Tag: Flora
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Chokecherry
Chokecherry (Prunus Virginiana – Wikipedia) is a species of bird cherry native to North America. Chokecherries’ is a shrub, native from mid-Ohio to mid-Canada. Chokecherry leaf is oval 1 to 4 inches long and 1/2 to 2 inches wide. The leaf is dark green above with a paler underside. Chokecherry flowers are small, white, 5-petaled blossoms…
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Yellowing Curtain Crust
Yellowing Curtain Crust (Stereum subtomentosum – Wikipedia) is a tough, leathery bracket fungus that grows on dead hardwood, identified by its velvety, zoned, often greenish-brown cap and a distinct yellow staining reaction on its smooth underside when bruised or cut. Found year-round, it commonly causes white rot on dead beech and oak wood.
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Crowded Parchment
Crowded Parchment (Stereum Complicatum – MushroomExpert) is a widespread, inedible saprobic fungus found on dead hardwood, particularly oak, in North America. It is characterized by small, orange-brown to cinnamon, velvety fan-shaped caps that grow in dense, overlapping, wavy clusters. These fungi cause white rot in wood and are known for being leathery when moist and brittle…
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Wild Cherry
Wild cherry (Prunus Avium – Wikipedia) is native to western Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere. The bark is smooth reddish-brown with prominent horizontal grey-brown horizontal lines on young trees, becoming thick dark blackish-brown and fissured on old trees. The leaves are alternate single egg shaped (simple ovoid-acute), 2-3/4 to 5-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 to 2-3/4 inch wide, slightly shiny green on top and finely…
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Hackberries
Hackberries (Genus Celtis – Wikipedia) is native from Tennessee to mid-lower peninsula Michigan and from Ohio to Kansas. Hackberry trees are very hearty, but prefer direct sun, so in Scarlett Mitchell Woods will grow slowly. Hackberry bark is described as forming characteristic corky ridges and warts on trunk and branches. The hackberry leaves are alternate, simple, with…
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Birds and Blooms Nature Walk – May 16
Birds and Blooms Nature Walk – Saturday May 16, 2026 @ 10:30 am. The migrating birds have been returning to their nesting grounds or moving north for some time already, but May is the peak of the warbler migration. We’ll pay attention to the many native plants that are blooming and the insects that pollinate them.…
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Burn, Bark and Buds Nature Walk – April 25
Burn, Bark and Buds Nature Walk – Saturday April 25, 2026 @ 10:30 am. We’ll tour the areas that were subject to a prescribed burn by PlantWise on March 29 and explain the reasoning behind it. On our walk, we’ll also take a look at identifying trees by their bark. We’ll keep our eyes open…
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Black Cherry
Black Cherry (Prunus serotina – Wikipedia) is native to eastern USA, from eastern Oklahoma and north of the middle of Florida. The Black Cherry tree is commonly referred to as the “potato chip tree”, because the bark of a mature tree is large broken patches with upturned edges. Black Cherry flowers have 5 small white…
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American Hophornbeam
American Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana – Wikipedia) (aka Ironwood) is native to eastern USA, from east of the Mississippi and north of northern Florida. Hophornbeam bark looks like cat scratches and is frequently called cat scratch bark tree. Hophornbeam flowers are called catkins and bloom in early spring. The flowers are either male or female. Trees in…
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Garlic Mustard (Invasive)
From Judy S. On the Work Day last Saturday, a few of us walked up the path from the main entrance toward Platt Road to check out the garlic mustard status. Phil asked how you could differentiate garlic mustard from other plants. I was a bit dismissive, having 20 years of pulling it under my…