Ramble Report August 9 2018

Today's Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.

Here's the link to Don's Facebook album for today's Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments of Don.)

Today's post was written by Dale Hoyt.

Today’s Focus:

34 Ramblers met today.

Today's reading: Dale read the July 20^th entry from An Almanac for Moderns by Donald Culross Peattie (1898 – 1964), published in 1935.

 

I HAVE no quarrel with the people who long for the sea. The soul craves immensities, fresh emptiness where it can repose. But I would go now, if I could, to the mountains, and I don't mean what they call mountains in the Berkshires. Some gentle hills, a mere unevenness in the land, will not help me. I need a peak to lift the heart, a forest dense as moss upon a rock, laced with foaming brooks.

But on the clearest days the Blue Ridge is not visible here even as a mirage, a high tossed smoky line penciled on the west. Only within me can I hear the song of a waterfall-not the obliterating crash of a Niagara, but an airy cascade, spilling water from tilted ledges. Water poured so fine that it shatters on the air and drifts, as a smoke, as a lightly laden breeze, amongst the filmy leaves of the sweet Appalachian flora. There the maidenhair and the foam flower tremble forever in the breeze of the fall, and the faces of the mountain bluets, deep gentian blue in tiny forests of thread fine stems, are spangled with spray. And over the gleaming rocks creep the mosses-the deep black moss, the frail Jungermannias sending out green fingers everywhere and the flat liverworts sprawl fast under the overhanging ledges, translucent emerald green, like seaweeds, or gray-green and nubbly, like a lizard's skin. There the gentle wood frog lives, and in the wet moss the little red triton runs, perpetually grinning, a slippery living bit of coral. Who, of a burning day upon the plain, cannot feel the coolness, the repose, of recurring phrases in the dryest of botany books, "in rich mountain woods," "in wet moss," "on dripping rocks," "in cold springs"?

Today's route: From the Visitor Center we took the cement walkway through the Shade Garden to the Dunson Native Flora Garden. We wandered through the Dunson Garden to the lower exit and then walked down the powerline right-of- way past the old deer fence, then returned via the White Trail spur through the woods and back to the Visitor Center.

Conical galls on American Witch Hazel leaves.
Each "witch's hat" housed several dozen aphids earlier in the year.

We paused in the Shade Garden to look at the conical galls on the leaves of American Witch Hazel. Each gall, looking like a witch’s cap, housed several dozen aphids earlier this year. Growing next to this Witch Hazel is an Ozark Witch Hazel, not native to our area. It is noteworthy that only a few of its leaves suported any similar conical galls. The aphids seem to be able to distinguish between these two species, or, at least, only recognize the American Witch Hazel.

Mockernut Hickory fruit; the thick husk encloses a large nut.
Part of the husk has been removed by a rodent.

This time of year the hickory nuts are beginning to ripen and many rodents are testing them out. We found an abandoned Mockernut Hickory fruit, the thick husk that surrounds the nut partially chewed away, the squirrel or chipmunk having given up. 

Dunson Garden:

Christmas Fern

Underside of the fertile portion of a Christmas Fern frond. The rusty structures produce spores.

 

Cranefly Orchid flowers

Cranefly Orchids continue blooming throughout the Dunson Garden. The leaf emerges in the fall and stays green throughout the winter, withering away when the trees leaf out in the spring. Then, in summer, the flowering stalk emerges, leafless but loaded with tiny orchid flowers that are pollinated by moths.

Elephant's foot flower head

Elephant's Foot has a rosette of leaves that lie flat on the surface of the soil. The flowering stalk emerges from the center of the rosette and bears inconspicuous purple to pink flower heads.

River Oats

River Oats is an attractive grass that grows in a variety of soils, not just by rivers. Each fish-shaped structure contains several seeds.

Dwarf Pawpaw fruit

Dwarf Pawpaw is a small shrub closely related to the Pawpaw tree. This is the first year we have seen fruit developing on this plant.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit fruits

Jack-in-the-Pulpit has developing fruit. The green berries will turn a brilliant red by fall and are attractive to birds and other animals.

Spider Lily

Spider Lily blooms are spectacular.

  

The power line right-of-way (ROW) between the river and the access road passes through the flood plain of the Middle Oconee river and, with the exception of the path to the river, is mowed only once a year. All the dense, lush growth we see today was barely in evidence last March when we began our Rambles this year. Within a few more weeks these plants will tower overhead; we’ll be walking within parallel green walls. Think of the incredible amount of biomass that has been produced in just five months! And all of it made from water and air with sunligh

Many of these plants are disparaged as “weeds,” “thugs,” “invasive,” or “aggressive” and other derogatory terms. But such terms usually reflect a single-minded viewpoint. If you instead consider what role these different plants play in this ecosystem you may revise your opinions. Collectively they represent shelter and food for untold numbers of insects and other animals who, in turn, are food for other creatures: other insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals. To take just one example the goldenrod is host to a number of gall-forming insects that, in turn, are host to other insects that parasitize them and to birds that feed on them. (Downy Woodpeckers feed on overwintering insect larvae in goldenrod galls.) 

Succession is the term biologists use to refer to the biological changes  that occur in an area over time when it is undisturbed. The general pattern of succession, starting from abandoned farm land, is to go from bare soil to annual plants, then to perennials. The annual plant stage lasts only a few years as they are gradually replaced by perennials. The perennial stage is longer lived, lasting for a decade or more. The perennials are gradually encroached by trees, the early arriving trees being themselves replaced by more shade-tolerant species. The tree stage lasts for an indefinite period of time, potentially centuries, altered mainly by “natural” disturbances, like hurricanes or fire, and, of course, human activity. Such disturbances reset the successional process back to earlier stages.

The annual mowing of the ROW qualifies as a disturbance. It keeps the ROW in an early stage of succession and prevents the transition to a forest that the areas to the east and west of the ROW are undergoing. 

Some ecosystems, like the Long leaf pine -- wire grass savanna of the southeastern coast were maintained by the frequent occurrence of low intensity fires.

The dominant plants in the ROW have not changed in the seven years we have been rambling. They include Goldenrod, Ironweed, three kinds of Wingstems and Sunflowers. As they come into bloom we’ll be able to identify them more easily, but for now we can learn what to look for.

There are three species of Wingstems that grow in the flood plain and up the hill in undisturbed areas. All of them posses the feature that gives them their common name: ridges of tissue that run the length of the main stem. The first to bloom is a white-flowered species, currently starting to bloom,  called Frostweed, or White Crownbeard. The other two species have yellow flower heads but can be easily told apart by their leaf arrangement. Yellow Crownbeard has alternate leaves and Southern Crownbeard has opposite leaves. (I find it easier to remember the scientific names and associate them with the common names: Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, has white flowers and white is associated with a virginal wedding dress; Yellow Crownbeard is Verbesina alternifolia and has alternate leaves. Southern Crownbeard, Verbesina occidentalis, has opposite leaves; occidentalis and opposite both start with an “o.”

Rough-leaved Sunflower

Rough-leaved Sunflower is one of the first of the late summer/fall species to bloom. A few were flowering last week. It’s leaves feel like coarse sandpaper, both top and bottom. And, of course, there is the yellow flower head with a small number of disk florets.

Butterflies are creatures of the sun. You will not find very many active during overcast days.

Gulf Fritillary

The Gulf Fritillary (GF) is one of the most beautiful of our local butterflies, despite the fact that it is a visitor. The GF arrives here in the piedmont in June, about the time that passionvines, the obligate host plant for its caterpillars, start to appear. It manages to complete two or, sometimes, three generations before the first killing frosts. Unlike our permanent resident species there are no stages in its life cycle that can survive our winters in this area. (Resident butterfly species variously overwinter as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalids or adults. There are examples of all strategies.) So, where do the GF come from? They arrive from peninsular Florida where they can breed or survive year round. In mild winters it may be capable of surviving in south Georgia winters. In late fall, as the passionvines begin to wither, the GF adults begin flying back to Florida, a migration like that of the Monarch, only shorter.

Long-tailed Skipper

The Long-tailed Skipper, like the GF, is another immigrant visitor, but it is even later arriving. Its caterpillar feeds on plants in the bean family, including Kudzu.

Horace's Duskywing

Horace's Duskywing is one of several Duskywing skipper species that are difficult to tell apart. (Our ID here comes with a bit of uncertainty.) The Duskywing skippers are members of a group called “Spreadwing Skippers.” Member of this group hold their wings horizontally when they land. Other kinds of skippers hold their wings vertically or partially open when they land.

Silvery Checkerspot

The Silvery Checkerspot is a brownish-orange butterfly with a black border. There is a row of dots on the upper surface of the hind wings and in 99% of the individuals at least one of these dots has an open center. But not the one Don photographed today. Its caterpillar feeds on wingstems, so it is one of the commonest butterflies in the ROW because of the abundance of its preferred foodplant.

Immature male Common Whitetail dragonfly

A few dragonflies are often seen basking or flying in the power line ROW and this morning we spotted a Common Whitetail immature male. It lacks the white waxy material on its abdomen but will acquire it as it becomes sexually mature. You can think of it as the dragonfly equivalent of a human beard. The females never develop the white coloration and they also have three dark bands across each wing.

Common Ragweed hasn’t started to flower yet, but will soon. It is the principal cause of hay fever. It is wind pollinated, so the flowers lack petals and are scarcely noticeable to the eye. Not so to the nose for those who are allergic. There are regional differences in the pollen. I spent the first forty years of my life in various parts of the Midwest and suffered every year from hay fever; August through the first killing frost. I moved here forty years ago in August and my sneezing, itchy eyes and running nose ceased. I’ve not been bothered since. But trips back to the Midwest in late summer are still an agony.

No one notices Ragweed, but since Goldenrod flowers at the same time it gets blamed for causing hay fever. Remember, correlation is not causation. The showy flowers of Goldenrods are insect pollinated, so their pollen grains are large, heavy and sticky, properties that are suited for being carried by insects, not the wind. Ragweed pollen is dry, tiny and light. It can be carried several hundred miles on the wind.

Goldenrod is just starting to bloom in the ROW, but more is sure to come.

Brown snake

Jeff was fortunate to find a small Brown snake (also called Dekay's snake, Brownsnake, Dekay’s Brownsnake, or Dekay’s Brown snake). The reaction of most people when hearing the name is to wonder what decay has to do with it. “Dekay's snake” used to be the quasi-official common name for this inoffensive, small snake, but, sometime during the past 50 years people got tired of having to explain that it wasn’t decay but the name of the man, James De Kay, who collected the first specimen on Long Island, NY. The new “common” name became “Brown snake.” But the little brown snake that barely grows to more than a foot in length cares not what it is called, as long as it can find enough snails and slugs to eat.

Rant about “common” names. Many species of plants and animals that were noticeable or had value as food or medicine acquired common names before they were anointed with a scientific name. But many organisms that were little noticed, except by botanists or zoologists, had only scientific names. The general public was largely unaware of them. Then scientists and interested hobbyists began to write books on groups of organisms, like birds and spring flowers, that people thought were attractive or otherwise charismatic. Publishers of these books insisted that each kind of organism must have an English name. In order to get their book published the authors made up names for those species that lacked a colloquial name. This practice was extended to other, much less well known groups, with the result that many organisms acquired made-up “common” names that no other person had ever uttered. Such names were common only in the sense that they were in the language of the region where the books were published. Books published in different regions or by different publishers had different names for the same organism. That is why there is a multiplicity of common names for almost every plant and animal we are likely to see. End of rant.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES

American Witch Hazel	Hamamelis virginiana
Ozark Witch Hazel	Hamamelis vernalis
Mockernut Hickory	Carya tomentosa
Christmas Fern	Polystichum acrostichoides
Bloodroot	Sanguinaria canadensis
Cranefly Orchid	Tipularia discolor
Sensitive Fern	Onoclea sensibilis
Elephant's Foot	Elephantopus tomentosus
River Oats	Chasmanthium latifolium
Dwarf Pawpaw	Asimina parviflora (and perhaps A. triloba?)
Jack-in-the-Pulpit	Arisaema triphyllum
Spider Lily	Hymenocallis occidentalis
Black Cohosh	Actaea racemosa
Swamp Rose Mallow	Hibiscus moescheutos
Rattlesnake Master	Eryngium yuccifolium
Southern Mountain Mint	Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides
Spotted Beebalm	Monarda punctata
Wingstem	Verbesina alternifolia
Rough-leaved Sunflower	Helianthus strumosus
Gulf Fritillary	Agraulis vanillae
Common Whitetail	Plathemis lydia
Common Ragweed	Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Goldenrod	Solidago sp.
Dekay's snake Brown snake	Storeria dekayi
Horace's Duskywing	Erynnis horatius
Silvery Checkerspot	Chlosyne nycteis
American Pokeweed	Phytolacca americana
Long-tailed Skipper	Urbanus proteus
White Crownbeard	Verbesina virginica