Willow roots

After reading willows in the _Handbook of Nature Study_, we tried rooting our own. It worked! We cut two twigs -- one piece with the leaf end in the water, one piece with the stem end in the water, and one piece cut from the center of the twig. They all took root! One month of occasional watering in a pot of rocks and some patience was all it took.

100 Species Challenge #54

Specimen #54 Virginia Creeper
Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Note its name "quinquefolia" -- quinque "five" and folia "leaves"

Since I mentioned the vine with hairs recently (Stay away! Poison ivy!), I thought I should mention the other vine we frequently see while geocaching - Virgina Creeper. This plant can be a ground cover or a climbing vine.

You see it here in its fall foliage (there's that Latin root folio again) courtesy of the Illinois Wildflower webpage on Virginia Creeper. At other times, the (compound) leaves are green and rather unnoticeable. Its sap may give you a rash since it contains oxalates (see the page from my alma mater, ISU). You may see its "grapes" in the fall.

Wikipedia says: "Native Americans used the plant as an herbal remedy for diarrhea, difficult urination, swelling, and lockjaw." You can go to this site to learn about other Native American uses for this plant.

For the most part, I see Virginia Creeper as ornamental. I find it fun to be able to identify plants and animals. If there is more information in Handbook of Nature Study, I'll share.

100 Species Challenge #53

Showy Orchis

Orchis spectabilis or
Galearis spectabilis (L.) Raf.

From Steven's Point:
Galearis: "helmetlike," referring to the hood over the column
spectabilis: spectacular or showy

Photo by me, Jester Park

My first orchid! As a young girl, I would look at field guides like a shopping catalog. I always hoped to see a Lady's Slipper. This flower is the closest I've gotten. A showy orchis. I feel lucky to spot any ephemerals, and I think the moral of the story is to go out and look! Just like geocaching, I hope to log more finds. Well, you have to go out and look!

I saw two of these on the same east-facing slope -- I spotted the first one, a friend's daughter found the second.

Showy orchis is native to North America. Like all ephemerals, it blooms during the springtime for a short period of time. It attracts insects to crawl in and out of its elaborate corolla to find nectar. In doing so, the plant is pollinated.

We also found a clump of six morel mushrooms, another first! I didn't even think to look for mushrooms until I was about ready to return to the trailhead.

Lesson learned from friends: Poison ivy is everywhere; talk about it and check for understanding before you leave the trailhead. For all you hikers and geocachers out there, make sure you look before you grab a tree trunk for stability. I love steep, difficult terrain, so I understand the desire for stability. But if you see a vine with a lot of hairs on it, that is poison ivy! Grab another tree! And of course, stay away from shiny leaves of three.

May Apples on Mother's Day

100 Species Challenge #52

Specimen #52

Black Mustard

Brassica nigra

Photo by me, south Des Moines

3/4 of GAIN and I are looking for morels. (1/4 of GAIN and Mr. GAIN are trying to get her learner's permit.) On the way into the woods, we pass a sandy, dry area. I snapped these photos with my camera-phone and put them here so you can see them side by side. On the left is the yellow flowered Black Mustard. On the right is the white flowered Shepherd's Purse. I think they are similar in shape and they both have clusters of small flowers.

It is not a native plant and its seeds can be used to make yellow mustard, the table condiment.

We usually see this plant in border areas, disturbed areas, and roadsides. We do not see them in woods or prairies, just the 'low quality' places. Sometimes you see them wilted -- there were a couple wilted on this particular trip.

From Wildflowers & Weeds, I found this handy tidbit:

For the purposes of the Mustard family, all you need to remember is "4 petals with 6 stamens--4 tall and 2 short"

Since I did not have my macro lens, I will let you visit Illinois Wildflowers for a better look at the flower.

100 Species # 51

Specimen #51

Rue Anemone

Anemonella thalictroides

Photo by me, May 2009
near Saylorville Reservoir Visitor Center

My books are not 100% in agreement with our summer ranger giving the wildflower hike on this one, but the leaves look right. In all of my photographs, I count five and seven petals. Two of my five books mention this flower having an even number of petals -- 6, 8, and 10. Only the website all-creatures seems to show a flower with an odd number of petals (first photo Rue Anemone - 01 has a seven petaled flower). After contemplation, I have decided accept this plant as Rue Anemone.

This flower is similar to the Spring Beauty, which I wrote about earlier in the 100 Species Challenge. The Rue Anemone has less veining in the petals, and the leaves are very different. I read that the petals of this flower are actually sepals. I decided to accept this as fact and will not dissect this flower to confirm.

Rue Anemone leaves are broad with three lobes. Spring Beauty has two leaves that are opposite and look like grass. I tried to uncurl a leaf and show its edge against my hand to show the lobes.

May Apple update

I did not get a photo of a May Apple flower with our weather this week, but I did spot quite a few fruiting May Apples. The flowers are white. You can see how the flower hangs below the umbrella leaves.

We saw whole forests of these plants on the hillsides. The distinct color of the leaves, like the trout lily and so many other plants, makes it easy to identify from afar.









I will close with a recent photo of "N" of GAIN. He picked up two blue jay feathers while we checked on a geocache that I own. One was lost on the walk to the car. :-(

100 Species # 50

Specimen #50

Toadshade
Trillium sessile

Photo by me, spotted by "N" of GAIN

The dark colored flowers are the toadshades. They are a kind of trillium. Trilliums are lilies. Their name sounds like 'lily.'

We found a patch of these while hiking around Maquoketa State Park, May 2003. This park is full of caves. I have not found much information on this plant, and have seen images of it with different colored petals, broad and narrow leaves, and mottled and solid green leaves. So I am OK with my inability to ID the trillium at Saylorville.

100 Species # 49

Trillium

Trillium

Photo taken today near the Saylorville Reservoir Visitor Center.

Here's the deal:

I had placed a wildflower nature walk on my calendar for a few weeks. This morning, I read aloud from the Handbook of Nature Study before we left, stating that I would really like to see a trillium this year. That was my goal: to see a trillium. I had read about them for years, and listened to the kids read about them. I first saw trillium in Maquoketa, after I was over 30 years old. If I can find a photo of that first sighting, I will put up here.

When we got to the wildflower walk, and a senior citizen who volunteers at the Visitor Center spoke up a short ways from the trailhead. She pointed out the small bunch of trillium that you see here. My goal was attained within ten minutes.

Trilliums are ephemerals, like all the plants I'm spotlighting this season. Ephemeral suggests "a short time." These flowers are out for a couple days, then disappear for a year. You can find ephemerals for about two months, April and May, before the trees leaf out. So I was thrilled to see these. The sepals, petals, and leaves all appear in three's, so it is positively a trillium. But since they are not in bloom, I cannot positively say which kind of trillium it is.

100 Species # 48

Specimen #48 Shepherd's Purse

Capsella bursa-pastoris

In addition to being sideways (thank you, blogspot) this plant is very hard to see in the photo. The sun was so bright when I took this photo that I had no idea if it turned out well. For really good photos of all the plant parts, go here. We find this plant everywhere. It is an early bloomer and I am guessing that it is a weed to most people.

Shepherd's Purse is part of the mustard family. The overall plant shape looks similar to black mustard, and it also has four petals and clustered flowers at the top of a stem. It is not native, but is edible and the seeds could be ground for mustard.

The "purse" referred to in the name of the plant is the seed pod. I guess shepherd's carried triangle or heart shaped bags in the past. Who knew? Heart shaped pods, looking like leaves, form below the cluster of flowers. We split some pods open to look at the seeds.

The leaves at the base of the plant remind me of dandelion leaves.

The Kansas Wildflowers website says that one plant can produce up to 40,000 seeds!