PA Plantings

Dr. Susan Munch lead a moss walk for the Muhlenberg Botanic Club and friends at  Six Penny Trail French Creek State Park on Oct. 4, 2014. List of Bryophytes observed: Liverworts Bazzania trilobata and most likely a Chiloscyphus sp. (with tiny 2 or 3 toothed leaves).   Jubula pennsylvanica (with tiny round leaves),  Pellia epiphylla Mosses  Sphagnum sp.  Atrichum undulatum (and most likely angustatum also) Aulocomium palustre Dicranum scoparium Dicranum sp. Entodon cladorrhizans Fissidens sp.  Fontinalis sp. Hedwigia ciliate Hypnum imponens Leucobryum sp. Mnium cuspidatum,  M. affine  M. punctatum Polytrichum commune  P. ohioense, Thuidium delicatulum About French Creek State Park:  Once an industrial complex for the fledgling United State of America, today French Creek State Park is an oasis for people and wildlife. Straddling the Schuylkill Highlands, the 7,730-acre park is the larges...

Over at the Blog " Through Handlens and Binoculars "  Scott Namestnik has a good post about how to separate the native form of Common Reed Phragmites australis ssp americanus from the invasive European P. a. ssp australis. There is also a link to an excellent  power point presentation of   " A Phragmites Field Guide :  Distinguishing Native and Exotic Forms   of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) in the United States".   by Jil Swearingen and Kristin Saltonstall. _____ updated Sept. 28th to fix the links.

A new online/interactive Key to the Cyperaceae of North America is now available and announced today on Taxacom by Timothy M. Jones a Ph.D. Student at LSU . I will have to start learning these better and not wait until retirement. I do like the interactive glossary for the Cyperaceae! Timothy Jones announced: "Interactive identification keys to Xyris, Cyperus, Kyllinga, Rhynchospora, Scleria, and Carex are now available on the Louisiana State University Herbarium website. The keys are free to use and written in Lucid 3. 4. Additionally, a demonstration of a new interactive glossary to the Cyperaceae written with Cooliris is available, as well as a demo interactive/zoom-able phylogenetic trees and data on the Cyperaceae. This is presented using Deepzoom(of project Seadragon). All are at http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/keys/" This is a beautiful Carex species I took pictures of last June in a sphagnum bog in Quebec. I should try keying it out (or just send the pic...

I just learned about The Native Plant Network including the Native Plant Journal The Journal has some good articles. Iin my quick scan of the issue with the Trillium grandiflorum on the cover I found the articles on Trillium propagation were by two people I know, Bill Cullina and Stephanie Solt. The Articles are available electronically(for 2006 and earlier only) so I expect to finad a lot of good reading! and the Native plant propagation Database The protocols are based on large scale harvesting and cleaning but I expect to find a lot of useable information here as well.

Mosses and Liverworts report from the Muhlenberg Botanic Club walk at Steinman Run and Trout Run Preserves of the Lancaster County Conservancy on June 7th, 2008 right :Steinman Run Six Muhlenberg Botanical Club members came and we saw 15 species of outstanding mosses and five outstanding liverworts. It was a very satisfying outing for those who came out on a hot day and enjoyed the slow walk down into the cooler valley. The rain a day or two before had the bryophytes in fine condition. Here are a few pictures of mosses and liverworts that I took that day. More pictures and descriptions are on the plant list page for the bryophyte walk . above: Dicranium sp.

Today on the Taxacom Email-List I learned about an online Database of Field Guides by Diane Schmitt of the University Library of the University of Illinois. This database has 5410 listings of field guides to all kinds of natural things from Orchids, Wildflowers and other plants to reptiles to astronomical objects and even Aboriginal Rock Engravings and French Cheeses . She is always adding more to this project she has been working on for many years. The focus is on books you can carry in the field rather easily. (It does not include "Floras" and other comprehensive works which only people as obsessive as me carry in the field :-) There are many books in languages besides English too. I found the best way to get information out of it is by using the search feature. To find things again you can save the titles you find interesting in your own "Book bag" for your future referenc or to hand out a wish list to friend and family for the next gift giving occasion. The...

Our Friend Carol Lim has published a great web site about the North Amercan Species of Clematis in Section Viornae . Often called "Leather Flowers" or "Americal Bells" many species are of very restricted range so few people see these beautiful flowers in the wild although hybrids using the red genes from C.texensis are common in cultivation. We have several plants of, what I am pretty sure is, C. addisonii in our garden. I took these pictures in our graden the last week of May and the first week of June 2007. I think everyone should try to grow these plants when seed is available or nurseries sell plants . Carol has links to some nurseries on her web site. __________________________________ Update: Link to Larger version of my Pictures of Clematis addisonii.

Reading, PA from Neversink Mountain For several years when Jan an I went looking for native plants we either went to places we are familiar with in our area like Nolde Forest Env. Ed. Center , Shenk's Ferry and Pennsylvania State Game Lands #52 on the Berks/Lancaster County line south of Maple Grove or we went to the NJ Pine barrens. In recent years we have been going on field trips with the Muhlenberg Botanic Society to learn more about native plants in our area and we have had a great time. iin the last fw months we have learned that he Mengel Natural History Society of Berks County where we live has field trips to some very interesting locations which we have wanted to see for a long time but didn't know exactly where to go for the "good" plants or where the public access is to the areas. After meeting Karl Gardener last year when he volunteered to help collect and wildflower seed at the Union Twp. meadow, I arranged a trip with Karl to the Berks County Conserva...

Last year I began to work with Linda Ingram of the Union Township Recreation Board on the possibility of putting in native plants for wildlife on some of the property which the township owns near Birdsboro. (in the former desilting basin new where the new township building will be located ) So with the help of my wife Jan and a number of volunteers I began a program of native meadow/prairie plant seed collection (with permission) from a a number of public and private meadow areas. We were especially interested in seed sources of plants native to the mid-Atlantic area from nearby areas. With an area which has been growing corn and soybeans for many years, we planned to start with an approx. 1/4 acre site we would be a demonstration area and seed increase plot. We planted the seed in one morning in late march, with the help of volunteers from the Union Township Rec. Board, Master Gardeners and a few other interested people. We mixed the relatively well purified seed of many different ...