Wildflowers on the Dragon Trail

We were all surprised at the variety of wildflowers we saw along the Dragon Trail yesterday. It was a stellar botany day for me as I saw three new-to-me species of plants. (Two I got fooled on, and incorrectly identified them to my friends. For shame!)

I'm skipping some of the most common plants we saw because there are other, more interesting things. Although I can't resist a couple. For example: Wild lupine, Lupinus perennis. I share pix of this very often, but it's at peak bloom right now and so pretty. I'll just remind you it's a requisite host for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. (and the garden lupine is NOT)

Here's a very common spring wildflower, Canada mayflower, Maianthemum canadense

But the surprise is that another fairly common flower, False Solomon's Seal, has now been moved to the same genus. It used to be Smilacena, now it's Maianthemum racemosa. I showed you some of this last week, but these buds are closer to opening.

Here's another that's pretty common in rich woods, but it's always nice to see it. We found LOTS. This is Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum. The leaves usually have six parts and look like green umbrellas covering the woodland. However, the younger plants have four-part leaves that better illustrate the name: podo=foot and phyllum=leaf.

Now, things begin to get interesting. I did not know this plant at all, except that because of the leaves I was pretty sure it was a kind of vetch. Yes. It's Vicia caroliniana, Wood Vetch or Pale Vetch, and it grows in upland forests. A decent-quality plant with a Coefficient of Conservatism of 8 (10 is highest). I tend to think of vetches as garbage plants, so I call this a nice find.

I struggled to ID a few of these. My best friend is the Michigan Herbarium site. I can usually get a plant in the correct family. If I can't get much help from photo identification programs (often wildly wrong, but you have to know a bit to know if they are wrong), then I just search all the plants in the right family that have been found in Michigan. They are also noted by counties found. So if it's never been found anywhere near where I saw it, then I'm probably wrong. (Unless I'm convinced I'm right- see the Ox-Tongue story.

I'm pretty sure this is Lonicera canadensis, Canadian Fly Honeysuckle, which I identified incorrectly yesterday. But when I got home and looked at those connected leaves at the stem (second picture), I knew it had to be some kind of honeysuckle.

Now we'll move to a member of the Brassicaceae family. Has to be: four petals, and when I blow it up the typical seed pod tubes grow out from the stem. They don't show very well at the size of the picture I'm sharing. It is somewhat atypical in that it has white flowers and narrow leaves unlike most of the Brassicaceae (mustards, cabbage) What made it a little tricky is that if there are any of the basal leaves left, they are hidden in the grass, and I did not look for them. Even I don't always remember to look for things that can help one identify a plant. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's Arabidopsis lyrata, Sand Cress. The "lyrata" is because the basal leaves have a wavy shape like a lyre that is definitive. But I can't find any in the pictures I have.

I really learned something new with this plant, which I also incorrectly identified. I'm used to the Bluets (Quaker Ladies) that I usually see in Ohio. The flowers are the same, but the leaves are different. But this is supposedly the most common Bluet in Michigan, called Long-leaved Bluets, Houstonia canadensis.

I have one more plant puzzle to share. This is absolutely a Baneberry, but is it Red or White? Really hard to tell at this stage. In fact, I thought it was impossible. However, apparently, if I learn to check the undersides of the leaves, the red baneberry has hairy veins. It may also have a slightly thinner flower stalk (but you have to see a lot of plants before you can use this reliably in the field), and White Baneberry (Doll's Eyes) tends to have a longer flower raceme. Nevertheless, I THINK this is Red Baneberry. Next time I see baneberries, I'll start looking at the undersides of the leaves!

This is a LOT for one post, so I'll stop.

I picked up a load of concrete blocks today, did a bunch of prep for the hike (nothing very physical- mostly phone calls and decisions), and managed to spend a few minutes weeding in addition to morning computer work. Doing OK on getting things done, but I may need to pick up the pace. Only 12 days until I leave!

See Ten On the Dragon