What's In Flower Today?
Dave and I performed a wetland floristic survey in Howard County today,
and
here's some of the plants that were in flower:
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Water Plantain ( Alisma plantago-aquatica ) |
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We pushed lots of bull frogs
( Rana catesbeiana ) into the pond. They don't want to venture far
because bass will eat them. The common bull frog is the one that has the
good-eating frog legs, and can jump 3 to 6-feet. Did you know that they
live on average up to 5-years, and this particular frog was quite photogenic,
just sitting for the photo-op. |
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Seedbox
( Ludwigia alternifolia )
is called as such because the flower turns into a brown seed-box, like a
maraca, and when you shake it you can hear all of the tiny seeds inside. |
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Peppermint ( Mentha piperita ) is a non-native wetland plant
(FACW+). When you crush the leaves as you walk thru them, you can
smell the wonderful, menthol oils
of the peppermint, which can smell nicer than Dave on a long, hot day. |
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Naked-leaved Tick Trefoil ( Desmodium nudiflorum ) has no
leaves on the stems, hence the name. The flowers turn into the
little velcro triangles that stick to your jeans. |
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Mountain Mint ( Pycnanthemum sp.). We have four or five
species in Maryland and I'm not quite sure which one this is. I
think it's the short-toothed P. muticum. All mountain
mints have upper modified leaves called bracts, surrounding the flower
heads that are pale or silver in color. The Christmas poinsettia
and dogwood flowers are also modified bracts. |
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Boneset ( Eupatorium perfoliatum ) |
Submitted by Mark Burchick |
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