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Welcome to bobklips.com, the website of Bob Klips, a plant enthusiast living in Columbus, Ohio. 18 May 2008
Nashville, Ohio At my friends Den and KC's lovely 15 acre homestead
in Troy, Miami County OH there is a low-lying woodlot at the edge
of which is a possible shellbark hickory (I find hickories a challenge to identify), Carya laciniosa, in full flower.
 Shellbark hickory flowering, Nashville, Miami County, OH May 18, 2008.
Like many trees, hickories are monoecious, producing unisexual flowers
separately from one another on the same tree. Hickory is
wind-pollinated, and produces its inconspicuous male flowers abundantly in
drooping catkins.
 Shellbark hickory male and female flowers, May 18, 2008, Nashville, OH. The female flowers of hickory, while still
inconspicous (wind-pollinated flowers lack colorful petals)
are nonetheless larger than the tiny male ones. They have eleaborate
stigmas; the large surface area enhances their ability to receive
pollen.
 Shellbark hickory, pistillate (female) flowers, May 18, 2008. Farther into the woods is a copse of pawpaw (Asimina triloba).
These trees are of tropical affinity, the northernmost representatives of
their family (Annonaceae, the custard-apple family). They grow in clones
of several to many small trees connected underground.
Garter snake in the grass, May 18, 2008, Miami County, OH. Pawpaw flower and young leaves, May 18, 2008, Miami County, OH. The flowers are bisexual (hermaphroditic),
containing both stamens and carpels. They are self-incompatable, an
adaptation that enhances genetic diversity among the offspring (or avoids inbreeding depression, essentially the same effect).
  Flowers of pawpaw. Left: flower with foreground petals and sepals removed to show globe-like cluster of stamens and protruding carpels. Right: immediately after flowering, very young fruits remain on the pedicels. This garter snake (Thamnophis sp., either the eastern garter snake, T. radix, or a Butler's garter snake, T. butleri...can it be identified from the pictures?) avoided percieved predatory capture by probing primates by hiding in the grass and musking enthusiastically. It
also made scary efforts to strike. Garter snakes are common in the pet
trade. They make excellent pets, and are mostly bred, not captured. By
his size, we judged it to be a neonate. There is a pond nearby that has
tadpoles, a good possible food source.
  17 May 2008 Yellow Springs, Ohio Today we went to Yellow Spings Ohio to buy
books, CD's and LP's at the WYSO "garage sale." It was located on the
campus of the sadly sinking Antioch College. On an unkempt lawn (the
best kind) next door to the studio there is a thriving population of
star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum, family Liliaceae).
 Star-of-Bethelehem as a lawn weed, May 17, 2008, Yellow Springs, Greene County, OH. The speedwells (genus Veronica,
family Scrophulariaceae) differ from most other snapdragon family
members by having a corolla (petals, considered collectively) that is
nearly symmetrical, and bearing only two stamens. They are generally
inconspicuous herbs, the most inconspicuous of which is the
tiny-flowered "field speedwell," V. arvensis.
 Field speedwell growing in crack in masonry wall, Yellow Springs, OH, May 17, 2008.  Field speedwell in flower and fruit (notice the heart-shaped capsules on the right-hand stem), Yellow Springs, OH, May 17, 2008. Posion-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
rather similar in many respects, although only one of them causes
an allergic reaction in so many people. Both are extremely common woody
vines with alternately arranged compound leaves, and both can be
found on the ground or climbing trees. It's fun to see them
side-by-side, as in the picture below. (The Virginia creeper, which has
5 leaflets, is situated below the poison-ivy, which has 3 leaflets.)
 Poison-ivy and Virginia creeper, Yellow Springs, OH, May 17, 2008. Earlier observations ("next")   More recent observations ("next")
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