Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) was first recorded as an escape in 1934. Imported from eastern China, Japan and Korea, it was widely planted in southern Michigan. Conservation groups encouraged growing it as late as the 1970s as “wildlife plantings” for cover and food. This was before they understood its invasive tendencies.
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)
Multiflora Rose is a large shrub with arching branches that often tip root. Alternate, compound leaves remain green late in the season. They have seven or more leaflets. At the base of each leaf is a fringed stipule. Our native roses never have fringed stipules. The leaf stalks and the flower stalks are glandular.
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) Leaf with fringed stipules.Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) (Note the glands of the flowers and stipules and also the fringed stipules on the right.)
Flowers have five petals and are white. They occur in large clusters and the styles form a column. Many of our native roses have larger, pink flowers.
Native Roses: Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) l-c Smooth Wild Rose (R. blanda) r (Note the fringeless stipules.)Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) Winter twig and fruit.
The fruit often remains on the shrub through the winter. Winter buds are blunt, reddish, and glabrous. Twigs have sharp, recurved, thorns.
Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a medium size tree. Native south of Michigan, its range reaches into southern Ohio. Planted to the north because its wood is used for fence posts, tool handles, and wheel hubs. Trees planted in rows along the edge of a field often served as living fence posts. It spreads by seeds and can send out suckers, forming large stands.
Black locust leaves and spinesBlack locust winter twigs
It is identified by its alternate, compound leaves that have entire (toothless) margins and twigs with a pair of spines at each node. Black Locust seedpods are smooth and resemble garden peapods. The racemes of white, fragrant flowers are pretty. Winter twigs have buds partly hidden under reddish-brown hairs.
Black locust seedpods and barkStand of Black locust along Lake Superior south shore
Black Locust occurs throughout the state. It is often seen in natural areas in southern Michigan and along the shores of the Great Lakes. Because of its suckering habit it out competes natives and can be challenging to eradicate.
Twenty-five years ago Cranbrook Institute of Science published their Michigan Lichens. In this little book I saw pictures of Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) for the first time. I started looking for this distinctive lichen. Well I finally saw it. On a visit to Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary in the Keweenaw I found Lungwort growing on the bark of trees in the old growth forest.
Lungwort
The thalli are large, 5 to 15 cm [2 to 6 in] and remind me of a wrinkled red oak leaf. Others think they resemble the human lung and based on the doctrine of signatures believed this plant would be helpful in treating lung problems. It is not. Lungwort is brownish to olive-green when dry and is said to be bright green when wet. Spots of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) dot its underside. Lungwort cannot survive where the air quality is poor. All sightings on Inaturalist are north of Gaylord.
Lungwort
It is always fun to find new species, especially one that I have sought for years. This is a distinctive lichen. I wonder when I will see it again.
It surprises many people to learn that cacti are native to Michigan. We have two native cactus species. On is the endangered Fragile Prickly-pear (Opuntia fragilis) which is known from two sites. Prickly-pear (Opuntia cespitosa) occurs in southwestern Michigan and Monroe County in the extreme southeast corner. Our plants were called Opuntia humifusa, but that name is now used for an east coast species.
Prickly-pear
Prickly-pear grows in sandy, well drained soil. It requires a sunny site to thrive. Although it is mostly spineless, Prickly-pear has fine sharp barbed hairs that are rather irritating to touch. Its showy yellow flowers last only a day.
Prickly-pear
I found a colony on a sunny hillside in Roscommon County. This station is farther inland than other reported locations. It might be a planted colony or simply an extension of its known native range. We will never know. The colony is expanding by seed into the dry ditch at the base of the hill. Seedlings and a few flowering plants grow among the grass and Bracken Fern.
Springtime hikes are often wildflower or bird walks, but insects are present and fascinating. While on a field trip with the Michigan Botanical Club to some undeveloped land near Northville, we saw several interesting early season insects.
Ridged Carrion Beetles
We found a dead Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) with a dozen Ridged Carrion Beetles (Oiceoptoma inequale) feeding on it. These beetles are black with a hairy three-ridged elytron. An elytron is a beetle’s leathery forewing, the “back” of a resting beetle. Adult Ridged Carrion Beetles feed during the day, often on snakes but sometimes on fungi. They are active in the spring and early summer.
Green-striped Grasshopper Female – L Male – R
We also found a male and a female Green-striped Grasshopper (Chortophaga viridifasciata). According to Roger Bland’s The Orthoptera of Michigan: Biology, Keys, and Descriptions of Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets it “is often the first adult grasshopper seen” in the spring. This is one of five Michigan grasshoppers that overwinter as nymphs. With a single molt in the spring, these grasshoppers enter the adult phase. Recorded in nearly every Michigan county, it is found in grassy fields, pastures, and untreated lawns. Green-striped Grasshoppers have a rounded face, and the area behind the head is roof-like. Most males are brown and most females are green. A small grasshopper with females up to 38mm [1.5 inch] and males 30mm [1.25 inch] long.
Hawthorn grove
A Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) grove occupied part of the site. It was unique to see a forest of hawthorn trees, a few 20cm [8 inch] in diameter, with no other species except some Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) in the understory. I carefully looked for other plant species but found none.
It is always an adventure to look at an area unknown to me. I never thought I would see an early grasshopper, a carrion beetle, or a hawthorn grove on this trip. I need to get out and experience unfamiliar sights and new sites in the natural world.
Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) is naturally found in Europe and North Africa. It is planted in Michigan as far north as Baraga Co. so it could spread throughout the state. Currently, it is recorded from the southern half of the Lower Peninsula.
Black AlderBlack Alder Left and Center Speckled Alder Right
Black Alder is a small tree with usually a single trunk. Its leaves are about as wide as they are long and have a notched tip. They remain green into December in southern Michigan. Dark gray to black bark with squarish plates identify this species. Leaf buds start out green and turn purple in the winter. It is difficult to distinguish this species by bud and twig characters. In the winter I use its growth habit and I look for leaves on the ground.
Speckled Alder
Speckled Alder (Alnus incana) is normally a multi-stemmed shrub. When it reaches tree size, its bark is tight and gray with large lenticels. Leaves are 1.5 to 2 times longer than wide with acute tips. Leaf buds are dark-reddish brown, and it takes some practice to separate this species from Black Alder using only the twigs. If this species is considered distinct from the European alder, then its scientific name is Alnus rugosa.
Black Alder Top Speckled Alder Bottom
Black Alder should be watched for throughout the state. It should be reported wherever you find it at the Midwest Invasive Species Network (MISIN). They also have a free app for reporting observations.
Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is a non-native, invasive, weed tree. With its fast growth and wide tolerance of growing conditions, Tree-of-Heaven was previously regarded as a desirable species. Reproducing by seeding and suckering, it aggressively colonizes open, sunny locations. This is a field or woodland edge species.
Tree-of-Heaven bark – L & M Smooth Sumac – RTree-of-Heaven seedsTree-of-Heaven twigs showing buds, lenticels and leaf scars
Large, foul smelling, pinnate compound leaves and commonly a reddish petiole help to determine this species. Gland tipped teeth occur at the base of the leaflets. Gray bark with short, vertical line-like ridges is distinctive. Fruit is single seeded in a twisted wing, up to 4.5 cm [1 ¾ inches] long, and sometimes it shows a reddish cast. Brownish, smooth, stout twigs with numerous lenticels and large leaf scars characterize Tree-of-Heaven.
Smooth SumacSmooth Sumac twig. bud, and leaf scar
Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) is a similar species that seldom attains tree size. It has finer toothed leaves without the foul smell or the glands. Leaf scars on Smooth Sumac practically circle the buds. There is no confusing this species if the red fruit is present.
Beech Bark Disease was first recorded in Michigan in 2000. The first records came from Luce County in the eastern Upper Peninsula and Mason County in the Lower Peninsula. It has since spread through the central and eastern Upper Peninsula and the northwestern Lower Peninsula. My photos came from Hartwick Pines State Park. It is only a matter of time before it reaches the American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) stands in southeastern Michigan. It could spread there from northern Michigan, southern Ontario, or eastern Ohio.
Beech Bark Disease consists of two components: a scale insect and a fungus. First, the non-native sap feeding scale insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga) infests the tree. These insects feed through tiny holes penetrating the bark. Fungi in the genus Nectria enter through these wounds and they kill the cambium layer. If it infests enough area, it can girdle and kill the tree.
Three species of fungi can cause Beech Bark Disease. Nectria galligena is native and caused little damage to American Beech until this scale insect was imported. N. faginata and N. ochroleuca are non-native. Sometimes more than one species of Nectria is present. Note: some researchers place these fungi in the genus Neonectria.
Closeups showing wooly white substance produced by the scale
The scale insects produce a wooly white substance. The insect shells seen in my photos are not from the scale insects but are from some other insect that was possibly feeding on the scale. Several Ladybug species feed on the scale however they cause little harm to the overall scale population. Fruiting bodies from the fungi are seldom seen, but its presence is recognized by a decline in the overall health of the tree.
This disease should be watched for and if found reported to the Department of Natural Resources, Forest Health Division.
American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once a common tree in southeastern Michigan. Charles Otis in his 1925 book, Michigan Trees, gives the distribution as: “South-eastern Michigan, as far north as St. Clair County. Abundant in eastern Monroe County and Wayne County.” This changed in the 1930s when the Chestnut Blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), a parasitic fungus from Asia, reached Michigan, killing most of our mature trees. I have seen a few fruiting native American Chestnuts; most of the trees are small stump re-sprouts that seldom, if ever, produce fruit. In the 1970s, I could still find rotting Chestnut logs on the forest floor in some Oakland County woods. Trees planted farther north in Benzie, Leelanau, and Missaukee Counties have largely escaped the blight.
American Chestnut bark and trees
A friend sent me photographs of a fruiting Chestnut tree he found in northern Oakland County that he thought was an American Chestnut. He is a great woody plant guy. I found the tree from his directions (a location I agreed not to share) and it is an American Chestnut.
Horse-chestnut leaves and fruitHorse-chestnut buds and nuts
Most reports of Chestnuts are the unrelated Eurasian tree, Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). This illustrates the danger of using only common names. I know someone who was gathering a bushel of Horse-chestnuts each year from a large tree in his yard and shipping them to Michigan State University. Finally, he received a letter politely explaining that they had a “sufficient supply of seeds” and needed no more. Horse-chestnut has opposite, palmately compound leaves. The stout twigs have large, red, sticky, buds. This species does not resemble the true Chestnut. It is the “spreading chestnut tree” in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Village Blacksmith.”
American Beech leavesAmerican Beech pointed buds and leaves
American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) leaves with their parallel veins and coarse teeth resemble Chestnut leaves. Beech leaves are smaller than Chestnut leaves and have finer teeth. Bristles often tip the teeth on Chestnut. If you can study the tree and not just the leaves, American Beech has tight, gray bark and long pointed leaf buds.
Chinquapin Oak
Chinquapin Oak also called Yellow Chestnut Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) resembles American Chestnut, but the lower surface of the leaf is pale-pubescent. The leaves are coarsely toothed and the teeth never have awls.
Chinese ChestnutChinese Chestnut
Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) is sometimes planted as a replacement for American Chestnut. It resists the Chestnut Blight. The undersides of its leaves are pubescent, and its buds are hairy. Hairs are also found on the spines of the nut coverings. Chinese Chestnut leaves are smaller than American Chestnut and have a squared off base with few teeth,
American Chestnut leavesAmerican Chestnut nut covers and nutsAmerican Chestnut twigs and nut spines
American Chestnut has the underside of the leaves smooth or with just a few hairs. The buds and nut spines are largely hairless. The leaves taper at both ends and are toothed to the leaf base with awl-tips. The leaves are larger than Chinese Chestnut. The American Chestnut Foundation has helpful hints for identifying American Chestnut.
Donald Peattie reminisces in his A Natural History of Trees: “from the upper slopes of Mount Mitchell, the great forest below waving with creamy white Chestnut blossoms in the crowns of the ancient trees, so that it looked like a sea with white combers plowing across its surface. Gone forever is that day;” I cannot imagine what that would look like.
This blog post provides supplemental notes for my talk “How to Identify some Michigan Invasive Plants.” It contains links to my blog posts and a few helpful identification links.
This is a practical guide with information on identifying and controlling invasive species
Species Accounts
Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
This is a Fact Sheet from the Great Lakes Science Center with a great visual key distinguishing the native American Bittersweet from the invasive Oriental Bittersweet.
There is considerable work to do in Michigan to stop the spread of these species. Conservation groups are seeking volunteers to work on invasive species control. These volunteers need to recognize the species they are attacking. I hope this talk (and blog) promotes the recognition of these invasive plants.
