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Author: Elise

Dead Man’s Fingers (Codium fragile)

Dead Man’s Fingers (Codium fragile)

Most of what we call “seaweeds” are actually marine algae, not plants. Algae differ from marine vascular plants, such as eelgrass, in that they are more primitive and lack specialized structures such as seeds and flowers, although most do photosynthesize. Seaweeds are often categorized by color: red, brown or green. Codium fragile is a green marine algae that is easily identified by its thick dark green, rope-like, spongey branching form. These branches are soft with a velvety texture. Codium has…

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Atlantic Rock Crab (Cancer irrotatus)

Atlantic Rock Crab (Cancer irrotatus)

Although the beach season is over for many folks, I feel exactly the opposite. I tend to avoid the crowds in the summer, and explore beaches during the colder weather months when they’re mostly empty. The parking is free, the birding is great, and beachcombing is absolutely a year-round activity. On a recent walk along Scusset Beach in Sandwich, I came across many crab shells washed up on the beach, the most numerous of which were the shells of the…

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Animal tracks: Raccoon

Animal tracks: Raccoon

Thoughts of salt marsh wildlife typically evoke images of great blue herons, ospreys, hermit crabs and various species of fish. Seldom due people consider the mammals that inhabit a salt marsh, particularly during low tide when the exposed marsh platform and mud flats provide considerable opportunities for foraging, but many mammals do regularly utilize these habitats for foraging, including raccoons. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are found everywhere in Massachusetts, except on Nantucket. Although we’re all familiar with raccoons’ reputation as masked…

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Porcelain Berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa)

Porcelain Berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa)

Porcelain berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata), also known as Amur peppervine, is easily recognized by its showy clusters of pink-purple-azure berries. These colorful fruits are the reason this perennial vine was brought to the United States in the 1870s from East Asia as an ornamental groundcover. Although originally intended for landscaped areas, its fecundity and adaptability have allowed it to spread readily into wild areas, and in many cases porcelain berry vines can completely smother the native vegetation. A vine…

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Orache (Atriplex prostrata?)

Orache (Atriplex prostrata?)

Orache is a many-branched annual plant, common on coastal beaches, and along the upper edges of salt and brackish marshes. It can also be found in saline inland soils. Its weak stems produce a somewhat floppy, sprawling form. In my mind, however, this particular species of orache (Atriplex prostrata) is fairly confusing. It has numerous common names, including spearscale, hastate-leaved orache, triangle orache, spear-leaved orache, and many others, and it belongs to a fairly large genus, Atriplex, which contains between…

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American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), or often more simply just “pokeweed”, is a common eastern North American herbaceous perennial found in damp thickets, recent clearings and roadsides. It can grow up to 10 feet tall, but more commonly reaches a height of 5 or 6 feet. It has a widely branching form and distinctive bright red or purplish stems. Clusters of green and white flowers are borne on hanging stalks. The flowers are petal-less; the small petal-like structures seen around the…

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viscid violet cort
Viscid Violet Cort (Cortinarius iodes)

Viscid Violet Cort (Cortinarius iodes)

September and October are some of the best months for observing mushrooms, and this is even more true after a heavy rain. Friday’s downpours have caused fungi of all shapes and sizes to spring forth. One that has been continuously catching my eye lately is the viscid violet cort (Cortinarius iodes). Newly emerged viscid violet corts have a bright purple cap, which expands up to 2 1/2 inches in diameter and fades to light lilac or even white or yellowish…

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White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

Native to all of New England and commonly found along the edges of ponds, streams and other wetland margins, white turtlehead (Chelone glabra) is one of my favorite wildflowers. One to two inch white flowers grow in spikes at the apex of the plant, and bloom in late summer and early fall. The name is derived from the fact that the upper lip of each flower arches over the lower lip, somewhat resembling the head of a turtle. In fact,…

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Wild Edible: Chicken-of-the-woods

Wild Edible: Chicken-of-the-woods

One of the easiest mushrooms to identify in our forests is the chicken-of-the-woods mushroom, also known as sulphur shelf, or more simply: chicken mushroom. Although they have similar names, chicken-of-the-woods and hen-of-the-woods are two entirely different mushrooms (although both are edible). Hen-of-the-woods was so named because someone thought the ruffled brown cluster of caps (usually growing at the base of a tree) resembled the fanned out tail feathers of a portly hen. Chicken-of-the-woods, on the other hand, was given its…

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Faraway places: Nova Scotia

Faraway places: Nova Scotia

When we first booked our vacation to Nova Scotia, I imagined a world of plants and animals relatively unfamiliar to me. I figured since we were heading so far north (it turns out, Nova Scotia is really more east than north) and all the way to another country, I would be faced with an assortment of new species. But while the rocky coastlines and higher elevation ecosystems in Cape Breton were quite different from most of our Cape Cod landscapes,…

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