As we walked, we told our new friends about the plants that inhabit the forest floor and how they are adapted to the diffuse light conditions being so far from the upper canopy of leaves. Of the many kinds of plants we'd be meeting on our adventure. The first are ferns, an ancient group of plants we all have a passing familiarity with but few really know well. The second group of plants are monocots, specifically those in the lily and orchid families. We also would spend time looking at mosses, liverworts, and lichens.
Lynda, being a huge fern fanatic, wasted no time in pointing out some of her favorite ferns and how to tell them apart from each other.
Our new friends seemed to enjoy the benefit of getting a personal guided tour of the world of ferns and had questions about the persistence and size of fertile fronds. Lynda explained that unlike the beaded stalk of the Sensitive Fern and feathery stalk of the Ostrich Fern's fertile frond, those of the Cinnamon fern seen here will mature and wither in a few weeks. Soon they'll turn a light brown cinnamon color, disperse their spores, and wilt away until next year. Leaving only the sterile fronds through summer.
Next we met a couple of trunk mates, living side by side on the trunk of an ash tree. One side has a leafy liverwort Porella platyphylloidea, sometimes called American Scalewort. This is a very robust and healthy looking example of this delightful liverwort.The arrangement of leaves is fascinating under the magnification of a hand lens.
On the other side of the same trunk, and even co-mingling in the middle was a beautiful Neckera pennata, sometimes called Shingle Moss. When you look closely at N. pennata with a hand lens you can see the individual leaves, with their wavy lines shining in the light.
Soon after leaving our new bryophyte pals we met a gigantic Jack-in -the-Pulpit. The inflorescence consisting of a spathe covering a spadix was over 16 inches from the forest floor. The leaves were well over two feet from the ground. We began to notice these monocots in various sizes populating this area. The older these plants become, the more female flowers they produce. If size is any indicator, this is definitely making mostly female flowers.
All during our walk we saw Canada Mayflower in bloom, Trout Lilies that had already bloomed. Both of which are also members of the monocots. A nice little dicot that also lives in the forest is the Northern Starflower. It has a pleasing whorl of leaves that seem to arrange in a three up, three down pattern. Usually this plant offers two flowers at once but we observed several with three.
On our way again, Lynda made note of some Christmas Ferns and more Sensitive Ferns. These fronds are very new and will darken to a deep green over time.
We took some time to show our friends some of the differences in maple leaves. Striped, Sugar, and Red, and how to know the invasive Norway Maple from a Sugar Maple. They asked really good questions about why invasives are a problem and what they should do about it. We told them that invasive species have many issues, like not providing the proper nutrients to native fauna, destroying essential native soil fungi and bacteria, and crowding out native species.
Under a grove of giant White and Red Pines, we spotted a cool little evergreen shrub called Pipsissewa. The name is a Cree Indian word and is thought to refer to the plants traditional use as remedy for many ailments including urinary infections. It is also known as Prince's Pine. While not quite ready to flower, it had some seed pods from last summer.
About mid-way through our walk we were joined by another explorer who arrived late but curious. We discovered another monocot, the Blue Bead Lily.
They were growing in a cluster. Although the flowers are yellow they will mature into dark blue inedible fruits in Autumn.
Thomas pointed out some Lady's Slipper orchids and we all stopped to marvel at them. No matter how often you see them, they're a welcome sight. I mentioned to our explorer friends how these plants require a soil fungus to help crack open the seed coat and feed nutrients to the developing plant.
Another dicot found growing in a sunny spot in some drier soil. This is Wild Sasparilla. It is unrelated to true Sasparilla but the roots were used as an herbal substitute. I have tasted the root and found it to be unsatisfying, at best. It's an easy plant to identify and is often found along forested roadsides.
One plant whose roots I've tasted and found exceptional are those of the Indian Cucumber Root. It's another member of the monocots, in the lily family. This is a wonderful two tiered plant that grows in the moist forest understory. I should mention (as I did with our new friends) that plants along public trails and in preserves should be left where they grow. This way all people can enjoy them. Harvesting plants for herbal remedies or food should only be done with permission from the landowner. Additionally, Indian Cucumber Root has a few look-alikes. One look-alike that grows in Southern Maine and Massachusetts is the Whorled Pogonia, which is endangered and inedible.
Instead of turning back down the same trail to the parking area we took another one of the many trail options Flint Woods has to offer. I spotted a fungus that was interesting. Lynda is as interested in mushrooms as she is in ferns. After a day to look it over we decided it is Mitrula elegans, the Swamp Beacon.
We also spied one of Lynda's favorite ferns (hint: they're all Lynda's favorites) the Narrow Beech Fern. This is a small fern that always has two downward pointing pinnae (leaflets). Lynda told me that one of her field guides described this as looking like the pinnae are reaching out to hug you.
We noticed some Lady Ferns with sori developing on the underside.
We stopped at the spring-fed pools to marvel at a very well developed Witch Hazel tree and observe some Green Frogs and a Predaceous Diving Beetle.
On the way back to the parking area, I spotted the cocoon of a Hyalophora cecropia, the Cecropia Moth. This is North America's largest moth, the females have a wingspan of up to seven inches. These are bigger and equally as beautiful as it's cousin the Luna Moth (in my opinion). They have a fancy black, orange and white coloration.
I think our new explorer friends had many of their questions answered. Before departing, they thanked us and seemed interested in having another personal, guided nature walk next month. On the second Sunday in July we will be walking Nina's Woods in Farmington. Nine A,M, July 14th, We're going to be there anyway, why not come along?
