A Day in the Life…Part 22

We have reached the last day of May and now the preserve is fully into the green and white period of the year. As soon as visitors walk down from the parking area, they will see this reflected in Lake Odonata. The surface of the pond is slowly closing as the water lilies leaves emerge and the large blossoms open.

Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

Near the nature center and along the tops of the sandstone ridges, the Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is now in full splendor.

Mock Orange Close up

Below is another introduced species that is much less desirable than the one above. Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) was first introduced to North American in the early to mid 1800’s for erosion control and as a root stock for ornamental roses. In the 1930’s it was promoted as “The Living Fence” as farmers were encouraged to plant it along the edges of their fields and pastures. But… Someone in the Department of Agriculture forgot to tell the birds to poop in straight lines along the field edges and it quickly became an unwanted invasive species!

Common Blackberry The young Sassafras tree below has a stem that looks a lot like Spotted Joe- Pye Weed, a tall summer flower. As the tree matures the green stem will give way to a orange-brown bark

Sassafras  (Sassafra albidum) Another “greenie” is the Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium). This Jack-in-the-pulpit relative has a concealed flower at the base of an enclosed structure called a spathe. The slender yellow structure is called a spadix and is a mechanism to encourage pollinator’s access to the hidden flowers.

Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa)

“Hey, what happened to the mouse?”