Arbor vitae in autumn

Arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis) at Ross Hills County Park, Tippecanoe County.  Arbor vitae has a distinctive look in autumn due to the senescence of the older foliage.  It is not a native tree but is often planted in this area.

Photos taken Oct. 9, 2015.

Link to Thuja occidentalis:

Link to senescence:

Pokeweed growing in a stump

A beautiful specimen of pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) growing in a dead tree stump.  At Ross Hills County Park.  Photos taken Oct. 8, 2015.

A closer look at the pokeberries.

Link to previous post on pokeweed:

Chestnut

Fruit in chestnut trees along McCormick Road, just north of State St.  These are probably Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollisima).

Photo taken Sept. 8, 2015.

Link to Castanea:

Link to Castanea:

Maidenhair spleenwort

Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) on sandstone at Shades State Park, Montgomery County.  This is at a ravine along Trail 1, Devil's Punch Bowl.

Photo taken Sept. 19, 2015.

Link to Asplenium trichomanes:

Link to Asplenium trichomanes:

Walking fern

Walking fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum).  Each photo was of a different location but both were on Trail 1 at Shades State Park, known as Devil's Punch Bowl, Montgomery County.  This is a deep sandstone ravine that stays damp perpetually.

Photos taken Sept. 19, 2015.

Link to Asplenium rhizophyllum:

Link to Asplenium rhizophyllum:

Link to Shades State Park:

Ginseng

Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), at Stewart's Woods, Tippecanoe County, showing the red berries.   Ginseng is an uncommon plant of the deep woods.

Photo taken Sept. 7, 2015.

Link to Panax quinquefolius:

Link to Panax quinquefolius:

Pycnoporus cinnabarinus shelf mushroom

Pycnoporus cinnabarinus at Great Marsh, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter County.

Photo taken Sept. 4, 2015.

Link to Pycnoporus cinnabarinus:

Link to Pycnoporus cinnabarinus:

Link to Great Marsh at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore:

Wild sensitive plant

Wild sensitive plant (Chamaecrista nictitans) at Conrad Station Savanna, Newton County.  Photo taken August 19, 2015.

Link to Chamaecrista nictitans:

Link to Chamaecrista nictitans:

Old-field Balsam

Old-field balsam (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) at Conrad Station Savanna, Newton County.  Photo taken August 19, 2015.

Link to Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium:

Link to Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium:

Berries of False Solomon's Seal

False Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum) showing unripe berries at the end of the stalk.  At Fisher Oak Savanna, Jasper County.  Photo taken August 12, 2015.

Link to Fisher Oak Savanna:

False Solomon's seal berries at another location, Conrad Station Savanna, Newton County.  Photo taken August 19, 2015.

The berries will ripen to a red color later in the season.

Link to Conrad Station Savanna:

Link to previous post on Maianthemum racemosum:

Link to berries of Maianthemum racemosum:

Bottle Gentian

Bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) at Spinn Prairie, White County.  Photo taken Sept. 5, 2015.

Link to Spinn Prairie:

Bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) at Shades State Park, Montgomery County, near trail 10 leading to Pine Hills Preserve.  Photo taken Sept. 19, 2015.

Link to map of Shades State Park:

Link to Gentiana andrewsii:

Link to Gentiana andrewsii:

I'm identifying these as Gentiana andrewsii, although another possibility could be Gentiana saponaria.

Link to key for determining Gentania to species:

Flat-topped White Aster

Flat-topped aster (Doellingeria umbellata), shown here in a couple Indiana locations.  The first photo, above, is along the trail at Fisher Oak Savanna, Newton County, August 12, 2015.  The second photo, below, is along the trail at Great Marsh, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Porter County.

Link to Doellingeria umbellata:

Link to Doellingeria umbellata:

Link to Great Marsh at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore:

Most North American asters have been reclassified under the genus Symphyotrichum, this species of aster has been put into the genus Doellingeria.

Link to Flora of North America treatment of the genus Doellingeria:

Dewberry

Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris) lies low along the ground at the Fisher Oak Savanna NICHES property in Newton County.  Photo taken August 12, 2015.

Link to Rubus flagellaris:

Link to Rubus flagellaris:

Apios americana

A large growth of ground nut (Apios americana) at the beginning of the Wet Prairie Trail (Unit K) at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County.

Photo taken August 28, 2015.

Link to Apios americana:

Link to Apios americana:

Link to Wet Prairie Trail at Kankakee Sands:

One of the St. John's Wort species

Hypericum sp. at Fisher Oak Savanna, Newton County, possibly dwarf St. John's wort (Hypericum mutilum).

Photo taken August 12, 2015.


Link to Hypericum mutilum:

Link to Hypericum mutilum:

Prairie Cordgrass

Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) on low-lying ground at Fisher Oak Savanna, Newton County.  This is in the same area as the woolgrass of the previous post.  This ground was dry at the time of the photo (August 12, 2015) but would have been underwater through the very wet June of this year.

Link to Spartina pectinata:

Link to Spartina pectinata:

Link to Fisher Oak Savanna Nature Preserve:

Woolgrass

Woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus) at Fisher Oak Savanna Nature Preserve in Jasper County.

Photos taken August 12, 2015.

Link to Scirpus cyperinus:

Link to Scirpus cyperinus:

Link to Scirpus cyperinus:

Link to Fisher Oak Savanna Nature Preserve (pdf):

Obedient plant

Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana) in the prairie restoration section of the Fisher Oak Savanna in Jasper County.  Photo taken August 12, 2015.

Link to Physostegia virginiana:

Link to previous post on obedient plant:

Link to Fisher Oak Savanna:

Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana) at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County.  This is along the Wet Prairie Trail in Unit K, near the Efroymson Memorial Rock.  Photo taken August 28, 2015.

Link to Wet Prairie Trail at Kankakee Sands (pdf):

Link to Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve:

Actaea pachypoda

Actaea pachypoda, sometimes called doll's eyes, in Moyer-Gould Woods in Carroll County.  Notice several more plants in the background.

Photo August 8, 2015.

Link to previous post on Actaea pachypoda:

Link to Moyer-Gould Woods:

Indian pipe

Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), at Moyer-Gould Woods, Carroll County.

Photo August 8, 2015.

Link to previous post on Indian pipe:

Link to Moyer-Gould Woods:

Liatris aspera

Liatris aspera at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve.

Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to Liatris aspera:

Beach wormwood and New Jersey tea

This photo shows beach wormwood (Artemisia campestris subsp. caudata), the tall light-green plant on the right side of the photo.  The lower-growing white flowered plant is New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americana).  In sandy soil at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve, July 29, 2015.

Link to Artemisia campestris subsp. caudata:

Link to previous post on Ceanothus americana:

Black-eyed Susan and prickly pear cactus

In sandy soil at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve, Newton County, black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa).  Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to Rudbeckia hirta:

Link to Rudbeckia hirta:

Link to previous post on prickly pear cactus at Kankakee Sands:

Monarda punctata

Monarda punctata, at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve.  Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to Monarda punctata:

Link to Monarda punctata:

Cleland's evening primrose

Cleland's evening primrose (Oenothera clelandii).  At Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve, Newton County.  In sandy soil.

Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to Oenothera clelandii:

Link to Oenothera clelandii:

Wild quinine

Wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County.  Sandy soil.  Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to Parthenium integrifolium:

Link to Parthenium integrifolium:

Viceroy butterflies

Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) at Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County.

Photo taken July 29, 2015.

Link to viceroy butterflies:

Link to the lookalike monarch butterfly at Kankakee Sands:

Link to Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve:

False foxglove

False foxglove (Aureolaria flava), along the bicycle/pedestrian trail that parallels McCormick Road. Aureolaria is hemiparasitic on the roots of oak trees.

Link to Aureolaria:

Link to Aureolaria flava:

Immediately to the east the Purdue golf course management has been foolishly cutting down old oak trees to disturb the forest ecosystem.  Will it have an effect on the Aureolaria population here?

Photos taken July 25, 2015.

Whorled milkweed

This roadside between Cherry Lane and the bicycle/pedestrian trail has several patches of whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata).  Asclepias verticillata is a true prairie plant which is a nice sight on our roadsides as most roadside flora are weedy-character plants of disturbed habitat.  A sign of the prairie restoring itself.

The wooded area in the background is McCormick Woods.

Link to Asclepias verticillata:

Link to Asclepias verticillata:

Asclepias verticillata together with some of the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). This is also along Cherry Lane near the site of the first photo.

Link to previous post on Asclepias syriaca:

Asclepias verticillata is also common along I-65 near Lafayette and at Sagamore Parkway at the Soldiers Home Road exit ramp.

Photos taken July 25, 2015.

Wild turkey

This wild turkey (Melleagris gallopavo) found itself too close to me for its own comfort.  It was walking along the main drive through Prophetstown State Park and tried to run away but this fence kept it close to the road.

Photo taken July 22, 2015.

Link to wild turkey (Melleagris gallopavo):

Link to another wild turkey running amok:

Bluegill

This small bluegill was found floating in the water dead, at the north end of the wetland that is part of Celery Bog Park.  People are doing some fishing here and this was probably caught and released but didn't survive.  It would be interesting to survey whatever fish populations there are here.  I'd guess it fluctuates widely as the herons and other predators eat them all when the wetland recedes in a dry season.  Then some people coming back from fishing elsewhere dump their catch and bait minnows, and others dump their aquariums here.

Photo July 25, 2015.

Link to bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus):

Link to bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus):

Link to previous post showing where this is located:

Scarlet pimpernel

Scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis).  This little plant was stretching over the curb on the new Cumberland Avenue between Highway 231 and Klondike Road.  Photos taken July 22, 2015.

Link to Anagallis arvensis:

Link to Anagallis arvensis:

Link to Anagallis arvensis:

Link to Primulaceae:

a small, insignificant flower -- The Scarlet Pimpernel

Flat-backed millipede

Flat-backed millipede, in the prairie restoration area at Prophetstown State Park.  It was crawling around in the open on a hot sunny day.  It had a distinct scent that didn't seem unpleasant.  Photo July 22, 2015.

A couple flat-backed millipedes, at Ross Hills County Park.  These were crawling on a piece of trash left on the pathway that leads to the Wabash River.  Photo July 27, 2015.

I don't know enough about millipedes to identify the species but seems to be in the family Xystodesmidae.

Link to Xystodesmidae:

Link to photos of Xystodesmid millipedes 

Glade mallow

Glade mallow (Napaea dioica).  Along Swisher Road between the I-65 overpass and the entrance to Prophetstown State Park.   This distinctive native plant was considered by Charles Deam to be one of the rarest of Indiana plants.  I have seen glade mallow along the Wabash River at Lyboult Park and at Davis Ferry Park.  This is the first time I've noticed glade mallow at this location although I have never seen it here before this season.

Photos taken July 22, 2015.

Link to previous post on Napaea dioica:

Luna moth

Luna moth (Actias luna).  West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County.

Photo taken July 17, 2015.

Link to Luna moth:

Link to Luna moth:

Rattlesnake-master and prairie blazing-star

Prairie blazing-star (Liatris pycnostachia) and rattlesnake-master (Eryngium yuccifolium) at the prairie restoration area at Weiler-Leopold Nature Reserve.   These species are native to Indiana prairies.

Most plants with long thin leaves with parallel leaf veins are monocots, like grasses, and lilies.  One might think from looking at the leaves of rattlesnake-master that it would also be a monocot, but Eryngium is really in the carrot plant-family (Apiaceae) and so is a dicot.

Photos taken July 16, 2015.

Link to Weiler-Leopold Nature Reserve:

Link to Liatris pycnostachia:

Link to Liatris pycnostachia:

Link to Liatris pycnostachia:

Link to Eryngium yuccifolium:

Link to Eryngium yuccifolium:

Link to Eryngium yuccifolium:

Link to Apiaceae: