2012, groundskeepers at Yaddo had cut all the shrubs to the ground.  However, I could still obtain a GPS mark for where they used to be, and when I reached the site, I was glad to see that the shrubs were regrowing vigorously.  Let's hope they're allowed to prosper again, since Saratoga is probably the northernmost site they are likely to be found.  I know that they grow along the Mohawk River on the county's southern border, but as yet there is no official record of their existence anywhere in Saratoga County.  I hope my specimen will remedy that.

Close by those American Bladdernut bushes was a thicket of Northern Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), and the female trees were laden with bunches of bright red fruits.  When the fruits split open, they spill out seeds that are very shiny and black.   This small tree is also called "Toothache Tree" because of the numbing sensation achieved by chewing on its twigs.  I tried it once, and sure enough, my lips and tongue went numb for half an hour or so, but I don't think it would have helped a toothache.

I wonder how the plant affects this Stink Bug nymph that was crawling on one of its leaves.  Stink Bugs are known to pierce fruits of many kinds, but I'll bet this nymph will get a surprise if it tries to feed on Prickly Ash berries.  Or maybe not.  Bugs can eat mushrooms that would be deadly to humans, after all.   This is one colorful bug, is it not?

Back Out to the Woods and Waters

A bright, cold, clear day, and oh, it was wonderful to get under that radiant sky and swing my legs along pine-needled paths and sandy shores at Moreau Lake State Park.  I do love the holidays, a month of feasting and family fun from Thanksgiving to Christmas, except that most of that month is spent indoors and eating far too much food that's not good for me.  So now I'm ready to get back to healthier eating and especially to just go out and play in the woods all day.  Yesterday,  a ferocious wind slapped me back into the house after just a few moments outdoors, but today a calmer air and a kindly sun called me out to wander for hours.

No snow as yet, as these photos show, but ice now covers the back bay of Moreau Lake from shore to shore.  I can hardly wait until the ice is thick enough to walk on, allowing me to reach my favorite haunts around the lake more quickly and directly.  We'll have freezing nights the rest of the week, I've heard, so I'm hoping it won't be long.  Today, the ice was whooping and moaning, a sign of further freezing.

Up close to shore, I could see all the wrinkles and crinkles that form as the water freezes.  It would be amazing to have a time-lapse movie of how these patterns progress.

Part of the fun of winter hiking is trying to recognize plants in their winter attire.  On my way home from Moreau I stopped off at Yaddo to visit some American Bladdernut shrubs that grow by a stream, and was glad to find a few bladders still dangling from the twigs.

A tree had fallen into the stream, and its bark was mottled with a very dark green lichen I don't recall seeing before.

I risked a slip into the stream to get a closer look at that lichen, much darker green than the very common Green Shield Lichen.  I though it was quite beautiful.

Brief Bits of Botanizing

Whoo! Too hot and humid for any lengthy excursions today. I satisfied my botanical cravings by scooting about town in my air-conditioned car, making brief stops at two of my favorite local sites, the Skidmore Woods and Yaddo.

Surrounding the parking lot at Skidmore were magnificent stands of Queen Anne's Lace. This is a beautiful flower, yes (my daughter carried it in her wedding bouquet), but it's even more interesting as a murder scene, where predator insects lurk in wait for the myriad pollinators that inevitably stop by. Last year at about this time I caught these Jagged Ambush Bugs performing the dastardly deed on a hapless bee, and I was hoping I might find similar dramas in progress today.

My hopes were raised when I spied this little crab spider assuming attack position.

As soon as it sensed my presence, though, it turned around to confront me. We stared at each other for the longest time, while tiny black bees came and went unharmed. After a while, the sweat started floating my glasses off my nose and I felt I would faint from the heat. As I fled to the shade, I wondered how that little spider managed to keep from cooking out there in the sun.

In a cooler, damper spot near a pond, I found a beautiful green patch of American Water-pennywort. Peering under its flat scalloped leaves, I discovered the tiny flowers hiding out in the axils.

This was my best find today: a Chanterelle mushroom. And many more, too. Enough for a tasty supper dish.

Next stop was Yaddo, but not the fancy formal rose gardens this artists' retreat is famous for. I like to prowl the surrounding woods where gardeners never venture, for it's there I find this Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint with its pretty purple-polka-dot blooms.

American Bladdernut grows there, too, along a little stream. The branches were festooned today with many of the hollow seed-bearing bladders that give this handsome native shrub its name.

Yaddo's Lovely Lawn

Yaddo, the famous artists' retreat at the edge of Saratoga Springs, is famous also for its beautiful formal gardens filled with roses and fountains and classical statuary. But I love to visit Yaddo for its beautiful weeds. There's a vast expanse of lawn below the landmark Victorian mansion, and today it was spangled with many kinds of pretty wildflowers. There were violets of several kinds -- Common Blue, Sweet White, and Dog Violet -- and just hundreds of these tiny Thyme-leaved Speedwells, almost as small as snowflakes and equally as pretty.

Some folks might not consider Pussytoes a beautiful wildflower, but it sure is fuzzy and cute when you view it up close.

Lawn fanatics consider Ground Ivy the bane and torment of their lives, but I wonder why anyone would want grass instead of these little blue orchid-like blooms and their ruffly, mint-scented leaves that fill the air with fragrance when they are mowed.

I'm glad the groundskeepers at Yaddo don't spread the kind of poisons that would kill these beautiful "weeds." I'll bet this Chipping Sparrow is glad the ground is not poisoned, too, since that's where this half-pint sparrow with a chestnut cap likes to spend most of its time, scratching among the gravel.

Of course, not all of Yaddo's wildflowers are weeds. They do have a shaded woodland garden planted with many varieties of native flowers. Rue Anemone was in bloom today, and while most of the flowers were the expected pristine white, one of the blooms was the palest, prettiest lilac.

Another violet was flowering today. This is Labrador Violet, distinguished by its dark-green leaves that look like their bases were dipped in purple dye.