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Category: Shrubs

Mountain laurel (kalmia latifolia)

Mountain laurel (kalmia latifolia)

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is a large, gnarled evergreen shrub, sometimes growing to the size of a small tree. Described by the Sierra Club’s Naturalist’s Guide to Southern New England as “the most beautiful native shrub,” adorned with explosions of intricate white and pink flowers, mountain laurel it is certainly much showier when it is flowering in May and June. However, given its large flat, leathery, evergreen leaves, somewhat resembling those of rhododendrons, even without its flowers it makes a…

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Wild Edible: Wineberries

Wild Edible: Wineberries

In my opinion, berry season is the best season. Scattered throughout the understory of forests and along field edges various kinds of berries, including blue berries, huckleberries, blackberries and black raspberries, are ripening. Wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius), also called wine raspberries, are another edible berry ripening at this time. Less common and less well known than our native berries, wineberries were introduced from Asia for their ornamental value and with the goal of creating hybrids with red raspberries and blackberries. Wineberries…

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White Mountains Spring Wildflowers

White Mountains Spring Wildflowers

On a recent hiking trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire over Memorial Day weekend, I was delighted to see flowers blooming everywhere. Below are a few of my favorites. Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) Rhodora is a fairly low growing (up to 3 feet high) deciduous flowering shrub. In early spring, this shrub produces bright pink flowers in clusters of two to six. The leaves open only after the flowers have bloomed and wilted. Rhodora can survive in a range…

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Beach plum (Prunus maritima)

Beach plum (Prunus maritima)

Beach plums (Prunus maritima) are best known for the fruits they produce in August/September, which are popular in jams and jellies, but they are most easily spotted this time of year, even from a distance, due to their showy displays of bright white flowers. The flowers bloom in May before the leaves emerge. Although these short, densely-branched beach plum shrubs appear rather scraggly-looking prior to leafing out, they will soon fill in with alternate, simple, approximately 2 inch long leaves…

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Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

Saturday afternoon I came across a patch of flowering bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) in a sandy clearing that was absolutely abuzz with bumblebees. Its short, sprawling growth form seems vine-like, but bearberries are actually low growing, evergreen shrubs. The waxy leaves are 1/2 to 1 inch long and taper at the base. Bearberries  are a member of the blueberry family (Ericaceae), and like blueberries have small, hanging bell-shaped flowers. The white flowers, which are often tipped with pink, are pollinated by bees…

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Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)

Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)

If today’s warm, sunny weather doesn’t convince you that spring is finally here, look no further than the emergence of silky pearly grey pussy willow buds – a sure sign of spring. Pussy willows (Salix discolor) are a dioecious species (male and female catkins appearing on separate trees). Although it’s these soft fuzzy grey incipient catkins that most people recognize, only the male trees produce these “cat paw”-like catkins that give the species its common name. Also, even these male…

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Swamp dewberry (Rubus hispidus)

Swamp dewberry (Rubus hispidus)

A short-lived warm spell (mid-forties feels pretty good when it’s been below 20 degrees for weeks) allowed me to spend some quiet time sitting by the Quashnet River, watching birds, observing and drawing winter vegetation, and quietly waiting and hoping (unsuccessfully) to see the family of river otters that lives by. Besides the numerous bare woody trees and shrubs, there were two obvious and abundant plants in the river’s flood plain where I had settled down: sphagnum moss and swamp…

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Rhododendron response to cold

Rhododendron response to cold

Plants and animals that live in New England have various winter adaptations to aid in survival.  Some animals stay warm in underground burrows, while others migrate south to warmer temperatures and more plentiful food. Plants, on the other hand, are rooted in place, and are not afforded the opportunity to find a warmer place to spend the winter. The frigidly cold temperatures of the last couple weeks have allowed me to observe one of the Rhododendron’s adaptations to cold. This…

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Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

With the recent snow, the glossy evergreen leaves of inkberry shrubs (Ilex glabra) are hard to miss against the white background. Inkberry leaves are alternate, simple, and elongate, with smooth edges except for one marginal tooth at either side of the apex of the leaf, resulting in a 3-pointed end. The shrubs average 1 to 2 meters tall, and sprout from thick, tuberous underground runners (stolons), which allow inkberry to spread vegetatively and form fairly dense colonies. Inkberry is native…

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Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is a tall deciduous shrub, with multiple arched, spreading main trunks, forming an irregular open crown. The leaves of witch hazel can be identified by their asymmetrical base, and their coarse, rounded teeth. It is native to woodlands, forest margins and stream banks in eastern North America; more often than not, the witch hazel shrubs I find are indeed along stream banks. Although rarely found east of Barnstable, witch hazel is fairly common in the rocky…

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