NATURE / OUTDOORS
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8/2/07
What's In Flower Today Howard
County, MD Mark Burchick
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:
Water Plantain (
Alisma plantago-aquatica
)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
8/2/07
