lizziewriter
flora and fauna
lizziewriter
flora and fauna
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local plants, animals & fungi Sorry! I realize this page is in desperate need of updating. It is now the spring of 2007, and I hope to enliven things soon ! Please visit the Family Fun page for pond critters. A few of the wild ones may be seen below. |
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I
am not as interested in the differences between poison oak and poison
ivy as I am in locating these plants and sharing their identification
with others. There is an amazing variety in the appearance of
these plants. While they all have the three leaves, they may look
light or dark green, more or less shiny, veined with red or not.
Sometimes the vine bears berries. Sometimes it grows along the
ground and sometimes up a tree, reaching out branches to an impressive
horizontal distance. They can be, in fact, quite beautiful plants
-- but to some people they can be very dangerous. More
information about poison ivy, poison oak, and urushiol, the problematic
plant oil, can easily be found on the Internet.
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Fauna of course could include our local wildlife, including birds, fish, crustaceans and amphibeans (there are crayfish, snails, frogs and salamanders in these here woods). Unfortunately, this spring I am finding more algae than usual in the stream and pond. The intermittent stream that crosses our property is in some stretches stream-like, with plants and critters, but over a lot of its length it is a roadside ditch. I am sure it takes in a lot of road salt, vehicle goo, and lawn fertilizer runoff, as well as the discharge from a few "grey water" pipes as it passes some older residences. Most of the pond fish seem to have made it through the winter, and there is a healthy crop of tadpoles. We won't know about wild fish and crayfish until we drain and clean the pond in a couple of weeks. One hopes that activity will also help clear the algae. It's nasty. Up until recently, the stream dried up completely for most of the summer, but the past two years it did not, in fact, the floods that have crossed our back yard can only be described as amazing, and I have been very happy to be able to observe them from a safe distance.Here is the newest visitor to our pond! He was a mystery for a few hours, and finally identified as a male fathead minnow:  Here are three typical natives from our pond: a small fish (a sunny o r a smallmouth bass), a bullfrog, and a crayfish. We also had a lot of newts this year but I didn't get any photographs of them. 
 M
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Jack-in-the-pulpit
is one of the wildflowers I have known all my life. Growing up, I
went to church where the priest's first name was John or Jack, so we
actually had a "Jack-in-the-pulpit" of our own (two in fact). I
will add more text later but for now here are some pictures of the
unusual and hardy specimens that grow in our front yard.
The Cobra Lily of Paghat's Garden Bloodroot
Sanguinaria CandensisIn recent years, bloodroot has become my
favorite early spring wildflower. It took a few years to identify
the delicate white flower with its large green leaf, and then I was
pretty excited to find that it was a native species. It is
however one that needs to be handled with care. Ours has been
spreading nicely, and I plan to contact the local Cooperative Extension
to see if they are interested in taking a few plants for native species
dispersal.
Bloodroot at www.2bnthewild.com |
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Thanks for visiting & come back soon! updated 28 May 2007 |
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