Last weekend, while exploring the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve in Rhode Island, I encountered a large tropical-looking flower. It seemed out of place in a New England marsh. However, the first specimen I noticed was tucked so far back in the vegetation that there was no way for me to get close enough to identify it. I only knew that it was big and pink. Luckily, slightly further along the edge of the marsh was another patch of this…
The downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens) is one of eastern North America’s native orchid species. It occurs in the entire eastern half of the U.S. and Canada from Ontario and Quebec south to Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida. Commonly found growing in dry to moist upland forests, the downy rattlesnake plantain has a circular arrangement of leaves close to the ground, called a basal rosette, and a single flowering stalk that rises up from the center. The green oval leaves are…
Wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) is a low shrub-like herbaceous perennial, which grows 2 to 3 feet high and has small (approximately a half inch long) yellow pea-like flowers. The gray-green leaves are somewhat clover-like and trifoliate (divided into three leaflets). Perhaps the most widespread Baptisia species in the eastern United States, it occurs in sandy dry areas, open woods and fields from New England to Florida and west to Minnesota. The flowers bloom July through September and are just now…
Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), also known as ghost plant or corpse plant due to its uniquely white color, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to temperate North America. These single-stalked plants often grow in clusters and can extend up to 12 inches high. Each waxy stem is covered in small scale-like leaves and has one white five-parted flower at the end. Flowering occurs between June and October, and indian pipes are a common sight throughout oak and pine forests on…
I’ve always toyed with the idea of someday hiking the entire 2,185-mile Appalachian Trail (A.T.) as a thru-hike, but life, a job and various other responsibilities have accumulated such that taking off for the required ~6 months to complete the trek no longer seemed feasible. However, it occurred to me this year that I could still hike the A.T. – I just needed to do it in pieces, referred to as section-hiking. Given that I live on Cape Cod, the…
We are now entering my favorite time of year: berry season. While exploring the Mineral Hills Conservation Area in Northampton, MA this weekend, I noticed ripe black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) for the first time this year. While I enjoy red raspberries and blackberries as well, black raspberries are undoubtedly my favorite. So this was quite the treat for me. Wild raspberries are generally smaller and sweeter than the cultivated varieties. Mature, ripe raspberries will readily separate from their white-coned hulls,…
While kayaking yesterday in Coonamessett Pond in Falmouth, I encountered a number of patches of flowering pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata). Pickerelweed is a common emergent plant in freshwater marshes, and along the edges of ponds, lakes and streams. It has 4-10 inch long heart-shaped basal leaves extending above the water’s surface on long stalks, and spikes of small purple flowers. Each individual flower, approximately a 1/2 inch wide when fully open, has a three-lobed upper petal with two yellow spots in…
Despite the white, latex-like sap, from which their name derives, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a delicious wild edible. Found in fields, along roadsides and other open areas, common milkweed is native to almost all of New England. It typically grows 3 to 4 feet tall, on stout straight stems, with thick, broad, opposite leaves and is topped with round, slightly drooping clusters of pinkish-purple flowers. Before the flower buds bloom, they somewhat resemble pinkish-green heads of broccoli. In bloom,…
In honor of the summer solstice, I thought I’d highlight a sunny yellow flower: the yellow whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) are blooming seemingly everywhere right now. Whorled loosestrife is native to much of eastern North America, and can be found in a wide variety of habitats, from woodlands to dry fields to roadsides. In the last few days, I’ve seen them along forested trails in Bourne and Falmouth, as well as along the side of my driveway. Yellow whorled loosestrife….
Like the Canada mayflower and star flower described in a recent post, Princess pine (Lycopodium obscurum) is another common forest understory plant in Bourne’s forests. Also called flat-branched tree-clubmoss or ground pine, Princess pine is a North American species of clubmoss. The names “clubmoss” and “ground pine”, however, confuse L. obscurum’s position in the plant world, being neither moss nor a low-growing conifer. They are instead more closely related to horsetails and ferns. Princess pines do, however, have the appearance…