Category Archives: Plants & Fungi

plants & fungi

Flowers and Seeds

Wingstem from bud to seed, Schenley Park, 3 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

6 August 2022

By early August many flowers have already produced seeds. Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) above displays every step in the process: buds, new flowers, fading flowers and seed packets.

The three-flanged seed pods of American wild yamroot (Dioscorea villosa) are as distinctive as its pleated leaves.

American wild yamroot leaves and seeds, Jennings 29 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) now has both seed pods and flowers (seeds in shadow at left). This alien plant is easy to find in Schenley Park because it is toxic to deer.

Greater celandine with seeds in the background, Schenley Park, 3 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) is much harder to find because it is ravaged by the large deer herd.

Yellow jewelweed. no seed in the picture, Schenley Park, 30 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

If this flower evades the deer it will turn into a seed pod that bursts explosively when ripe.

Seed pod on yellow jewelweed, Schenley Park, August 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Orange String on Everything

Vine on a vine: Dodder on porcelain berry, 26 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

4 August 2022

By the end of July in western Pennsylvania, there are patches of orange string draped over plants in moist locations on the edge of the forest. The orange strings are dodder (Cuscata), a native annual parasitic vine that blooms from July to October.

Dodder wraps itself around its host and inserts tiny haustoria to suck out water and nutrients. Last week I found it parasitizing invasive porcelain berry — Go, dodder! — but dodder won’t beat back the grapevine. Dodder doesn’t kill its host.

Orange string on everything: Dodder wrapped on invasive alien plants, 26 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Look very closely and you can the haustoria clinging and dodder’s tiny flowers that are pollinated by wasps.

Dodder in bloom (photo by Esther Allen)

Dodder will die at the end of the growing season yet you may find it in the same spot every year. Find out why this happens and other interesting tidbits in this vintage article.

(photos by Kate St. John and Esther Allen)

Carnivorous Teasels?

Teasel in bloom, Schenley Park, 26 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

2 August 2022

This flower head is so spiny and eye catching that we rarely look at the leaves though they’ve been studied intensely at least three times since the 1870s.

Teasel’s (Dipsacus fullonum) paired perfoliate leaves collect rainwater in the cup where they clasp the stem and unwary insects drown in the puddle. Notice the water in the leaf cups below. (Click the first photo to see a marked-up version showing the water line.)

Same teasel showing water trapped in a leaf cup, Schenley Park, 30 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Teasel leaves showing with water cup (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

In the mid 1870s Francis Darwin, son of Charles Darwin, hypothesized that teasel digests the decaying insects, then studied and published about the digestive mechanism. Not everyone was convinced. Teasels were studied again and again.

A 2011 study published in PLOS ONE found that teasels with dead insects in the leaf cups set more seed than those without, thus a nutrient benefit of carnivory. But a 2019 study in Canadian Science Publishing found that seed production had more to do with soil nutrients.

Teasels obviously use spines to defend themselves, but do they play offense, too? Are they carnivorous? It would be nice to think so but we don’t know.

Read more in this 2017 article In Defense of Plants, published before the 2019 study.

(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons)

Wrapping Up July

St. John’s wort on the South Side, 17 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

30 July 2022

Wrapping up July …

St. John’s wort’s yellow flowers always attract my attention because the plant shares my name. Find out what’s in the name in this vintage article from 2012.

This month I learned that chicory flowers (Cichorium sp) last only one day. On a foggy morning I found this one, barely open and doomed to wilt by afternoon. Learn more at #bioPGH Blog: Chicory, Dickory, Dock – The Flowers are on the Clock.

Chicory opening on a cloudy morning, Schenley Park, 22 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

We had several spectacular sunrises in July, especially this on the 17th.

Dawn on 17 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Soon we’ll say good morning to August.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Summer Snowflake

Queen Anne’s Lace, Schenley Park, 22 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

23 July 2022

The flowers on Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), or wild carrot, are so lacy and regular that they resemble snowflakes when viewed from above, especially in black-and-white.

Queen Anne’s Lace, black-and-white (photo by Kate St. John)

Look closely and you’ll see that the tiny flowers inside the umbel have 5 regular parts. Step back to see the pattern of 5’s replicating to the edge.

Queen Anne’s lace umbel is 5-sided (photo by Kate St. John)

Unlike winter’s 6-sided snowflakes (below) these summer “snowflakes” have only five.

Snowflake (photo by Alexey Kljatov via Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. See Vicki Dinsmore’s comment below about wild parsnip which is not the same thing!

(photos by Kate St. John and from Alexey Kljatov via Wikimedia Commons)

Seen This Week and Last

Deptford pink, Butler County, 10 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

16 July 2022

Flowers are blooming, fruits are ripening and the sky has been spectacular. Here are just a few things seen outdoors this week and last.

  • Deptford pink’s (Dianthus armeria) small flower, at top, is worth a closer look. Native to Europe it does well in North America but is disappearing from the UK.
  • Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea canadensis) was in bloom last week in Schenley Park, shown below.
Enchanter’s nightshade in bloom, Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
  • Spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) is blooming in Butler County. This plant goes by several names including “striped wintergreen.” Here’s why it is not pipsissewa.
Spotted wintergreen, Butler County, PA, 10 July 2022
  • Wineberry fruits (Rubus phoenicolasius) are ripening in Frick Park. This shrub was introduced from Asia as breeding stock for Rubus cultivars in 1890 but it grows so vigorously that it’s now invasive in Pennsylvania. Unlike native raspberries, wineberries are sticky to the touch. They taste well enough when you eat them in the woods but are boring on cereal. I tried.
Wineberry, Frick Park, 14 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
  • Bottlebrush buckeye flowers were at their peak last week in Schenley Park. This closeup shows the feathery stamens.
Bottlebrush buckeye, closeup of flower, 8 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
  • And finally, we’ve had some spectacular sunrises in the past two weeks. A deep blue sunrise on Wed 6 July (below) and a fiery orange one on the 8th. Click here to see the fiery sunrise.
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Catnip, Fleabane, Mullein and More

Catnip in bloom, Duck Hollow, 28 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

2 July 2022

Seen this week at Duck Hollow, listed in photo order:

  • Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is in bloom (at top). No cats were present but plenty of dogs walked by. The Duck Hollow trail is popular with dog-walking services.
  • Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is 5-6 feet tall now with a spike of yellow flowers.
  • Moth mullein (Verbascum blattaria) is a much more delicate plant than common mullein.
  • Daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuus) cast petal-shadows on its disks as it opened in the morning sun.
  • Leaf miners are active now, making squiggles inside the leaves. (I don’t know the identity of the leaves pictured below.)
  • Teasel (Dipsacus sp.) hasn’t bloomed yet but it is getting close.
Common mullein in bloom, Duck Hollow, 28 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Moth mullein, Duck Hollow, 28 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Fleabane opening in morning sun, Duck Hollow, 28 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Teasel not quite blooming yet, Duck Hollow, 28 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

I heard ravens calling in the distance while I took these pictures. Woo hoo!

(photos by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week

Honewort at Conemaugh Trail, Indiana County, 20 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

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.
Forget-me-not, Conemaugh Trail, 20 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

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

A rock made of sand and swamp lines, Schenley Park, 24 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Indian hemp in bloom, Frick Park, 23 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

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

(photos by Kate St. John)

Revisiting Cow Parsnip

Kate stands next to cow parsnip at Mingo Creek County Park, 1 June 2013 and 18 June 2022 (photos by Dianne Machesney)

23 June 2022

Last Saturday the Wissahickon Nature Club celebrated its 80th Anniversary with a picnic at Mingo Creek County Park. We always come early and take a hike before lunch, the same hike every time.

As we walked the trail we encountered cow parsnip whose identity I had forgotten yet again. When Dianne Machesney reminded me of its name I remembered blogging about it after another Wissahickon picnic. When was that? 2013!

In the two photos above I am standing next to cow parsnip at Mingo Creek on 1 June 2013 (left) and 18 June 2022 (right).

I have aged in nine years but some things are the same. I’m still using the same binoculars and walking stick and I’m wearing the same pants and shirt, unseen under the jackets. (My hiking clothes are rugged.)

This year’s cow parsnip is shorter than the one we found nine years ago and it has gone to seed, perhaps because we came 2.5 weeks later or because climate change has advanced it.

Learn about cow parsnip, including a lively discussion about its downsides. And no, cow parsnip is not the same at giant hogweed!

See more photos and our list of sightings at Wissahickon Nature Club: Trip Report Mingo Creek County Park June 18, 2022

(both photos by Dianne Machesney)

A Few Flowers Last Week

Chicory with fly, Schenley Park, 15 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

19 June 2022

Wildflowers bloom in two spurts in southwestern Pennsylvania: Woodland wildflowers in April before leaf out, “field” flowers in July-August after the solstice.

May and June are practically flowerless except for a few non-natives blooming in Schenley Park last week. Some are invasive. They thrive because deer don’t eat them.

Greater celandine already going to seed, 15 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Canada thistle going to seed, Schenley Park, 15 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Goutweed, Schenley Park, 15 June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)