Residents of Deering have always valued the rural character of their town. They have consistently supported conserving forested land and active farms over commercial development in order to maintain that rural character of the place. They spent a lot of time outside in nature, whether as hunters or just enjoying their natural environment
In 1980 a group of Deering residents set out to locate the largest native and nonnative trees in town. This list was updated in 1985. You can see and download the Big Tree list here.
In 2016 members of the Deering Association began a project of once again updating the list of big trees by locating and documenting those on the old list and adding new records and species. Finding a particular trees that was included on a list thirty-five years ago is a difficult task. At that time it was not possible to add map coordinates to tree locations; there was no smart phones or GPS devices! Locations were given by property owner so even then it is difficult to locate a specific tree in a given parcel. Moreover, many of those properties have passed hands and there is no easily accessible way to find out where a specific parcel is today. Sadly, many of those who reported trees thirty-five years ago have passed away or just do not remember.A small part of our History gone.
In this Big Tree category we present the results of trying to find Deering’s biggest trees. We certainly encourage Deering residents who might know of the location of a particular large tree, or even a tree that is on the list, to contact us.
Engagement of our Community in this project, just as the Community was engaged all those years ago, will be very helpful as we attempt to account for Deering’s largest trees!
You can download a map of hiking trails in Deering here.
About 1/3 of Deering’s land, 7155 acres, is in conservation easement and thus is protected forever. Most of the hiking trails are Class 6 roads, roads that are seasonally passable but that are not maintained by the town. These are great places for leisurely walking in nature. Often there will be rock walls alongside the roads, or wetlands. Examples are Hedgehog Mt. Rd, Falls Rd and Lead Mine Rd.
There are a few marked trails through forests. These include the Hedgehog Mt. Ridge trail, from Hedgehog Mt. Rd through to High Five, about 5 miles. This is the longest marked trail in town. Other marked trails are much shorter. They are found in the Deering Audubon Sanctuary on Clement Hill Rd, the Pinnacles on Peter Wood Rd at North Rd., Wilkins-Campbell Forest from Wolf Hill Rd to the Deering Reservoir, the Burke Family Wildlife Preserve on Pleasant Pond Rd near Rt. 149, and a very short trail at the Deering Preserve at Falls Rd, off Old County Rd. The walk from Sky Farm Rd to High Five is along a dirt road and is about 1/3 mile in length. Some people go to High Five for star gazing or viewing the full moon.
With the exception of the Hedgehog Ridge trails, the other marked trails are rather short but are level and ,more or less smooth and fairly easy to walk on.
I have added links to XML files that should enable you to download hiking trails to your Garmin device.
Remember that dogs should be kept on leashes, there should be no fires or camping in Deering’s conserved lands.
Rock harlequin, Capnoides sempervirens, appeared in the garden late in May, a first. I had previously only seen this fire adapted native wildflower in Deering at two closes by spots on Hedgehog Mountain. The plant itself, a bit tall and scraggly, doesn’t have much to recommend it, apart from its greyish green leaves, as a garden feature. But rock harlequin’s flower is so unusual and alluring — whimsical even — that I could not resist posting pictures of it … for a second time (there is an earlier post about rock harlequin on this site).
Pollinators of this poppy relative include bumble bees and skipper butterflies. I suppose the bulk of these insects is needed to force open the flower as they land on the flower’s protruding lower lip to reveal pollen. Seeds, born in long pods, are dispersed by ants and by wind, and some consider the plant to be mildly invasive. There are certainly more problematic — and far less appealing — invaders than rock harlequin.
Trout lily, an early spring native wildflower, is rare in Deering.
I started documenting the wildflowers and flowering shrubs native to Deering when I first moved here in 2011. In 2023 my list includes about 300 species, most of which are plants typical of the northeast. One component of the northeastern flora that is mostly missing or, at best, poorly represented, are the earliest spring flowers. Skunk cabbage, which is exothermic and can melt its way through snow, seems to be missing. I have not seen any anemones or hepaticas either. Marsh marigold is represented by a single plant in a brook next to the Carew house, although I have not seen it for the past two years. I had not seen our earliest lily until wo years ago when trout lily appeared here at my home on Hedgehog Mountain. I don’t know where this trout lily came from, but it has come up reliably for what is now the third year. With that persistence, I am happy list trout lily as occurring naturally in Deering: I welcome it as one of few early iconic early spring flowers to flower in our town.
Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum, a member of the lily family, is found in moist places in deciduous forests. It is a small plant, 8 inches or less in height, characterized by its mottled leaves and a unique, yellow lily-like flower perched at the tip of a delicate stalk. Trout lily is one of the earliest of our native wildflowers and is certainly the first of our lilies, blooming at the same time and habitats as bloodroot, spring beauty, marsh mallow and others. The species has many other common names, but the best known of them is dog tooth violet. ‘Trout’ lily refers to the purple-brownish mottled leaves that suggest the fish, and also the plant flowers at the opening of trout season in New Hampshire. This mottling lead to the appellation ‘adder’s tongue,’ because of a perceived similarity of the leaves to snake skin. An early botanist objected to such a name for so pretty a flower and he proposed ‘fawn lily,’ supposing the mottling was more favorably compared to a young fawn. The very old name ‘dog-tooth violet’ comes from an Eurasian variety that has violet flowers and toothlike roots.
Trout lily is a North American native plant, distributed throughout the eastern states and provinces of the USA and Canada. It is closely related to Canada may flower, Mianthemum canadense, which is common in our area but blooms later and in the same places, in May and June, and tulip. The genus Erythronium includes about thirty-two species, most of which are native to the Central and Western states and provinces. A few species are found in Asia and Europe, respectively. Pink and white varieties occur in other states. Trout lily is the only eastern species, and I have only seen this pretty species at one location in Deering, here on Hedgehog Mountain.
Trout lily can reproduce sexually and produce seed. Pollinators include long-tongued insects, which can reach the nectaries that are located deep within the flower. The chief pollinators are blow-flies, mining bees and queen bumble bees. More commonly, trout Lily reproduces asexually by budding of perennial corms, and colonies 100 years old are known. Crickets and carabid beetles disperse the seed. White tailed deer sometimes nip off the buds and bears dig up the corms.
Young plants only produce one leaf. The don’t produce two leaves, and are then capable of flowering, until the bulb reaches sufficient size and has worked its way deeply into the soil (as much as 8 – 10 “). The leaves appear to be growing at ground level, but actually they emerge from a subterranean stem that lies several inches above the bulb. The plants do not flower until they are four to seven years old.
The roots of trout lily scavenge phosphorous from the spring run-off. The phosphorous is translocated to the leaves and is then returned to the soil when the leaves die back. Thus, trout lily performs an important environmental service. The ability of trout lily to accumulate phosphorous is thanks to mycorrhizal fungi. Once established, the roots of some plants are colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi sustain themselves through the winter with carbohydrates produced by the plant’s bulbs. This inhibits growth of the plants during the first season, but with the arrival of spring, fungi in roots of the infected plants enable them to absorb nutrients. This results in growth rates double that of ‘uninfected’ plants.
The young leaves and corms may be boiled and eaten, but in some people the concoction is emetic. Lore has it that a tea made from the leaves joins umpteen other teas as a cure for hiccups. Plants are also known to produce an antibiotic that is effective against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.
My daily (ok, frequent) walk leads along a diet road at the edge of forested land. Late last year I noticed large rosettes of deeply lobbed leaves. The leaves looked like dandelion, the tips of the lobes being acute — pointed, but these were much larger than dandelion leaves, more than a foot long and correspondingly broader. I did not know what they were. Winter ended and I began to see tall-stalked plants with the same oddly shaped leaves. As the season progressed, the stalks, elongated, ultimately reaching one or two meters in height. Flowers formed from elongated, openly branched clusters at the tip of the stalk and from the axils (where the leave departs from the stem) of the upper leaves. I realized that there were two, different but closely similar species of plants. When the species flowered, the first early in July and the much more common second a month later, I could confirm the two tall plants to be species of wild lettuce.
These were not cute or pretty wildflowers – – one might call them ‘weeds!’
L:actuca canadensis
Canada lettuce is a native of North America, widespread in Eastern N. America – Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to Georgia and Colorado. It grows in part to full shade, usually in disturbed sites in thickets, woodland borders and clearings, and moist open places in a wade range of soils.
Lactuca canadensis is biennial, which means that each plant lives for two years. Seeds germinate in late summer to fall, producing a rosette of leaves and i the second year long stalks arise from the leaves. Flowers and, ultimately the seeds form at the tip. That plant then dies. The genus name Lactuca implies a milky exudate that flows from the stem when the plant is wounded. In Canada lettuce the latex is light brown or white. The sticky sap can cause a skin rash in some people. The sap contains ‘lactucarium’, which is used in medicine for its anodyne, antispasmodic, digestive, diuretic, hypnotic, narcotic and sedative properties. The sap s sometimes collected commercially.
The plant should be used with caution, and never without the supervision of a skilled practitioner.
Small dandelion-like yellow flowers, each about 1/4 inch in diameter, occur in a narrow panicle up to 2″ long at the apex of the plant. The flowers are replaced by dark brown seeds – – achenes – – with tufts of white hair, which are attached together by thread-like beaks. Various bees pollinate Canada lettuce.
Lactuca biennis
2022 was the first year that I have seen this wild lettuce on my road — and it is difficult to overlook a seven-foot tall flower stalk! But this year several plants of this species are spread for a distance of about 50 meters along the shaded road.
Lactuca biennis, tall blue lettuce or wood lettuce, is native to North America. It is widespread across much of the United States and Canada, ranging from Alaska and Yukon south as far as California, New Mexico, and Georgia. The biennial plant is very similar to that of L. canadensis, and the two can be found growing together in disturbed sites, forest edges, meadows and fields. However, leaves of L. biennis are longer and broader and it’s little daisy-like flowers are blue. The plants can reach two meters in height. Various species of bumble bee have been recorded as pollinators of tall blue lettuce.
Like dandelion, leaves of L. biennis can be eaten in salads when young, but become bitter with age. Various medicinal uses have been attributed to tall blue lettuce including treatment of pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and heart trouble.
Patty had two dreams. One was to acquire and protect as much land asd she could afford. The second was to develop a garden in which there were blooming flowers bloomed for as much of the year as flowers can bloom here in New England.
It did not take her any time to persuade me to share her dreams.
Patty found 85 acres of forested land in southern New Hampshire in one of those supermarket real estate advertising magazines. The land had been recently, respectfully, logged, and a pretty brook ran through the oak/hemlock woods for nearly the entire 2200 ft length of the lot.
Deering, Hedgehog Mountain, is where we decided to call home, and where we built our timberpeg home (another of Patty’s dreams) in 2011.
And Patty started gardening as soon as we moved in.
Now, a bit over 10 years later, her dream of a glorious garden is being realized. A progression of flowers, early spring to late autumn has responded to near constant care: weeding, watering, thinning, dividing, moving about, and so on.
The collateral effects of the garden include apart from, of course, the pure beauty, a refugium from an otherwise pretty crappy world, a whole bunch of pollinating insects and ruby throated hummingbirds. Butterflies, bees of all sorts, and the hummingbirds dip and zoom around the flowers finding pollen and nectar among the echinacea, lavender, bee balm, Joe Pye weed … and St John’s Worts and evening primrose and lupins … the list just goes on! Caterpillars such as those of the glorious monarch butterfly find a good home here in all the untouched milkweed.
Pollinator’s delight in Patty’s ggarden!
Among the most interesting of the insect visitors to garden has been the Hummingbird Clearwing moth, Hemaris thysbe.
The Hummingbird Clearwing, a sphinx, or hawkmoth, is active on warm, sunny summer days. It is maybe a quarter the size (wingspan 1.5 – 2 “) of a ruby throated hummingbird, but its super rapidly beating wings give the same humming sound as the bird as it dashes from flower to flower, never alighting for more than the briefest of moments. Like the hummingbird, the clearwing hawkmoth can hover over prospective nectar sources. I have read that wings of the clearwing beat at 85 beats per second, while those of the hummingbird barely chug along at a mere 50 bps. Of course, its ability to hover enables to clearwing to suck nectar from flowers through it long proboscis — a superb example of coevolution. Hovering also makes sense for this heavy insect because delicate flowers do not provide feeding ledges for their pollinators — a serious revolutionary oversight! Moreover, remaining airborne gives the insect a head start should it need to escape a hungry predator. Males hawkmoths have a flared tail, again like the hummingbird, and their long straw-like proboscis unfurls to reach the nectar deep within flowers.
Hummingbird clearwing moth drawing nectar from monarda flowers
Despite the wide range of lowers and flower colors in Patty’s garden, we have only seen the clearwing on the red monarda. It apparently doesn’t even visit the nearby purple monarda. In fact, this clearwing is known to show preference for red and purple flowers.
Four species of hummingbird moths occur in North America. Hemaris thysbe is most abundant in eastern North America, but it ranges widely in North America.
Caterpillars of the clearwing hawkmoth feed on cherry trees, European cranberry bush, hawthorns, honeysuckle, and snowberry. The insect overwinters in the soil as brown, hard-shelled pupae. In the late spring, it emerges as an adult moth.
Here in Deering we don’t have a lot of what might be called ‘streets’ in most towns. Our streets are more country roads, bordered by rock walls, forests and , sometimes, pastures with horses, mostly.
The ‘streets’ are often bordered by rock walls and forests with and areas. Lovely, romantic even. At this time of year, high summer, orange day lilies –Hemerocallis fulva – conspicuously flower in the dark, wet areas. I always think of day lilies as a flock orange perroquets flying out from a tall tropical tree.
ORANGE DAY LILY FROM GONATIVE.ORG. The orange flowers suggesting tropical birds.
The orange day lily was intrduced to the USA from Europe via Asia n the 17th Century and now there are innumerable beautiful varieties of day olilies in our gardens.
This post is not about day lilies, beautiful as they undeniably are.
This post is about sdome liliesd that are not so common, memers f the genus Lilium.Lilium and Hemerocallis are clled lilies, but they belong to different families — Liliaceae and Hemerocallidaceae respectively — because of differences in their floral anatomy. Basicall, the flower of a day lily is a tube while the conspicuous ‘petals’ (tepals, botanically) of ‘true’ lilies remain distinct.
I have seen two species of Lilium in Deering: Canada lily and Turk’s cap lily.
Canada lily, Lilium canadense
Canada lily, or meadow lily, Lilium cvanadense, is a native of eastern North American. Its native range extends from Nova Scotia into Georgia, but it is most common in New England, the Appalachian mountains and the Canadian maritimes. It occurs in meadows; low thickets; wet woods. In Deering I have seen this gorgeous flower only once, along a small brook in the SE corner of the McAlister conservation easement, just behind the McAlister fire station.
A destructive parasite of lilies, the lily leaf beetle. This red beetle is native to Eurasia but was introduced to eastern North America on shipments from Europe during the Forties. It has spread westward from Ne England in the past thirty years, feeding on foliage of introduced and native lilies.
A second, most spectacular lily found in Deering is the Turk’s cap Lilium lancifolium, the lance-leaved tiger lily.
Lance-leaved tiger lily is a Turk’s cap — so named because of the form of the flower with it sdtrtongly rcurved petals — botanically, tepals. It was introduced from China and has been widely cultivated in the USA. Escaping from cultivation it has become naturalized in wetter rather than dried places. It is not considered a threat to other native lilies. However, the Native Plant Trust, Go Botany, has not yet recorded it for our Hillsborough county. I have seen it at two location s in Deering. First growing from a roadside bank on Clement Hill Road, near its interaction with the southern end of Norths Road. The second time I saw it was along my own driveway o Hedgehog Mountain. A pleasant surprised indeed!
In the axils of upper leaves are 1 to 3 small purplish black bulbets, that can emit roots while still on the plant. Plants can be propagated from these bulbils. The main stem is unbranched, purple to nearly black, covered in fine cob-webby white hairs.
Members of the genera Pyrola (shinleaf) and Chimaphila (pipsissewa, prince’s pine) are small, evergreen plants that are found in Deering’s woodlands. They belong to a small group of genera, some of which lack chlorophyll. These genera, which additionally include locally common Indian pipe (Monotropa) along with sweet-pinesap (Monotropopsis) and pine-drops (Pterospora), have historically been classified in their own family, the Pyrolaceae, but are now considered to belong to the blueberry/heath family, the Ericaceae, subfamily Monotropoideae.
Members of the Monotropoideae are mycoheterotrophs. That is, they fully or partially obtain organic carbon from mycorrhizal fungi. Their seeds, ‘dust seeds,’ are exceptionally small and have undifferentiated embryos. Dust seeds occur in diverse families of flowering plants, perhaps most notably in orchids. The dust seeds in Monotropoideae require the presence of fungi, either direct contact with a fungus or the presence of a diffusible substance therefrom, to germinate (symbiotic germination). After germination ‘seedlings’ remain subterranean for several years, fully dependent on fungi for supply of carbon. Some mycohetrotrophs, including species of Pyrola and Chimaphila, develop the ability to photosynthesize as they develop and apparently no longer depend upon fungi to provide organic carbon. Others, such as the pure white Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), never develop the ability to phytosynthesize, and actually parasitize mycorrhizal fungi that associate with tree roots, thereby obtaining carbon indirectly from the phytosynthesis of the tree. Interestingly, in initial stages of growth the range of fungi associated with the developing seedlings is relatively large, the fully mycoheterophic species such as Indian pipe narrowing to more specific fungal associates as their seedlings develop. However among those early fungal associates, only those present at plant maturity stimulate germination.
Monotropa uniflora, Indian pipe, lacks chlorophyll.
Shinleaf (Pyrola)
The name ‘shinleaf’ refers to the use of their leaves in reducing pain resulting from bruises and wounds. The relief possibly provided by the salicylic acid (asprin) contained in the leaves.
The leaves of Pyrola species tend to be dark green and persist through the winter. The plants are never more than a six or eight inches high. Flowers are produced along a stalk, called a raceme and are white or pink. Five species of Pyrola are found in New England and all are natives. I have found two species in Deering: P. americana and P. elliptica.
Pyrola americana (American shinleaf, American wintergreen) and P elliptica (elliptic leaved shinleaf) both have white flowers and flower from June to August. These species are difficult to separate. Leaf blades of P. americana are ideally rounded, but can be elliptical as in P. elliptica. The chief differences are in the sizes of the calyx and the number and location of stipules.
Pyrola americana is also known as P. rotundifolia. It is found in woods, thickets and bogs in eastern North America and adjacent Canada, south to North Carolina and Kentucky, and Wisconsin. In Deering, I have found it at Hunter’s Pond and along Smith Brook trail in the Audubon Sanctuary.
Pyrola americana is sometimes called ‘American wintergreen,’ but it is not related to wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), also a member of the heath family.
The calyx teeth of P. americana are short relative to the petals, and the stipule clasps the base of the peduncle that supports each flower.
Round leaves of Pyrola americana
Pyrola elliptica is more common than P. americana, and has a wider distribution in North America, extending across the northern tier of states and provinces to Idaho and British Columbia. I have found it once in Deering, on Hedgehog Mountain Road.
The teeth of the calyx are short relative to the length of the petals, and one, unclasped stipule is found at the flower base.
Pyrola elliptica
Pyrola elliptica stipules
Pyrola elliptica stipules
Pipsissewa, prince’s pine (Chimaphila)
The Chimaphila plants you see arise from underground stems (rhizomes). The erect branches bear leaves all winter. The genus name is from the Greek cheima (“winter”) and philein (“to love”). I have heard two sources from Native American languages for the name ‘pipsissewa’: ‘forest flower,’ and ‘to break into small pieces’, referring to stones in the urinary tract. Two species of Chimaphila occur in New England and both are found in Deering.
Chimaphila umbellata is circumboreal in North America and northern Europe. It is found in well-drained woods in almost all of continental North America, including Alaska, except for Texas and several states in the far south, and Canadian Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In Deering have found Pipsissewa on Hedgehog Mountain road and Smith Brook Trail in the Audubon Sanctuary.
Pipsissewa is used in homeopathic medicine, and leaves are reported to flavor rootbeer, make a tea and flavor candy. Native North Americans used Pipsissewa root for a wide variety of ailments. Over harvesting the roots has endangered populations in some areas.
The plant spreads by seed and by extension of the root system and is said to be a good ground cover.
Chimaphila umbellata
Chimaphila umbellata
Pipsissewa, spotted wintergreen, striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) is characterized by its variegated leaves that have a pale green stripe in the middle. The characteristic leaves make this plant easy to identify even when there are no flowers. Chimaphila maculata is native to native to eastern North America and occurs in all eastern states, west to Illinois, and in Quebec and Ontario. It favors partial sun to medium shade, dry-mesic conditions, and an acidic soil containing some rocky material or sand. It seems to be far less common than C. umbellata. Chimaphila maculata is considered to be endangered in Maine and Illinois. It has not been reported to occur in Hillsborough county before now. I have found it once on Hedgehog Mountain road.
Stripped wintergreen flowers from late spring into early summer.
Leaves of C. maculata are toxic to sheep and are avoided by deer. There is a long list of medicinal applications for stripped wintergreen, also known as ‘rheumatism root.’ However, there might be a reason to be cautious when considering collecting this plant for its medicinal value for one of its names is ‘wild arsenic,’ and handing the plant is reported to cause skin irritation and an allergic reaction in some.
Two species of laurel occur in Deering, Kalmia angustifolia (sheep-laurel) and K. latifolia (mountain laurel).
Laurels are members of the plant family Ericaceae, along with blueberries, cranberries, rhododendron, azalea, trailing arbutus, Indian pipe, and many other plants that are common in our part of the world. The genus Kalmia was named by Linnaeus, in the 18th Century, in honor of one of his students, Peter Kalm, a Swedish-Finish botanist and naturalist who traveled and collected plants in the Americas during the 18th century.
Mountain laurel is a native North American evergreen, perennial shrub. It is common in acidic soils of the Appalachian Mountains, plateaus, piedmont, and coastal plains from southeast Maine to the Louisiana delta and north through Indiana and eastern Ohio to southern Quebec. It is found in the understory of conifer and hardwood forests, where it can form virtually impenetrable thickets, but it also forms dense cover on ‘balds’ at 4000 ft in the Appalachian Mountains. Typically the plant is a shrub, reaching 6 feet or so in height, but occasional ‘trees’ can reach 50 ft in height in the valleys of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains of the southern Appalachians. and can form dense thickets.
The species is fairly common in south central New Hampshire, often forming dense thickets in shaded forests. Here in Deering it is not difficult to find plants of mountain laurel, but Deering’s mountain laurel plants are mostly low growing with woody stems and form a more or less densely ground cover on the deeply shaded forest floor. I have never seen these plants to flower. In my wandering in Deering I have seen flowering mountain laurel at only one site, on a town-owned lot not far from where Manselville Brook enters the Contoocook River. At this site there are not more than a half dozen upright woody shrubs, about 6 feet tall. They flower in the middle of June.
The chief pollinators of mountain laurel are bumble bees and other bees. The sPtamens, which carry pollen, adhere to the petals under tension. When a bee enters the flower, the tension is released and the pollen is shot onto the furry bee. The pollen can be shot for as much as a foot, fertilizing other flowers. If the flower is not visited by a bee, the stamens can release pollen and self fertilize their flower.
Members of the Ericaceae have fungi – – mycorrhizae — associated with their root hairs. The morphology of the mycorrhizal association, and the fungi that associate with roots of members of the Ericaceae are different from tree mycorrhizae. Tree mycorrhizae tend to be mushrooms while the fungi that associate with roots of the Ericaceae are taxonomically distinct. The nature of the ericoid mycorrhizal association is the least understood of all of the mycorrhizal associations.
Green parts of the plant, flowers, twigs, and pollen are all toxic, including food products made from them. Although mountain laurel pollen does not affect bees, the honey made from the pollen may induce neurotoxic and gastrointestinal symptoms in humans eating more than a modest amount. Symptoms of toxicity begin to appear about 6 hours following ingestion. Humans, their pets and livestock are all affected. Sheep and goats will readily graze on mountain laurel, and horses will eat the plant if there is nothing else to eat. Even ruffed grouse that feed on the leaves are sometimes killed.
Mountain laurel is unrelated to the true laurels (Lauraceae), which are used in cooking. Please do not substitute a leaf of a Kalmia species (mountain laurel, bog laurel, sheep laurel) for a bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) in your cooking!
Mountain laurel is the official state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
Low growing mountain laurel
Low growing mountain laurel
Low growing mountain laurel
Flowering erect shrub of mountain laurel
Flowering erect shrub of mountain laurel
Flowering erect shrub of mountain laurel
Flowering erect shrub of mountain laure
Flowers of mountain laurel
Mountain laurel flowers
Sheep laurel,Kalmia angustifolia, is a perennial shrub that can get to be 3 feet tall and up to 6 feet wide. It has ridiculously showy, pink flowers in clusters formed below the branch tips so that leaves usually form further along the stem, above the flowers. Flowering is from late spring into summer. Leaves are held in whorls of two or three and are 1.5- 2.5 inches long. The plant forms a tap root that can be 3 ft deep, and a dense network of roots. Sheep laurel is colonial and can form dense stands.
Sheep laurel is native to northeastern North America. It is found from Newfoundland and Labrador west through Ontario and occasionally as far south as Georgia. It is common in the eastern Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence region, northern New England, and the Maritime provinces.
There are two varieties of K. angustifolia. The variety carolina occurs in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia.
Sheep laurel is adapted to a wide range of habitats. bogs, swamps, other wetlands, and alpine summits in the Adirondack region of upstate New York. Here in Deering I have seen sheep laurel along water’s edge at Black Fox Pond, in the Audubon Preserve, and in Deering Lake.
Like mountain laurel, sheep laurel foliage is toxic. On the other hand, it provides winter forage and cover for wild grouse and other birds.
Rock-harlequin is a very pretty and unusual native wildflower. A wonderful addition to Deering’s flora.
Capnoides (Corydalis) sempevirens, Rock-harlequin or pale corydalis, is a delicate, lacy, 1-2 ft biennial with compound leaves that are divided into many lobes. The bicolored, tubular flowers are very pretty and morpologically unusual for Deering’s flora.
In the plant’s first summer the only foliage is a basal rosette, but in its second year the plant sends up many branched stems, each tipped with bunches of pink and yellow, flowers. The flowers are sac-like, tubular, pink and yellow and they occur in clusters at ends of branched stems bearing intricately divided leaves. The flowers give way to long, narrow seed pods. Seeds are spread by ants.
Rock-harlequin flowers from early summer through to early fall. It grows in rock crevices, talus, forest clearings, open woods, and on burned or otherwise disturbed areas in shallow, often dry soil. In burned zones it occurs within five years of a fire. In Deering I have found this pretty flower in two locations: the northern end of the Hedgehog Mountain Trail at the overlook, and on Little Hedgehog Mountain overlook, which is a short north leading trail from Hedgehog Mountain Road near the Landing. Both of these sites are exposed and rocky.
Rock-harlequin is native to North America, occurring widely in Eastern USA as far south as Tennessee and Georgia and as far west as Minnesota and Iowa, and it is found in Alaska and all Canadian provinces.
Capnoides sempervirens is a member of the poppy family (as might be guessed by the deeply dissected leaves). Additional species of Capnoides occur in Eastern North America. The Iroquois used a decoction prepared from plants of Corydalis sempervirens medicinally to alleviate piles. Some Corydalis species contain toxic alkaloids.
A lot of plants having yellow flowers bloom late in June in what some would call their lawn. We don’t do anything to encourage a grassy expanse of lawn, so what we get is probably anathema to most home owners.
Well, one price they pay for that lush green-ness is that they don’t get to see much of a variety of wildflowers. Woe betide the not-grass that appears in the ‘well-manicured’ lawn.
OK, sermon ended.
Currently four species of hawkweed, at least two species of cinquefoil and a small St John’s wort are blooming in great profusion around town. All have yellow flowers. But, so do goldenrod, evening primroses and larger St. John’s wort, whose plants are up but not yet flowering. We have passed from the spring, when white and green flowers were effective in attracting wild bees and other insect pollinators maybe more by odor than plant color? But, now we are full on bee time and yellow is the dominant flower color of the day.
Scouting around our ‘garden’ a few days ago I noticed scattered plants of bird’s-foot-trefoil . I had not previously seen this species in Deering. It’s common enough. Certainly I have overlooked it.
Bird’s-foot-trefoil , Lotus corniculatus, is a member of the pea family. It’s low, sprawling herbaceous plants have 3 clover like leaflets (actually 5, with 2 opposite leaflets at the base of the ‘trefoil’ or triple leaflets. This is the only legume with 5 leaflets). The plants can stand up to 2 ft tall and flowering branches terminate in a head, or floret, of pea-like yellow flowers. The fruit is a pod about one inch long. One brown to purple seed pod is produced per flower situated at right angles to the flower stalk and thus the 5-6 splayed pods resemble a bird’s foot.
Bird’s-foot-trefoil is a perennial, native to Eurasia but now widely distributed in North America after having been introduced around 1900. It is a “long-day “plant, requiring sixteen hours of sunlight to flower, just right now for the end of June. In some parts of North America and Australia the plant is considered a bothersome invasive while elsewhere it is planted for erosion control, because of its deep tap root, and as a forage legume on poor soil because of its nodulated roots that fix nitrogen. Several cultivars are available for agricultural use.
Flowers of bird’s-foot-trefoil flowers occur in florets of 4-8. Each floret is bisexual, thus can self pollinate although the plant has a self-incompatibility mechanism that prevents self-seeding. Most pollination is effected between plants by insects. Pollen in the plant matures before the flower opens. Filaments push the loose pollen forward into the closed tip of the united lower petals (keel), and pollination occurs when an insect’s weight on the keel forces a ribbon-like mass of pollen from the keel opening, some of it adhering to the insect’s underside. Further pressure as the insect seeks the nectaries causes the female stigma to slide into the same contact area, where it’s stickiness may pick up pollen from another plant that got stuck onto the insect. Like some other legumes, the bird’s-foot-trefoil produces highly nutritious pollen.
Honey bees and, especially, bumble bees are the principle pollinators of bird’s- foot-trefoil. Some bees became highly specialized on these plants; in fact, the decline of several bumble bee species has been linked to the reduced availability of clover, bird’s-foot-trefoil and other legumes. In Scotland, three of the scarcest bee species are believed to be completely dependent on bird’s-foot-trefoil’s pollen; the pine-wood mason bee, the mountain mason bee (Osmia inermis) and the wall mason bee (Osmia parietina).
But more importantly for the aspect of ecosystem services, the bird’s-foot-trefoil is a larval food plant for several butterflies and moths and a valuable nectar source for many other insects.
Bird’s-foot-trefoil can be confused with another yellow-flowered herb, butter-and-eggs, Linariavulgaris Butter-and-eggs, or common toadflax, occupies much the same habitat as bird’s-foot-trefoil but flowers much later in the season. Butter-and-eggs can be problematic because through its vigorous growth it can out-compete other pasture natives and form dense mats that prevent the establishment of desired species. The plant is mildly toxic to livestock.
Butter-and-eggs
Butter-and-eggs
(In writing this post I relied heavily on The Book of Field and Roadside. Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America by John Eastman. 2003. Stackpole books. It is one of three similar books by the same author. I am not sure that they are still in print. I found mine on E Bay).
When we took up residence at our new home on Hedgehog Mountain we planted three Tulip Poplar trees. We got them from Arbor Day Foundation as not very hopeful bare root sticks. Over the ten years we’ve been here, two have survived. One is not much more than 3 ft tall while the other is pushing 30 feet.
Late last year we found old flowers seeds on the big tree, but we had not seen flowering. Moreover, I had never seen flowers son the two really big trees in Appleton Cemetery.
Tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipiera, is native to the mid Atlantic region and Appalachian Mountains. In its native range, trees can reach 150 or more feet in height, with long, straight, unbranched trunks and a spreading crown. I have seen magnificent trees in Maryland, not far from Washington DC, and in North Carolina. The species does not occur naturally this far north. These trees are beautiful. The few trees that I know for Deering are planted, the largest in the Appleton Cemetery sometime late in the 19th Century and in memory of some now unknown soul.
Although I had never seen the Appleton trees to flower, I have seen tulip poplar seedlings in Deering. One in Appleton Cemetery, next to the road and one deep inside the Titcomb Conservation Easement on Clement Hill Road — not so far from Appleton Cemetery. I am assuming the Appleton trees provided the seed. Maybe one day, with a warming climate, there will be magnificent specimens of tulip poplar in our forest?
The Appleton trees are currently in full bloom. It is a bit difficult to see the flowers in the trees as you travel at the legal speed of 35 mph on Deering Center Rd, but if you know to look at the trees, the flowers are visible from the road.
Tulip poplar is related to Magnolia, and their flowers are similar. But while the flowers of Magnolia are, basically, white or pink, the flowers of tulip poplar are orange and green. The flowers bear a superficial resemblance to a tulip. The flowers are quite beautiful and well worth a visit.
DEERING'S NATURAL HISTORY 