Michigan’s Naturalized Teasels

Posted on August 12, 2014 by admin

Cut-leaf Teasel

Dipsacus fullonum-habit-white flower-lavender

Wild Teasel habit, white flower, lavender flower

Dipsacus-laciniatus-habit-flower-seedhead

Cut-leaf Teasel habit, flower, seedhead

Michigan has two naturalized species of Teasel: Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), and Cut-leaf Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus). Both were originally from Europe but now are found commonly in southern Michigan but rarely in the north. Being tall plants, often 2m [7 feet] high, they are easy to spot along highways. Dried “winter bouquets” sometimes use the attractive heads either naturally or spray-painted. They bloom starting in the center of the head and moving outward toward the top and bottom. Both species are biennials, developing a basal rosette of leaves the first year and flowering in the second.

Wild Teasel leaves

Wild Teasel has stem leaves that have entire (smooth) margins but sometimes they have prickly margins or even coarse teeth. The flowers are normally lilac colored but can be white or cream-colored. This species was first collected in Michigan in 1844.

Cut-leaf Teasel leaves

Cut-leaf Teasel is not listed in many wildflower books. Its stem leaves are pinnatifed (with deep lobes) or bipinnatfid (with the lobes, lobed again). Their leaf bases join and sometimes will hold water. The genus name Dipsacus is said to be derived from the Greek word dipsa meaning to thirst, based on this characteristic. This species is taller on average than the Wild Teasel and often forms large colonies. Normally the flowers are a dirty white. The earliest records are from 1894.

Basal rosettes of Dipsacus fullonum-l and D. laciniatus-r

Basal rosettes of Wild Teasel-l and Cut-leaf Teasel-r

Both species are in flower now and easy to find in southern Michigan. Take a close look at teasel and learn to separate the two species. These are impressive plants.

Note: The nomenclature of Teasel is confusing. Dipsacus fullonum was called D. sylvestris and is so-named in older wildflower books. D. fullonum was applied to a European species,now called D. sativus, that has not yet been found in Michigan.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Blueberry: a Taste of Summer

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

Vaccinium augustifolium Flowers and Fruit

Low Sweet Blueberry
Flowers and Fruit

Low Sweet Blueberry (Vaccinium augustifolium) is the common species we see in the sandy uplands near Grayling, Michigan. It has clusters of bell-shaped flowers in June and the fruit ripens in July. The bushes are short, less than 3dm [1 foot] tall and it is hard on my back to bend for hours picking berries. Wild blueberries are smaller but sweeter than their domestic cousins.

Low Sweet Blueberry

In years when a hard frost occurs during flowering time or the spring is too dry blueberries yield little if any fruit. Some years the only plants bearing fruit are at the edges of fields that have tall trees surrounding them and protecting the plants from frost. In a dry year, we sometimes find a few berries on bushes growing in a depression that collects some water. In a good berry year, there are acres of fruiting plants. Low Sweet Blueberries are deep-rooted and survive wildfires. The best picking is often two to five years after a burn. Competing plants are gone, sunlight reaches the plants, and the sterile sand is enriched.

Vaccinium augustifolium Fruit showing variations

Low Sweet Blueberry Fruit showing color variations

Vaccinium augustifolium in pail showing fruit color variations

Low Sweet Blueberries in pail showing fruit color variations

Low Sweet Blueberries form a variable species complex. Berries are blue with a solid glaucous bloom, or purple with a gray striped bloom, or shiny black. The leaves are green or glaucous green. The fruit types do not breed true from seed. Shiny black fruit can produce offspring with blue fruit. The extreme plants are distinctive and have been named as separate species or varieties of V. augustifolium but appear to me to be only forms. I know of no pure stands containing only one fruit type. It seems best to treat this as a single variable species.

Vaccinium augustifolium Undersides of leaves

Low Sweet Blueberry Undersides of leaves

Difficulties in classifying this species however do not distract from my pleasure of eating the fruit. A handful of blueberries eaten on a hike is a treat. Blueberry pancakes and pies are a highpoint of my summer. My family has a scale for rating the quality of the blueberry crop. A bad year is when less than a handful is found. Next is a pancake year (1 cup full), a pie year (4 cups), and then an abundant year. In an abundant year, such as this year, you pick enough for pancakes, pies, and to freeze a few for a rare winter treat.

Blueberry Pancakes and Pie

The short bushes are hard to pick from but it is worth the work. Get out while the picking is still good but watch out for bears.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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The Bog Big Three

Posted on July 6, 2014 by admin

In the Great Lakes Region the bog big three are Swamp Dragon (Arethusa bulbosa), Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides), and Grass-pink (Calopogon tuberosus). You can sometimes find all three in an undisturbed bog or fen. They are all sun-lovers and their colonies disappear if they become shaded. Swamp Dragon flowers first and Rose Pogonia is the last to flower but their blooming times overlap. I have seen Swamp Dragon and Grass-pink in flower on Memorial Day. Grass-pink and Rose Pogonia flower during July in the Upper Peninsula. Flowering time varies with the season, location, and genetics of the population.

Arethusa Flowers & Leaves

I learned about Swamp Dragon as a boy from a Kodachrome slide my dad had taken. I saw my first one in 1974 during a family vacation to Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. I jumped across a roadside ditch and over a dozen blooming plants.

I have found plants almost every year since then. They send up a single flower in late spring or early summer and the leaves develop just after the flower fades. A given population varies in size from year to year. One that I know in the eastern Upper Peninsula has fluctuated between 5 plants and 10,000 plants. Fred Case observed that individual plants are short lived, usually less than 5 years. If an early frost occurs, and plants fail to set seed for a couple of years in a row then the population drops.

Arethusa Flowers

Morris and Eames in their classic Our Wild Orchids write, “To us it has always been, quite startling, a face watching and aware. We shall never forget the moment when our eyes first fell on its blossom in the lonely depths of a sphagnum bog.” I will always remember the first time I found this plant.I love this plant and currently have three colonies under annual observation. However, it is becoming rarer, because of habitat loss from invasive species such as Glossy Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)and wetland development.

Grass -pink

Grass-pink is the largest of the bog big three. Under good conditions it can reach 60cm (2-feet) in height. It is normally easy to spot this plant. It is Michigan’s only non-respuinated orchid, meaning that the lip of the flower is uppermost. Other Michigan orchids have a 180-degree twist to the ovary. I find more Grass-pinks than Swamp Dragons. The Grass-pink populations fluctuate less than Swamp Dragons and are normally longer lived. I know of one station that my father photographed in the 1940s that still exists.

Rose Pogonia

Rose Pogonia is the easiest member of the big three to find but it is not common. I don’t remember my first colony but it was probably the old station at Hart Lake in Bald Mountain Recreation Area that has since been overgrown. A tall plant of this species is 15cm (6-inches). It spreads by rootlets so when you find this plant there often are several hundred plants. It has a single leaf on the stem.

The big three are flowering now. Get out, get your feet wet, and have a look.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Michigan’s Wild Strawberries

Posted on June 23, 2014 by admin

Fragaria vesca Fragaria virginiana Woodland and Wild Strawberry

Woodland-l-and-Wild-r- Strawberry flowers

Michigan has two species of native Strawberries. The Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) and Woodland Strawberry (F. vesca). If you have never eaten a native Strawberry you simply have not experienced life. The fruit is about 6mm (1/4 inch) long and all the flavor of a large commercial Strawberry is packed into its small size. I found a handful of each species last weekend near Grayling. Michigan. Wild Strawberries are sweeter and juicer than the Woodland Strawberry but I will eat both.

Woodland-l-and-Wild-r- Strawberry Fruit

The two species normally are easy to tell apart. Wild Strawberries have more or less spherical fruit. The strawberry fruit is called a fruiting receptacle and this species’ seeds are on the surface of the fruit in tiny depressions. Fruiting Wild Strawberries have their fruit held beneath the leaves. The terminal tooth on the bluish-green leaflets is smaller than the adjoining teeth.

Wild Strawberry Fruit

Woodland Strawberries have elongate fruit and its seeds stick-out from the surface of the fruit. Their fruit is held above the leaves. The terminal tooth on the bright green leaflets is the same size as the adjoining teeth.

Woodland Strawberry Fruit

Wild Strawberries grow in many habitats. When they are found in old orchards or under Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) trees, Grape Ferns (Botrychium spp.) often grow with them. Wild Strawberries tend to be semi-evergreen. Sometimes they still possess last year’s leaves when the plants flower in the spring.

Get out and look for strawberries along the edges of abandoned farm fields. They are ripe now and worth the time it takes to find, pick, and eat them.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Spring Insects in Central Michigan

Posted on June 8, 2014 by admin

I recently (May 24) found four species of insects that I had never identified before. I came upon them in an area a little east of Grayling, Michigan in Oscoda County. This area that we call Diane’s Bog is a favorite place of mine to photograph nature.

Eastern Pine Elfin

The first species is a butterfly, the little Eastern Pine Elfin (Callophrys niphon or Incisalia niphon by those who split the genus). Its wingspan is about 2.5cm (1 inch). It is similar to the Western Pine Elfin, which is darker and lacks the gray stripe on the hindwing. The larva are found on White Pine (Pinus strobus) and Jack Pine (P. banksiana).

Northern Spring Azure

The next species is Northern Spring Azure (Celastrina lucia). It is another small butterfly and is similar to the Spring Azure. The Northern Spring Azure has gray inside of the blue stripe on the hindwing.

Columbine Duskywing

Our third butterfly is the Columbine Duskywing (Erynnis lucilius). Its wingspan is 3.5cm (1.5 inches). The larva feeds only on columbine (Aquilegia sp.). It is a brown butterfly with tiny semi-transparent windows in its wings.

European Ground Beetle

Our final insect is a large black beetle, the European Ground Beetle (Carabus nemoralis). I was in what I thought was a fairly undisturbed section of the county and was surprised when I learned that this was an imported beetle. Its antenna are segmented, it has a series of dimples on the wing covers and iridescent purple corners on its pronotum. The pronotum is the covering of the thorax, which is the section behind the head. It is 3.5cm (1.5 inches) long. I found the tracks of this beetle interesting. Thanks to the gang at bugguide.net for the identification.

European Ground Beetle Tracks and Pronotum

I found four insects that I had not identified previously in two hours. I have been to this site many times but there is always something new to see and notice.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Juneberry: the “Dogwood” of the North

Posted on May 28, 2014 by admin

Juneberries in bloom

I spent last weekend in the area around Grayling, Michigan. Juneberries (Amelanchier sp.) were blooming and the woods sparkled with their soft white flowers. Some of them appeared pink from a distance; however, when seen up close the white flowers had reflected the red of their developing foliage. White flowered Juneberries marked the edges of deciduous woods as their Flowering Dogwood counterparts do in the south.

Juneberry blossoms and new leaves

Six species (or species complexes) are recorded in the Michigan Flora. They are in the Rose Family (Rosaceae) and not closely related to Dogwoods. Their flowering height ranges from one-foot (3dm) to sixty-three feet (19m) in height. They are distinguished by characters of inflorescence shape, leaf venation, leaf toothing, flower shape, petal length, and hairiness of the ovary. Species hybridize and an Ouija board can be as useful as a microscope in determining identification. Ed Voss in the second volume of the Michigan Flora states, “The only virtue Amelanchier has over Crataegus [Hawthorns] and Rubus [Blackberry and Raspberries] is that, by being smaller, it lures us to the hope that it may be more manageable.” If you wish to try identifying Juneberries to species than consult the Michigan Flora website. The “normal” looking plants of each species are distinct but too many plants have not followed the book.

Juneberry blossoms and new leaves

Juneberries are known by a host of common names including, Serviceberry, Shadbush, Shadblow, and Sugarplum. The last name is in reference to the sweet fruit that some species produce. I have eaten fruit off small Juneberry trees in the Upper Peninsula that was as sweet and as juicy as Blueberries.

Look for Juneberries flowering in the north during the next couple of weeks. They are beautiful shrubs in spite of the difficulties in identification.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Michigan’s Bellworts

Posted on May 14, 2014 by admin

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Two species of bellworts occur in Michigan. They are Large-flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) and Sessile Bellwort or Merrybells (Uvularia sessilifolia). The Lily Family (Liliaceae) was broken into more natural groups resulting in placement of the Bellwort into the Lily-of-the-valley Family (Convallariaceae).

Uvularia grandiflora Large-flowered Bellwort - L, U. sessilifolia Sessile Bellwort - R

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Large-flowered Bellwort has bright yellow flowers on plants 25 cm (10 inches) tall. The leaves are perfoliate meaning that the stem pierces the leaf. The undersides of the leaves have short hairs. Flowers appear on the plant before it is fully developed resulting in a weak looking plant. It occurs throughout Michigan. Bumblebees use Large-flowered Bellwort as an early nectar and pollen source.

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Sessile Bellwort has pale yellow flowers on plants 15 cm (6 inches) tall and is a more delicate plant than the other Bellwort. Its leaves are sessile meaning that they lack a petiole (a leafstalk). The undersides of the leaves are glaucous. The plant has a unique distribution. It occurs in southeastern Michigan, eastern and extreme southern Ohio, extreme southern Indiana, and the southern tip of Illinois. It is found in central and western Wisconsin and then the west end of the Upper Peninsula. See the Flora of North America map. I know of no other plant or animal with this peculiar range.

Bellworts are flowering in southern Michigan now. Get out into a rich deciduous woods and see if you can find them.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Using Scientific Names or Common Names

Posted on May 4, 2014 by admin

I have a need to name the plants I find in the wild. Edward Voss used to remark, “You can’t understand the play unless you know the characters.” Names provide access to organisms. Once I know an organism’s name I can look it up, online, in a book, or in a technical journal, and learn more about it. Normally I search with the scientific name to make sure that I am reading about the correct species.

Edward Voss also said, “Common names are for common people.” However, this blog tries to use common names where they are available and in wide use. When Joyce and I talk about plants, we normally use their common names. We understand which plant we are referring to because we have established between ourselves a set of common names.

Some common names are the scientific names. For example, Hosta, Hibiscus, Trillium, Yucca, Hepatica, and Anemone to name a few. Scientific names are Latinized names and not Latin translations of a common name. It is a misnomer to speak of a plant’s “Latin name.”

Regional common names are interesting: Whip-poor-will’s Shoe, Herb-trinity, Stinking Benjamin, Robin-runaway, Adam-and-Eve, White Coolwort, and Scrambling Rocket are some. Common names can be local. In Michigan, we have a local common name for Ilex verticillata of “Michigan Holly.” Elsewhere it is called Winterberry or Black-alder. In Virginia it is called “Virginia Winterberry.”

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)-L & Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens)-R

Unlike birds, there is no organization that establishes the common or even the scientific names of plants. As a result, most plants have more than one common name especially if they are wide spread and used for food or medicine. Gaultheria procumbens, a plant that I call Wintergreen, is also called: Chinks, One-berry, Drunkards, Chicken-berry, Red Pollom, Partridge-berry (a common name that I use for a different species, Mitchella repens), Ivory Plum, Mountain-tea, Checker-berry, or one of fifteen other common names.

Ironwood or Hop-hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)-L & Ironwood or Blue-beech (Carpinus caroliniana)-R

Some common names are used for more than one plant. Most cultures that work with wood have a tree named Ironwood. When I searched for “ironwood” on the Internet, I found a few dozen species from around the world. Ironwood is simply the hardest wood in that culture. Michigan has two related species called Ironwood, Carpinus caroliniana and Ostrya virginiana. Hemlock is used for two very different species. The one that Socrates drank to kill himself is an herb (Conium maculatum) and the other is the Hemlock tree (Tsuga canadensis) of the north.

At times, the reason a plant has a certain common name is obvious. Bloodroot has a rhizome that “bleeds” a red sap when cut. Goldthread’s roots look as if they are golden threads. Twinflower’s flowers come in pairs. Ragged Fringed Orchid flowers possess a ragged lip. Other times the reason for the name is obscure. Cowwheat is not a wheat and does not resemble a cow or grow in a pasture. Stinking Benjamin flowers smell rank but who was “Benjamin?”

Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)-L & Ragged Fringed Orchid (Platanthera lacera)-R

Sometimes however, a common name is more stable than its scientific name. There is only one species of fern called Ostrich Fern. Since I have been studying ferns, it has gone under the names Pteretis pensylvanica, and Matteuccia pensylvanica. Currently it is called Matteuccia struthiopteris but every botanist in the English-speaking world knows the common name Ostrich Fern.

Some common names are manufactured and not in general use. Sessile-leaved Twisted-stalk is no easier to say than Streptopus roseus. There is no reason to invent “common” names for plants that lack them. If the name is not in general use in some section of the country then it is not required. In this case, it is easier to use the scientific name. This also means that I only have to learn one name for the plant.

Many common names end with “wort.” Examples include, Coolwort, Birthwort, Motherwort, Moonwort, Swallow-wort, Miterwort, Nipplewort, Sandwort. Wort comes from Old English wyrt meaning root. Most of these plants have roots that, at one time, were valued for medicinal purposes.

Just a note regarding the convention of this blog. First, I capitalize common names. This distinguishes between a White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) and any other white Trillium. Second, I use hyphens in common names to denote plants that are not what the common names imply. The above-mentioned Black-alder is not a true alder, Prickly-ash is not an ash, Dogtooth-violet is not a violet… This helps to avoid some of the confusion with common names. This blog is read in many countries and I include the scientific name for precise communication. I received an email recently about a Naragashiwa tree in China. I didn’t know what this plant was but from the scientific name (Quercus aliena) I knew it was an oak. All oaks are in the genus Quercus. If they had not provided the scientific name, I would have been lost.

Don’t be afraid of scientific names. Learn a few to throw around. They are required for serious study and necessary for precise communications.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Spring Sap Feeding Insects

Posted on April 20, 2014 by admin

Green Bottle Fly

Last December we had a thirty-year old Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) cut down. Norway Maples are an invasive alien species and should no longer be planted in Michigan. It is a brittle tree. One of the reasons we removed the tree was that the top had fallen through our garage roof.

Beginning in spring, the stump began ooze sap. Mourning Cloak and Red Admiral butterflies came to feed on the sweet sap. As the weather warmed, the sap became bitter but the insects still came. They were interested in the liquid, not just the sugar content.

Cluster Fly

Several species of flies began to feed. Green Bottle Flies (Lucilia sp.) with their iridescent green body feed on the sap. This is one of the Blow Flies. Cluster Flies (Pollenia sp.) appeared by the hundreds. Their wings overlap when they are resting. Parasitic Flies in the genus Ptilodexia also came. Most species in this group have a gray and black thorax.

Parasitic fly Ptilodexia sp.

A lone Digger Bee (Melissodes sp.) showed up. They are also called Long-horned Bees because of their long segmented antennae. Their body and legs are hairy.

Digger or Long-horned Bee

I have spent a few fun weeks looking at the insects visiting my stump. I come home from work, step around the corner of my garage, and see who is feeding. It is a nice diversion. Nature surrounds us. We just need to look for it.

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Michigan Pines

Posted on March 21, 2014 by admin

Pinus strobus banksiana resinosa sylvestris

Pine needles: l-r White, Jack, Red (Black similar), Scots

Michigan has three native species of Pine trees and two widely established non-native species. Two additional species have been recorded in the Michigan Flora database but currently they rarely escape. They are Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida) and Ponderosa Pine (P. ponderosa). Both of these species have needles in groups of three.

White Pine

White Pine (P. strobus) is native and easy to recognize with its needles in groups of five. They are fine, soft needles. Its cones are three times as long as they are wide. This is the state tree of Michigan. This was the preferred pine species during Michigan’s lumber era, because it occurred in pure stands and floated well.

Jack Pine: Pollen cones l, Seed cones r

Jack Pine (P. banksiana) is native occurring mostly north of Saginaw but coming south along the Lake Michigan coast to the state line. It has two, 2-4 cm (3/4” to 1 1/2”) long needles in each cluster. They are normally twisted. Its bark is dark red to dark gray and at times looks as if it is covered by burnt corn flakes. Bent cones are another distinguishing character of this tree. It is often stated that fire is required to open the cones but I commonly see open cones hanging on trees.

Jack Pine

It is among young Jack Pines that Kirtland’s Warblers nest. This is a short-lived species; a sixty year old Jack Pine is ancient whereas a sixty year old Red or White Pine is still a teenager. Jack Pine is normally a small tree, reaching 15 m (50 feet) in height. I watched one Jack Pine for a decade that crept along the ground, never reaching more than 1 m (3 feet) in height but becoming 5 m (16 feet) long before it died.

Jack Pine background left, Scots Pine foreground left and right

Scots Pine

Scots Pine or Scotch Pine (P. sylvestris) is a Eurasian species that has been planted extensively in Michigan. Mature trees have a distinct reddish-orange bark in the upper tree trunk. The needles are similar to Jack Pines making immature trees difficult to separate. I hit my palm against the end of the needles and if they feel sharp then it is a Scots Pines. The needles are sometimes glaucous (with a waxy bloom) and tend to be slightly longer than Jack Pine needles. Cones on Scots Pines are straight and open in the second year.

Pinus nigra bark l P. resinosa c P. resinosa r

l-r Black Pine bark, Red Pine bark, Red Pine branch and cone

Red Pine (P. resinosa) is a native growing mostly north of Flint. It has two, 10-15 cm (4” to 6”) long needles in each cluster. When bent the needles break. This species has reddish-brown winter buds. Its common name comes from the flaky, reddish upper bark. Stumps, 110 years old, dot the field at our cabin near Grayling. Red Pines normally occur in mixed stands with Oaks (Quercus sp), Cherries (Prunius sp) or White Pine. They were lumbered later than the pure stands of White Pine.

Terminal buds l-r Black Pine (with first-year cone), Red Pine

cones l-r Black Pine (turned upside-down to show prickle), Red Pine

Black Pine or Austrian Pine (P. nigra) is an European species that is widely planted in the Great Lakes Region. The needles are similar to Red Pine but they are flexible. This species has black bark and appears denser having more needle clusters and branches than a Red Pine. Its winter buds are whitish and sticky. Black Pine cones have prickles on their umbos and Red Pines have flattened umbos. An umbo is the shield-like structure on a pine cone’s scale. Black Pine cones are yellowish-green before they open.

Black Pine

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The Michigan Nature Guy’s Blog

To get people looking at, enjoying, and understanding the natural world around them.

Author Archives: admin

Michigan’s Naturalized Teasels

Blueberry: a Taste of Summer

The Bog Big Three

Michigan’s Wild Strawberries

Spring Insects in Central Michigan

Juneberry: the “Dogwood” of the North

Michigan’s Bellworts

Using Scientific Names or Common Names

Spring Sap Feeding Insects

Michigan Pines