25 June 2022

This week was pleasant, then hot, and always buggy in the woods. A few flowers were blooming and berries are ripening.

• Honewort’s (Cryptotaenia canadensis) tiny flowers are blooming in both Washington and Indiana Counties. The plant at top was along the Conemaugh Trail, site of the lone and rare Swainson’s warbler which was heard but not seen. More mosquitoes than flowers.
• Forget-me-not (Myosotis sp.)
• A rock made of sand and swamp lines. Since this is a landscaping rock I doubt it originated in Schenley Park where I found it.
• Indian hemp / dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) is blooming in Frick Park.
• White mulberries (Morus alba) are ripe and ready to eat.

Click on the image below to see a photo of the entire rock.

Click on the fruit photo below to see the branch where this mulberry came from in Frick Park.

(photos by Kate St. John)

31 May 2022

Yesterday I went birding with friends on Laurel Mountain near Spruce Flats Bog. The top of the mountain is always colder than Pittsburgh so the wildflowers bloom later or are specialists for the mountain’s climate zone. Here’s what was blooming on Memorial Day.

A patch of buttercups glowed in the sun while dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius) bloomed in the shade, viewed from above and side.

Canada may-lily (Maianthemum canadense) is a native plant just 2-6″ tall that resembles lily-of-the-valley. A tiny spider draped this one in sticky filaments.

Lycopodium or tree groundpine is another “living fossil” that does not bloom as a flower. Instead it reproduces asexually via spores from the strobilis (cone) or sexually via underground gametes. The strobilis on this one is past its prime.

Lycopodium is about 410 million years old and thrived with horsetails in the Carboniferous era.

(photos by Kate St. John)

8 May 2022

The first week of May was full of new flowers, leaves, birds and insects. Here are just a few of many sightings.

The ground in Schenley Park is dotted with abundant clusters of cream colored leafless flowers poking up like corn cobs beneath the oaks. Conopholis americana is a parasite on oak roots so we never see the plant itself, only the flowers. Fortunately it doesn’t harm the trees.

Formerly known as squaw root, Conopholis americana has many alternate common names. The accepted name now is “American cancer-root” but that sounds scary and can be misleading. I prefer “bear corn” because it looks like a corn cob and bears do eat it.

While the bear cone bloomed below them, the oaks flowered and leafed out above. This drew in migrating birds to eat the insects that hatch among the leaves.

May’s tiny green caterpillars are too small for me to photograph but here’s what they look like in June, munching on an oak leaf. This is warbler food!

At mid level in Schenley Park the pawpaws (Asimina triloba) opened their bell-like flowers.

And Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) bloomed in Frick Park.

Some new leaves are not benign. Poison ivy is leafing out. Beware! Learn how to ID it at Poison-ivy.org.

(photos by Kate St. John)

30 April 2022

Thursday morning’s freezing temperature did not affect the redbud trees in Frick Park. I hope it didn’t harm the wildflowers we saw on Wednesday at Enlow Fork in Greene County.

Check the captions for what’s blooming now.

(photos by Kate St. John)

23 April 2022

Woodland wildflowers are putting on a show right now in southwestern Pennsylvania. Here are just a few of the beauties we saw yesterday at Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve.

Trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), above, are at their peak. Look closely and you’ll find a few of the less common white trout lily (Erythronium albidum), below.

See the captions for the rest of the flowers.

This weekend’s sunny hot weather will put these flowers past their prime soon. It’s time to get outdoors!

p.s. If you go to Raccoon Wildflower Reserve, wear boots! It is very, very muddy.

(photos by Kate St. John)

16 April 2022

Yesterday’s warm and sunny weather brought out woodland flowers that were waiting bloom. I found a good selection at Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve in Beaver County, PA.

Four flowers were at their peak:

• Harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa), only 5-15 cm (2-6″) tall, is one of the first to bloom.

• Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) put on a show because the sun was shining.

• Chickweed (Stellaria sp.) was a puzzle without my Newcomb’s Guide. Which one is this? To me the petals look too long for common chickweed, too short for great/star chickweed but the lower leaves have long stalks which says “common” to me.

• Trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) are a challenge to photograph because they face the ground.

Other plants had one or two representatives while the rest waited to flower soon:

• Cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)

• Small-flowered crowfoot (Ranunculus micranthus), with leaves shaped like crows’ feet, is a member of the Buttercup family. Its small flower can be inconspicuous.

• Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria),

• and Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).

Unfortunately yesterday’s gusty winds presaged today’s rain and colder temperatures for the week ahead. (Snow in the sky on Tuesday?!) The flowers at Raccoon may be delayed again.

Meanwhile weeds will not be phased by the change in weather. Look at the sidewalk’s edge to find bird’s-eye speedwell (Veronica persica), a native of Eurasia. I found this one near the feeders at Frick Park. Bird’s eye indeed!

(photos by Kate St. John)