Pine Barren Flora

[bobpbx]

Thanks Bob.This means I have been mistaking fireweed for wild lettuce for years.Glad I never attempted to eat it.What you show as wild lettuce is not what I thought lettuce was.I have been calling that fireweed lettuce for years.I have just been educated.Thanks

Al, we all learn, all the time. By the way, on Gerry's trip, there is wild lettuce over 7 feet tall on the RR tracks just east of the bridge on the Manumuskin (north side). Russ was there, and was eating the lettuce.

PS: the leaves of Lactuca canadensis, the most prominent lettuce up here, are very variable.

 

[Spung-Man]

Thanks Bob,

Like Manumuskin I too would have casually dismissed the plant as wild lettuce, a local bias. The difference would have been obvious in the field as the id would have been done by leaf smell and whether or not latex was present when the leaf was broken, not through botanical taxonomy and systematics. Erechtites lacks latex, right? Wild lettuce was only gathered when immature and we paid no attention to the mature stage as it served no utilitarian purpose. Fireweed had no purpose that I can recall.

S-M

 

[bobpbx]

Thanks Bob,

Like Manumuskin I too would have casually dismissed the plant as wild lettuce, a local bias. The difference would have been obvious in the field as the id would have been done by leaf smell and whether or not latex was present when the leaf was broken, not through botanical taxonomy and systematics. Erechtites lacks latex, right? Wild lettuce was only gathered when immature and we paid no attention to the mature stage as it served no utilitarian purpose. Fireweed had no purpose that I can recall.

S-M

Mark, Erichtites is not known to be milky. My first ID method is usually the overall gestalt of the plant. If in doubt I go over the keys.

 

[manumuskin]

Fireweed does have one purpose that I know of.The dried stalks make good hand drill spindles for starting fire. I find a cottonwood spindle and a white cedar fireboard bow drill set easier.Hard to find wood dry enough to get a coal with a hand drill set in NJ because of the humidity.

 

[bobpbx]

The Chamberlin, right where it crosses rt. 539. Very sad.
Terry, yes, Schizachrium. It has an awn twisted at the base.

 

[bobpbx]

Last week I went upstream on the Webb's Mill branch, west of route 539. Unlike the Chamberlin Branch, the water was flowing very strong, leading me to believe that part of that stream gets water directly from the upper aquifer. Well, maybe. Anyway, it was very tough going, had to use log highways and crawling beneath laurel at times. I crawled about 50 feet at one point....I felt odd when I finally stood up, like a giant.

Later that week I went deep in the pine plains. That was the time to do it, all the serious water holes were dry but for one. Every time I get in the plains I realize how much I miss them. What a land that is. Seriously.

 

[bobpbx]

More from last week. I used that deet on my hip boots at Dover Forge. The tick larvae crawled right up them as if it wasn't there. Really.

 

[bobpbx]

And a couple more:

 

[manumuskin]

First Flamingo I have ever seen in the Barrens! Must have got blown in by a storm
Nice Hognose.Haven't seen one of them in maybe 25 years.Seems to be a major decline in them for some reason.

 

[Teegate]

Nice Hognose.Haven't seen one of them in maybe 25 years.Seems to be a major decline in them for some reason.

I only have come across one on the Parker Preserve.

 

[bobpbx]

I found another one in the plains today. He, like the other, was in the road, so you have to look there at this time of year. He was very flat and blended in well. This one played dead very well. You should have seen him twist and turn while he prepared himself.

I was on the Stafford Township line today. Very cool, very remote. The trees on some of the line are only 4 feet tall.

 

[Teegate]

Plays dead very well.

 

[Teegate]

Ladies tresses

 

[Teegate]

I was looking up the road for Buddy.

 

[bobpbx]

I was looking up the road for Buddy.

Stop, you'll make me cry.

 

[Gibby]

Great series Bob!

If you don't mind me bothering you for some of your time, could you explain how you do your pressings? I was once again reminded by a one of your fine friends that pressing a specimen is one of those things I should start doing so I can begin keying and understanding what I am seeing instead of referring to a photograph.

Thanks.

 

[bobpbx]

Great series Bob!

If you don't mind me bothering you for some of your time, could you explain how you do your pressings? I was once again reminded by a one of your fine friends that pressing a specimen is one of those things I should start doing so I can begin keying and understanding what I am seeing instead of referring to a photograph.

Thanks.

Gibby, you have a choice. I will try to explain here, on this thread, or you are welcome to come to my home some evening, and I'll teach you.

PS: yes, he is a fine friend, and a good companion on field trips. He has an unusual ability to find things others miss and is an expert in pine barren flora.

 

[manumuskin]

I found another one in the plains today. He, like the other, was in the road, so you have to look there at this time of year. He was very flat and blended in well. This one played dead very well. You should have seen him twist and turn while he prepared himself.

I was on the Stafford Township line today. Very cool, very remote. The trees on some of the line are only 4 feet tall.

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Unfortunately Hognoses often do their act too well. I have heard many a story by ignorant people of how they dispatched a spitting cobra or the fearsome death adder when I could tell by the description it was a Hognose. Their act might scare a bird or maybe a coyote but it appears fear just makes people more dangerous or maybe it just gives them a good excuse to kill something.

 

[Gibby]

Gibby, you have a choice. I will try to explain here, on this thread, or you are welcome to come to my home some evening, and I'll teach you.

PS: yes, he is a fine friend, and a good companion on field trips. He has an unusual ability to find things others miss and is an expert in pine barren flora.

Bob, can I take you up on your offer later when I have extra time when work is slower?

 

[bobpbx]

Bob, can I take you up on your offer later when I have extra time when work is slower?

Certainly. Just send me a PM when ready and we can set it up.