Category Archives: Plants & Fungi

plants & fungi

Wet Weather Brings …

Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Weather & Sky
Tuliptree with anthracnose, Schenley Park, 22 June 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tuliptree with anthracnose, Schenley Park, 22 June 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

At the end of May I lamented that my backyard was dry and cracked while 27 counties in Pennsylvania were under a Drought Watch.

Conditions have changed significantly.

From a May rain deficit of 1.23 inches, Pittsburgh now has a surplus of 2.00″ in the first 23 days of June. (Normal in Pittsburgh is 3.95″ for May and 3.30″ to the 23rd of June.)  Yes it’s wet!

Around western Pennsylvania it’s wet elsewhere, too.  New Castle got 2.32″ in yesterday’s storms alone!  Johnstown is 6.5″ above normal for the month (300% of normal) and Dubois stands at 1.85″ above normal for June 23.

The wet weather has caused flash floods, flooded basements and another more subtle problem:  fungus.

On Monday I noticed that the tulip trees in Schenley Park and at Phipps’s outdoor garden have brown curled leaves at the top.  Worried that we had another forest pest on our hands I emailed this photo to Phil Gruszka, my favorite tree expert at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.  He says its anthracnose.

Anthacnose is a group of fungi that infect shade trees, usually browning their leaves but sometimes infecting their twigs, bark and fruit.  Each tree species has its own specific fungus pest.  The one that infects tulip trees attacks the leaves.

In large stands of trees there’s no practical treatment for anthracnose.  Though it may weaken the trees it doesn’t kill them outright and they get a respite if the weather changes.  The fungi go away when it’s dry.

When will it be dry?  … Do we dare ask that question?

 

p.s. Libby in New Castle, Marianne in Dubois area, and Marcy in Indiana County, how’s the weather out there?

(photo by Kate St. John)

Now Fruiting: False Solomon’s Seal

Plants & Fungi
Fruit of False Solomon's Seal (photo by Kate St. John)
Fruit of False Solomon’s Seal (photo by Kate St. John)

In June there’s a blooming hiatus between Spring’s woodland wildflowers and field flowers in July.  The plants I notice this month are the ones in fruit.

Here’s a woodland plant that bloomed last month.

False Solomon’s Seal has set fruit but it isn’t ripe yet.  In the fall its berries will be red.

Click here to read more about it and see what the plant looked like in bloom.

 

(photo by Kate St. John)

 

Color With Thorns

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Nodding thistle flower head (photo by Kate St. John)
Nodding thistle flower head (photo by Kate St. John)

7 June 2015

Lots of big thistles are blooming now by the road to Duck Hollow in Pittsburgh.  At first I couldn’t identify them but my guess was that anything growing so well by the road was probably alien and invasive.  I was right.

Nodding thistle or musk thistle (Carduus nutans) is a biennial from Eurasia that came to this continent by accident, perhaps in ballast water.  It thrives in disturbed soil at roadsides and landslides and in heavily grazed pastures.  It’s a thorn in the side for cattle farmers and an alien invasive.

A view of the entire plant shows many thorns and the reason why its called “nodding.”

Nodding thistle nods (photo by Kate St. John)
Nodding thistle by Old Browns Hill Road (photo by Kate St. John)

Despite its mean reputation, I think it’s beautiful. The buds look like reddish-purple star bursts as they open.

Nodding thistle bud opening (photo by Kate St. John)
Nodding thistle bud opening (photo by Kate St. John)

And the color of the flower is outstanding. My favorite view is too wide for this blog’s narrow format so click here for a closeup of color without thorns.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Named For A Dogs’ Body Part

Plants & Fungi

Houndstongue, Ohio's Lake Erie shore, 16 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Cynoglossum officinale, Ohio’s Lake Erie shore, 16 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

And now for something completely different.  This morning I’m taking a break from peregrines to tell you about an unusual name.

I found this plant blooming on Lake Erie’s sandy shore at Magee Marsh, Ohio this month.  It took me a while to identify it because it’s non-native.

Houndstongue (Cynoglossum officinale) is native to Eurasia but was accidentally introduced to North America where it happily grows in waste places.  It’s been spreading for so long that Michigan declared it one of the worst weeds in the state more than 100 years ago.  This one was growing just across the lake from Michigan.  Perhaps it migrated to Ohio.

The plant is twice-named for a dog’s tongue: “houndstongue” and cyno (dog) glossum (tongue).  Theoretically, if you put a houndstongue leaf in your shoe no dogs will bite you, but that outcome is statistically likely even without the leaf.

If I’d crushed a leaf I would have noticed the plant smells bad — like “rats and mice” — which is one of its nicknames.  Nonetheless people have used it as a cure for baldness, hemorrhoids, respiratory problems, and madness.   There’s no proof that it heals but it will make you sick.  Houndstongue contains cancer-causing pyrrolizidine alkaloids, toxic to the liver and to livestock.

Be careful when you put that leaf in your shoe.

 

p.s.  This plant was part of the three witches’ Brew in Macbeth. Shakespeare called it “tongue of dog.”

(photo by Kate St. John)

Leaf Out!

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park

Red oak leaves, 1 May 2015 (photo by Kate St.John)

Last weekend’s new leaves in Schenley Park demonstrated that the city is warmer than the suburbs.  Schenley’s leaves unfurled on May 1 while the suburbs were still brown.

Above, new red oak leaves. Below, sugar maple.

Sugar mapleleaf-out, 1 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

This white ash sapling opened its leaves like a crown.  Tiny ash saplings aren’t eaten by emerald ash borer because their stems are too narrow for the bug to use.
White ash leaf-out, 1 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

For dramatic leaf-out, you can’t beat a shagbark hickory.  This bud was just about to unfurl …
Shagbark hickory, leaves about to open, 1 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

And … Boom!
Leaf out! Shagbark hickory (photo by Kate St. John)

Three days later the leaves now produce shade.
Shagbark hickory leaves, 4 May 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

 

Take a look at tree covered hillsides as you drive north or south and you’ll notice leaf-out moving north 13 miles a day — except in the city.

 

(photos by Kate St. John)

False Miterwort = Foamflower

Deer, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Foamflower blooming (photo by Kate St. John)
Foamflower blooming, photo by Kate St. John

1 May 2015

Foamflower is one plant, Miterwort’s another, but I called a patch of Foamflower “Miterwort” during last Sunday’s outing in Schenley Park.

Perhaps that’s because one of Foamflower’s alternate names is “False Miterwort.”  I must have had that in mind when called it Miterwort. (Sure!)

The position of their leaves is the easiest way to tell the difference.  Though the leaves are the same shape, Foamflower has basal leaves, Miterwort has two leaves opposite each other in the middle of the stem.

Miterwort blooming (photo by Kate St. John)
Miterwort blooming (The plant is usually erect), photo by Kate St. John

A close look at the flowers also tells them apart. Foamflowers (Tiarella cordifolia) look fluffy or foamy (first photo).  Miterwort (Mitella diphylla) flowers have intricate lace edges like tiny bishops’ caps — or miters (second photo).

I know the difference but I persistently say the wrong name.

Maybe I’ll do better now that I’ve publicly embarrassed myself.  😉

(photos by Kate St. John)

p.s. Since last Sunday the deer have eaten the tops off half of those Foamflower plants.  Grrrr!

Winter Leaves Its Mark On Spring

Plants & Fungi, Weather & Sky

Forsythia is only blooming near the ground in Du Bois, PA, 23 April 2015 (photo by Marianne Atkinson)
Forsythia is blooming only near the ground in Du Bois, PA, 23 April 2015 (photo by Marianne Atkinson)

What a slow spring!  Last week it snowed in western Pennsylvania.  With an inch on the ground in Du Bois, Marianne Atkinson noticed that the forsythia blossoms stood out but they looked very odd.

In her own yard the forsythia had flowered near the ground but the top looked dead. Did other shrubs have this problem?  As she traveled around town she took photos of other forsythia bushes and discovered that all of them looked like this.  The buds on top were winter-killed.

Tops of forsythia are dead in Du Bois PA, Spring 2015 (photo by Marianne Atkinson)
Winter-killed forsythia in Du Bois, 23 April 2015 (photo by Marianne Atkinson)

Why were the bottoms of the bushes OK?  With a little research Marianne found:

We had a second very cold winter in a row, with occasional temperatures in the well below 0 range.  We also had about 18 inches of snow cover for about 2 ½ months this winter. I thought that the snow cover may have acted as insulation for the lower forsythia flower buds and it is true! You can read about this phenomenon in the links below:

Cold Damage to Forsythia Flower Buds at Arnold Arboretum
Why are trees and shrubs so slow to leaf out this spring?

How cold was it?  Here’s a photo of last winter’s record in Marianne’s backyard.  -19 degrees Fahrenheit!

Record low at Marianne's home near Du Bois, PA, 16 Feb 2015, 7:18am (photo by Marianne Atkinson)
Record low at Marianne Atkinson’s home near Du Bois, PA, 16 Feb 2015, 7:18am (photo by Marianne Atkinson)

Last winter left its mark this spring.

 

(photos by Marianne Atkinson)

Now Blooming

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Sessile trillium, Boyce-Mayview Park, Allegheny County, 15April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Toadshade (Trillium sessile), Boyce-Mayview Park, Allegheny County, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

As I mentioned yesterday, spring wildflowers are now blooming in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Here’s a sample of what Dianne Machesney, Donna Foyle, and I found in our outdoor travels last week.  Check the captions for the flower names, locations and dates.

  • Toadshade or Sessile trillium (Trillium sessile) is found in rich woods.  The dark red flower holds the petals shut.  In my photo there are two Virginia spring beauties that hadn’t opened on that cloudy day.
  • Virginia spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is also found in rich woods.  The flowers are small with faint pink details.  They don’t open until the sun comes out.
  • Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) is an invasive import that does well in rich damp woods.  I’ve seen it in Schenley and Boyce-Mayview Parks. Dianne saw it at Enlow Fork.
  • Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) is another import, a non-invasive garden plant that’s escaped to the wild.  I’ve seen it planted in Schenley Park.  Dianne photographed it at Enlow Fork.
  • Purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) is an import that doesn’t care where it grows.  You’ll find it everywhere once you start to look.  Up close its flowers are intricate.  From a distance the leaves have a purplish cast.
  • Horsetail (Equisetum) is a “living fossil” plant, the last species of a class of plants that dominated the dinosaurs’ forest.  Some were as big as trees. Today they are coal.  Visit the dinosaur exhibits at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to see what they looked like.

Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), Enlow Fork, Washington-Greene county line, 12 April 2015 (photo by Dianne Machesney)
Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), Enlow Fork, Washington-Greene county line, 12 April 2015 (photo by Dianne Machesney)

Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), Boyce-Mayview Park, Allegheny County, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), Boyce-Mayview Park, Allegheny County, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), Enlow Fork, Washington-Greene county line, 12 April 2015 (photo by Dianne Machesney)
Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), Enlow Fork, Washington-Greene county line, 12 April 2015 (photo by Dianne Machesney)

Purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), everywhere in Pittsburgh, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
Purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), everywhere in Pittsburgh, 15 April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Horsetail (Equisetum), Youghiogheny Rail Trail near Buena Vista, Allegheny County, 15 April 2015 (photo by Donna Foyle)
Horsetail flower spikes (Equisetum), Youghiogheny Rail Trail, Buena Vista, Allegheny County, 15 April 2015 (photo by Donna Foyle)

(photos by Kate St. John, Dianne Machesney, and Donna Foyle)

Early Flowering Signs of Spring

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Harbinger of Spring, Cedar Creek, 29 March 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Despite this month’s cold weather yesterday’s outing* to Cedar Creek found two early-spring wildflowers.

Bright afternoon sunshine encouraged the wildflowers to bloom but it washed out the colors on the forest floor.  We all searched hard to find this Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa).  Here’s a poor photo of the entire plant with an oak leaf for scale. It’s tiny! One leaf is sufficient to hide it.

Harbinger of Spring (photo by Kate St. John)

 

We also found a lot of Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale) in bloom but I had to be shown each flower because I couldn’t see them in the glare.   My best photo is of the one I stepped on.  Oh how embarrassing!

Snow trillium, 29 March 2015, Cedar Creek (photo by Kate St. John)

 

* This was a joint outing of the Wissahickon Nature Club and the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania.  Feel free to join us as we explore the flora and fauna in western Pennsylvania.  Click here for Wissahickon’s 2015 outing schedule (page 3 of the pdf) and here for the Botanical Society’s calendar.

 

(photos by Kate St. John)