To see Don
Hunter's Facebook album with photos of today's ramble click here.
(A small selection of Don's photos are imbedded in this blog post.)
We came from near and far on this cold morning, with roadsides and
ditches on
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| Catherine reading |
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| "Four eyes" Dale reading |
Garden
of Eden
I know some people who believe that God
created Adam and Eve one mile east of Bristol, Florida, on the Florida
panhandle, and that the Garden of Eden was located in Torreya State Park just
north of Bristol, and that Noah built the ark right near the intersection of
state road 12 and I-10 out of the wood of the now-endangered Torreya tree, also
called Stinking Cedar, which grows nowhere else in the world.
The book of Genesis
says, “a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was
parted, and became into four heads.”
There’s only once place on earth where four rivers come together, and
that’s near Bristol, Florida.
God told Noah,
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood.” The
Torreya tree, an ancient and primitive species, has another name besides
stinking cedar: locals call it gopher
wood. When the flood came, so they say,
the ark floated all the way from Bristol halfway around the world to Mt.
Ararat, and Noah and his dazed family climbed out into a strange land, with
nothing left but stories of their lost homeland in north Florida.
(Note: Bailey White is from Thomasville, Georgia and
has written several books, including the hilarious Mama Makes Up Her Mind. She was also a frequent commentator on NPR but
seems to have disappeared.)
The second
reading is from the Oct. 24, 2013, New York Times editorial series The Rural Life, by Vernon Klinkenborg,
and read by Dale.
Waiting for What Comes Next
The
sky to the west is kettle-gray. The last leaves on the sugar maple in front of
the house are flickering but hanging tight for now. Most of the hickory nuts
have fallen, but sometimes I still hear one clatter onto the chicken-house
roof. Another couple of months and Orion will be visible when the dogs and I go
out for the last walk at night.
The
basil has not yet been blackened by a sharp, cold night. There has not yet been
a morning when the dogs and I get our feet wet on frost instead of dew. We lit
a fire in the woodstove the other day just because the color of the world
outside seemed to demand it, but when the fire went out no one missed it. I
have wood to stack and small engines to winterize, but the weather keeps
telling me not to hurry, put it off, take it easy, and so I do.
There
is still a stand of small, pale blue flowers growing along the fence by the
barn. It has been alive with bumblebees of a kind I rarely see, leaner and
darker over all than the thumb-size, yellow-banded bumblebees that have worked
their way through summer. I can’t help thinking that all of them will be dead
before long, their queen alone alive in the winter nest.
So
we wait, me at the kitchen table, the dogs scanning the deck for chipmunks that
scurry and start, overwhelmed by their work in this year of the prodigious
hickory harvest. The dogs don’t even bother to bark. They simply watch and
wait, full of expectation.
For today’s ramble, we re-traced the route from last week, heading down
the path to the Dunson Native Flora Garden, then following the White Trail up
the power line right-of-way and into the woods to the Green Trail. We walked the Green Trail to the service road
and followed it, through the Florida Torreya clearing, finishing up with the
Blue Trail back to the power line right-of-way.
From here we made our way back up to the Visitor Center. Before we left, however, Dale teased us with
the promise of a special spider to wrap up the ramble.
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| Tulip Tree seeds |
On the winding sidewalk from the Arbor down to the road we stepped on
thousands of Tulip Tree (Liriodendron
tulipifera) seeds.
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| Dale in a clump of Eastern Fireweed |
As we made our way from the Dunson Native Flora Garden into the power
line right-of-way, our first stop was a disturbed area containing Eastern
Fireweed (Erechtites hieracifolia). This plant, particularly in large numbers,
really stands out this time of year.
They are generally four to six feet tall and are graced, near their
tops, with conspicuous tufts of white, filamentous-like seed parachutes that
shine and glisten in the sun while they wait for the breeze to pick them up and
disperse them across the land. The
wind-dispersed seeds are typical of plants that are adapted to transient,
disturbed habitats, like mowed lawns or recently burned fields. Such habitats
have fewer competitors making it easy for "fugitive" species like
Fireweed to establish themselves. (Dandelion is another example of such a
plant.) Because they depend on disturbed environments they need to be able to
disperse widely to stand a chance of finding the next patch of suitable
habitat.
Also seen at this location were the beautiful pale purple, almost
lilac-colored flowers of the Jimson Weed plant (Datura stramonium) and shiny green Lance Leaf Greenbrier (Smilax smallii) vines.
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| Red Maple leaves |
As we made our way into the forest, we first encountered a nice Red
Maple (Acer rubrum). The leaves are broad, each having three main
lobes and toothed margins around the entirety of the leaf. The red petiole is typical, but not always present, so, if you see one you're pretty certain to have a Red Maple. But if the petiole is green you need to look closely at the leaf.
Just before we left the White Trail for the
Green Trail, we stopped at a Mockernut Hickory tree. The Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa) is easily identified, having a pinnately compound
leaf, typically having seven leaflets and a fuzzy petiole. As the leaf matures, however, the petiole
become less fuzzy and may appear smooth.
The species name tomentosa means “hairy” and refers to the fuzzy petiole
seen on the newer leaves.
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| Red Mulberry young leaves |
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| More typical leaves |
Shortly after we headed down the Green Trail, we stopped at what, at
first, was a puzzling plant. After some
collective head scratching, someone opined that the small sapling looked like
it could be a young mulberry and, soon after, the larger tree, from which it
appeared to be growing, was identified as a Red Mulberry (Morus rubra). The leaves on
the younger tree hardly resembled the larger leaves on the mature tree, some of
which look like large mittens.
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| Sawdust from Carpenter Ant activity |
We also stopped briefly at the base of a large, dying tree to talk about
the small pile of sawdust-appearing wood that fanned out amidst the buttressed
roots. The source of this material is the
large, black carpenter ant (Camponotus
sp.). No ants were seen but several
openings into the tunneling that resulted in the “sawdust” were observed. Carpenter ants are large, black ants
indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to
build nests. They don’t consume the wood, however, as do termites. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out
relatively large sections of trees (Wikipedia).
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| Pipsissewa |
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| Pipsissewa fruits |
Before we reached the service road we saw some vibrant looking Spotted
Wintergreen or Spotted Pipsissewa (Chimaphila
maculata), with its beautifully veined, green two-toned colored
leaves. Several of the plants were
sporting seed pods atop the tall stems that rose above the foliage.
Here we also saw the leaves of the Crane-fly
Orchid (Tipularia discolor). A
single leaf, dark green on top and purple underneath, emerges in autumn; it generally stays through the winter, then
withers by late spring. There are no leaves at the time the orchid blooms,
which is generally in late July or August.
Each plant consists of a single stalk, with many small flowers found
along the entire stem.
Not far down the
trail a Hop Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) tree was seen, with its
“cat scratch” bark, a Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata), several Ebony
Spleenworts (Asplenium platyneuron) and a
veritable pestilence of Puffball mushrooms were seen growing on a dead and
fallen tree. We stopped by this tree
last week and there weren’t near as many mushrooms then as we saw today. The puffballs, visible along the trunk of the
tree, constitute only the visible portion of the mushroom. Not visible to us is the mycelium, the vegetative part of the fungus, consisting of mass of branching, thread-like hyphae that penetrates through the woody tissue of the log, digesting (rotting) it. It is the mycelium that produces the puffballs, which are the equivalent of the flowers of flowering plants. The
mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro.
Prior to turning on to the service road, we stopped at a small cluster
of Paw Paw trees. No larger Paw Paw
trees were observed and there was a discussion regarding the identification of
these trees. They are most likely either
the Common Paw Paw (Asimina triloba)
or the Dwarf Paw Paw (Asimina pygmea). The leaves of the Paw Paw are interesting in
that they are acuminate, that is, they taper into a drooping fine point. This serves to facilitate the rapid removal
of water from the leaf, as the water is channeled along the leaf veining on the
leaf’s surface, down the margin of the leaf, and, upon reaching the tip, it
readily drips off. This keeps the leaf
relatively dry, making it less susceptible to disease.
Moving down the service road we came upon a Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata). The leaves of this oak are highly variable in
size and function, depending on their location on the tree. The leaves located higher in the tree are
thicker, whereas the lower leaves are generally larger in surface area, to
better utilize the limited amount of sunlight received by the lower limbs. Next we saw the Pignut Hickory (Carya
glabra). Compared to the Mockernut
Hickory, the leaves are generally smaller and the pinnately compound leaves
contain only 3 to 5 leaflets, compared to the 7 leaflets found on the Mockernut Hickory.
Several more oaks were seen, including the Post Oak (Quercus stellata),
with its
Maltese Cross-shaped leaves and the Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea),
with its sharp tipped leaves with deep sinuses.
An example of leaf harvesting by squirrels was seen, where the squirrels
cut off the limb tips to be used in the construction of their nests or
dreys. The acorns of the Scarlet Oak typically
have concentric rings near the tip of the acorn, but we were unable to find any
good examples. (These rings look like the acorn was turned in a lathe by a
sloppy woodworker. A good picture of the acorn is in Dan Williams' book Tree ID Made Easier. Many Ramblers have
a copy, so ask one of them to show it to you.)
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| Scarlet Oak leaves |
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| Twisted Sourwood tree |
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| Sourwood bark |
We saw a Sourwood tree (Oxydendron
arboreum), with its deeply furrowed, corky bark and its characteristic
contorted shape. These slender trees
typically grow towards the light, resulting in the curving, erratic growth pattern
seen in the limbs and trunks of the trees.
Also of note, Sourwood trees, along with Black Gum trees, provide some
of the first color to be seen in the forest in which they are found.
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| Moss with sporophytes |
Considerable time was spent at a large mound of moss found along the
trail. Dale and Bob offered up a wealth
of information on the growth and life cycles of mosses (sporophytes) and
gametophytes. To read about the life cycle of plants and understand what sporophytes and gametophytes are check out this Wikipedia article.
We soon made our way into the Florida Torreya (Torreya taxifolia) clearing, where Hugh talked about the role of
the Botanical Gardens in trying to perpetuate this rare species, native to a
relatively small area in north Florida and southwest Georgia. Also seen in the clearing were Coffee
Weed/Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia),
Late Purple Aster (Symphyotrichum patens).
After leaving the clearing we saw a small Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), the Sawtooth Oak (Quercus acutissima), not native), and a
puzzling sapling with long, pinnately compound leaves that was possibly
Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima),
an import from China.
Walking back across the power line right-of-way, we saw a recently cut down
Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica),
that is being removed in preparation for the conversion of the power line to a
pocket prairie and River Oats (Chasmanthium
latifolium).
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| Marbled Orbweaver |
At the Dunson Native Flora Garden, Dale finally revealed the treat for
the day, a Marbled Orbweaver Spider (Araneus
marmoreus), also appropriately known as the Halloween Spider. It was truly gorgeous and was very patient,
perhaps due to the cold temperatures, as we all crowded in for a look. The tree next to it was a Torreya taxifolia about 20 feet tall but
for which the Garden does not have a record of its source.
After viewing the spider, we all rambled back up to the Visitor Center
and Donderos' for some fine fellowship and conversation.
SUMMARY OF SPECIES IDENTIFIED FOR TODAY’S RAMBLE
FLORA
Eastern Fireweed (Erechtites hieracifolia)
Jimson Weed plant (Datura stramonium)
Red Maple (Acer
rubrum)
Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa)
Red Mulberry (Morus
rubra)
Spotted Wintergreen or Spotted Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata)
Crane-fly Orchid
(Tipularia discolor)
Hop Hornbeam
(Ostrya virginiana)
Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata),
Ebony Spleenworts
(Asplenium platyneuron)
Puffball Mushrooms
Common Paw Paw (Asimina
triloba) or Dwarf Paw Paw (Asimina
pygmea)
Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcate)
Pignut Hickory (Carya
glabra)
Post Oak (Quercus
stellata)
Scarlett Oak (Quercus
coccinea)
Sourwood tree (Oxydendrum
arboreum)
Florida Torreya (Torreya taxifolia)
Coffee Weed/Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia)
Late Purple Aster
(Symphyotrichum patens)
Trumpet Vine (Campsis
radicans)
Sawtooth Oak (Quercus
acutissima) (not native)
Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus
altissima) (not native)
Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria
japonica) (not native)
River Oats (Chasmanthium
latifolium)
Tulip Poplar AKA Tulip Tree AKA Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Turkey Tail mushrooms (Trametes versicolor)
Various mosses and grasses
FAUNA
Carpenter Ant (Camponotus sp.) (not seen but visual
evidence)
Marbled Orb Weaver Spider (Araneus marmoreus)
