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Category: Plants

Marsh elder (Iva frutescens)

Marsh elder (Iva frutescens)

When asked to picture a New England salt marsh, most people would likely think of large expanses of salt marsh grass, such as smooth cord grass  (Spartina alterniflora) and salt marsh hay (Spartina patens). However, at the upper edge of most marshes, where only the highest high tides reach, is a thin strip of short shrubs, dominated by marsh elder (Iva frutescens) and/or eastern baccharis (Baccharis halimifolia). In fact, due to its placement on the landscape, marsh elder is also…

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Wildflower Wednesday: American Germander

Wildflower Wednesday: American Germander

While walking along a salt marsh I visit frequently, I was surprised to see clusters of blooming flowers I’d never noticed before. It’s amazing how many things I still overlook, despite careful observation and multiple return visits throughout different seasons. But it also means there are still happy surprises and more plants to get to know. This new-to-me-plant ended up being American germander (Teucrium canadense), a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) with a terminal, dense spike-like cluster of flowers. …

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Connecticut Appalachian Trail Section Hike

Connecticut Appalachian Trail Section Hike

Earlier this week I completed my second state (Connecticut), in an effort to ultimately complete the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) in sections. (Click here to read about my ~100-mile Massachusetts section hike from 2017). While Connecticut was a little less rugged than Massachusetts (with the exception of Bear Mountain at an elevation of 2,326 feet, the rest of the Connecticut AT is under 1,500 feet), it had beautiful open forests, very few “road walks”, and numerous wide sweeping views of…

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Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

As one of the most common water lilies, fragrant water lilies (Nymphaea odorata) are a common sight on New England freshwater ponds, shallow lakes, and slow moving streams. Native to the northeastern United States and parts of Canada, the fragrant water lily has large (2-6 inches across), fragrant, white (sometimes pink) flowers. Although the large flowers can be quite conspicuous, they only open in the morning, and typically close around noon. So if you’re visiting a pond in the afternoon…

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Wildflower Wednesday: Ragged Robin

Wildflower Wednesday: Ragged Robin

Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) is a non-native member of the Pink family (sometimes referred to as the Carnation family), originally from Europe. It has since become naturalized in parts of the northern United States, including Cape Cod. Although commonly found in bogs and marshes in Europe, in the U.S. it is more often found in moist but non-wetland areas and once established it can perform well in drier soils. The plant produces a rosette of low-growing foliage and numerous stalks…

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Sassafras Flowers

Sassafras Flowers

With their dominance in our Cape Cod forests, it’s hard to miss the oaks unfurling their leaves and sending forth their flowers. Interestingly, what we see are the male flowers, which appear as obvious hanging catkins; the female flowers, on the other hand are much more difficult to observe with the naked eye, particularly from where we stand on the ground. However, it is much easier to overlook the spring emergence of some of our common understory trees, like sassafras…

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Wildflower Wednesday: Wood Anemone

Wildflower Wednesday: Wood Anemone

Wood anemones (Anemone quinquefolia) are low-growing delicate perennial herbaceous plants with three leaves arranged in a whorl below a solitary five-petaled white or pinkish flower. The leaves are actually divided into three parts, but with the deeply lobed lateral leaflets, it often appears as though there are five distinct leaflets. In fact, the appearance of five separate leaflets is sometimes so pronounced that when Carl Linnaeus named Anemone quinquefolia in 1753, he described the plant as having leaves with five…

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Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)

Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)

The diminutive flowers produced by many tree and shrub species in the spring are often overlooked relative to the showiness of flowering plants like trailing arbutus, purple deadnettle, and pink lady slippers, but the delicate details are worth taking a moment to slow down and notice. The female flowers of beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), for instance, are little more than a cluster of fine red “hairs”, which are actually the flower’s pistils.  Beaked hazelnuts are native to most of North…

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Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius)

Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius)

While birding along the Cape Cod Canal on Saturday, I noticed a fairly large clearing filled with green, densely branched low-growing shrubs. Upon closer inspection, the stems were strongly angled with alternately arranged pinkish-brown buds. Even without leaves or flowers, it did not take long to identify this shrub as Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius). This non-native shrub flourishes in full sunlight in dry, sandy soils, making it no surprise that it was so abundant in this Cape Cod clearing. Scotch…

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Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)

Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)

This is the time of year when I start looking for signs of spring: black-capped chickadees singing “spring’s here”, skunk cabbage flowers poking up through the ground, and buds swelling on trees and shrubs like this swamp azalea. But I can still appreciate the benefits of winter, namely that I can easily traverse a frozen swamp (rather than sinking into shoe-sucking mud) without getting devoured by mosquitos.  During yesterday’s frozen swamp exploration, I ran into one of the many evergreen…

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