18 May 2008
Nashville, Ohio

At my friends Den and KC’s lovely 15 acre homestead in Nashville or Troy or Pigeye in 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.

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.

The female flowers of hickory, while still inconspicous (wind-pollinated flowers lack colorful petals) are nonetheless larger than the tiny male ones. They have elaborate stigmas. The large surface area enhances their ability to receive pollen.

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.

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).

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 perceived 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.

May 17, 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 seemingly 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).

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.

Poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) are rather similar in many respects, although only one of them causes an allergic reaction in 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.)