Spotted Wintergreen
This was a new species for me - but it is not rare around here. I first saw on with two white, spherical flower buds held on short arched branches from the top of a vertical stem. It looked just like a miniature model of an old-fashioned gas street lamp! Since, at...
Belted Kingfisher
The Belted Kingfisher can be seen on the lake all through the year. They sit on a branch or post near or over the water. When they see a small fish near the surface they dive in so quickly that it is difficult to see what happens. You will need patience to see it,...
Slime mold
Slime molds are not plants, animals or fungi. They belong to a separate kingdom in the living world - Protista.. They behave in extraordinary ways. They can: Live as isolated, single cells - in which case, you would never know they were there because they are so tiny...
Iris
This dwarf crested iris (Iris Cristata) is in a patch of plants growing on the western edge of the steam just outside the quarry fencing (alongside the trail shown as dotted on our trail map) . I have found two patches of irises along this stream bank. The flowers are...
Canadian bloodroot
One of the first flowers of Spring in the park was Canadian bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis). A patch of it is by the old amphitheater where three paths come together. The name comes from the fact that the underground rhizome is blood red and gives up a red sap....
Creeping buttercup
Creeping buttercup (ranunculus repens) is very common, but very pretty. It spreads rapidly using horizontal stems (stolons) such that a single plant can grow into a five foot square patch in a single year - choking out other plants as it spreads. Like most species of...
Wool sower gall
Now this is a weird one. You are not looking at a flower. Rather it is a nest or a house! A tiny wasp laid its eggs in a twig of a white oak tree. Chemicals which were injected with the eggs caused the oak tree to grow everything you see in the fluffy sphere. So, what...
Nodding trillium
This beautiful flower hides itself. From the top you only see three pointed, green leaves. The flower is on a short stem which curves over so that the flower hangs underneath the leaves. Hence the name nodding trillium (Trillium Cernuum). Short-lived excitement In...
Bluet
Bluets (houstonia**) come in many colors. Simple, crisp flowers which look so perfect when they pop up in a wild setting. It would be obvious to say "they have four petals". But that would be an error. The four colored parts are, in fact, sepals. It that word is new...
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