It’s summer – geranium time! The Geraniaceae Family name comes from the word “geranos” which means “a crane” in Greek. The long-beaked seed capsules of these plants stick up in the air when dry and resemble a crane’s bill. Some members of the family actually have Cranesbill as a common name.
Two native geraniums I have discovered growing locally are Wood geraniums and Herb-robert. These are not the big brightly-colored hanging basket varieties from the garden store, but live tucked in shadier spots in the woods with flowers of pale pink and lavender.
Wood Geranium or Geranium maculatum, has basal leaves with five to seven lobes. The flowers are on a stem by themselves that comes straight up from the rhizome or root of the plant and have just a single pair of smaller leaves under their small cluster of five-petaled pink blossoms. Wood Geraniums are common in woods and field edges and can reach two feet in height. Their leaves were used by Native Americans as external astringent and to stop bleeding.
Wood Geranium
Herb-robert or Geranium robertianum is smaller and, well, seems more delicate to me with its deeply-dissected leaflets growing outward from hand-shaped leaves that turn red at the end of flowering. These plants have reddish hairy stems that branch and spread out in a lovely fashion. One of the common names for Herb-robert is “stinking bob” which should give you a clue to the strong pungent scent given off by the leaves and branches when they are touched. So much for delicate! The five-petaled pink to purple flowers grow on the branches, nestled among all of the leaves and really are small and delicate. Medicinally, Herb-robert was used for skin irritations and bruises. Could this plant have been around when the continents were pulled apart? It is listed as native to Europe, parts of Asia, North Africa and North America!
As above, so below. Looking downward, I saw the stars! Five to nine smooth, lance-shaped leaves were whorled around a thin stem, some in double tiers, looking like stars scattered about on the shady forest floor. The Indian Cucumber Root (Medeola virginiana) I found along the Double Run Nature Trail at Worlds End was blooming…a delightful experience to behold!
Indian Cucumber Root
Greenish-yellow flowers, one or two, hang on drooping stems beneath circles of leaves, their petals curved back showing their long, brown styles that carry pollen to the ovaries where purple to black berries will eventually form. Parallel leaf veins speak to their ties with the Lily Family, Lilaceae. The cucumber part of the common name comes from the two to three inch long tuberous white root that smells and tastes like cucumbers. Native Americans gathered them as food, a labor not recommended today because of the scarcity of this native plant.
Blossom on two tiers of leaves of Indian Cucumber Root
There were other “stars” in the Double Run
woods that day, June 12, 2021. DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, Deputy
Secretary for Parks and Forestry John Norbeck, Worlds End Park employees and
Friends of the Park were there along with others who gathered to witness the
dedication and induction of the park’s 780 acres into the Old-Growth Forest
Network. Dr. Joan Maloof, founder and
director of the network presented a commemorative sign and spoke about the
importance of protecting older forests, at least one in every county of every
state in the US, building not only a network of forests, but also an alliance of
people who care about forests. Eighteen PA counties have old-growth forests
placed in the network so far. Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania State
Constitution states that people have a right to clean air, pure water, and the
preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the
environment. DCNR as a caretaker of these resources for citizens now and
generations to come, sees the conservation and maintenance of them as their
mission. BRAVO!
Dr. Joan Maloof and Worlds End State Park Manager, Bill Kocher.
Students in the Life Skills Classes at Jersey Shore Elementary recently raised $400 to donate to the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy. The students sold coffee, tea, and other drinks plus homemade snacks they prepared to the staff of the elementary school to raise the funds. Cindy Ferguson, MS CCC-SP, of Jersey Shore Area School District, stated, “The classes under the guidance of their teachers, Ms. Liddic and Mrs. Woleslagle, and support staff are very conservation focused and sponsor Earth Day projects within the school and community. We are so very proud of their dedication and generosity.”
The students’ donation to the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy will support the non-profits ongoing efforts to conserve and enhance the lands and waters of Northcentral Pennsylvania for the environmental well-being and recreational needs of our local communities.
Photo courtesy of Cindy Ferguson, Jersey Shore Area School District.
Squawroot is a strange and wonderful plant that I knew only from photos in plant books. In late fall of 2020, my plant buddy Debbie and I came upon what looked like its sad remains. Wild and crazy, I jumped up and down, wahooing! Then, the waiting began. Finally, after three visits this spring, I found it had finally shouldered its way up through the pile of oak leaves that had blanketed it over winter. And, here it is!
Spring flowering Squawroot
A member of the Orobanchaceae or Broom-rape Family, known for being parasitic herbs without chlorophyll. Squawroot, Conopholis americana, is a native ranging from eastern Canada to Florida. Its genus name comes from the scales it has instead of leaves (pholis) and when dried it resembles evergreen tree cones (conos). Most of this plant’s biomass is underground where it develops for four years before emerging to bloom. It develops swollen knobs as its root system attaches to an oak root and slowly receives from the sap enough nourishment and energy to reproduce. Its flowers are cream-colored in dense fleshy unbranched spikes.
Sad remains of Squawroot
It is a perennial plant that will live up to ten years in forests where its presence and relative abundance may indicate the forest’s age and stability. Native American usage of it was for menopause symptoms and reproductive problems. Amazingly, Squawroot has estrogen-like properties that doctors today would use for just such conditions. Its flowers are pollinated by flies and bumblebees and become food for deer and bears. Where conditions are right…shady, oak-forested sites, large colonies often flourish.
With the official start of summer just around the corner, heat waves already upon us, and the end of the school year, many Pennsylvanians turn to their local waterways to cool off and have fun throughout the season. That’s why the month of June is also such a fitting time to celebrate Rivers Month in the commonwealth. Rivers Month is an opportunity to celebrate our river resources, consider the importance those resources have on our everyday lives, and acknowledge what we can do to help conserve those resources for generations to come.
Creating and Enhancing Access to our Waterways
Pennsylvania is home to 86,000 miles of rivers, streams, and creeks (second in the United States only to Alaska!), so there is certainly a lot to celebrate! From boating and paddling to swimming, fishing, and tubing – whatever your preferred way to enjoy the water is – chances are there’s a prime spot to do it right here in our Northcentral haven of the state! For over 3 decades, NPC members have been helping to make easier access for these recreational opportunities. Here are just a few!
Baker Run
The conservation of the Baker Run property allowed for the creation of a new public access canoe/kayak launch site to the West Branch Susquehanna River. Baker Run is a tributary to the Susquehanna River, between Lock Haven and Renovo. The section of the West Branch Susquehanna from the PA Fish and Boat Commission access at Hyner, downstream to the access in Woodward Township’s Park (on the North Side of the Jay Street Bridge at Lock Haven) is about twenty-one river-miles long – a pretty lengthy paddle for most! The conservation of this land and installation of the launch between the two points helped eliminate the “recreation barrier”, creating opportunity for more people to enjoy the river.
Baker Run Canoe Launch
Byers Island & Harrigan Island
NPC helped conserve the Byers Island archipelago back in 2006. The islands are now part of Weiser State Forest. Paddlers can overnight on the islands at three primitive campsites maintained by the Susquehanna River Trail Association. Find the Camp Sites Map (sites 120b, 120a, 121 for Byers Island).
Harrigan Island is in the Susquehanna River near Athens. The original owners of the island encouraged canoe travelers to camp on the island. To help ensure that others could enjoy this same simple pleasure for years to come, they worked with the NPC to permanently conserve the land. Today, Harrigan Island is part of the Loyalsock State Forest.
Byers Island
Harrigan Island
Phelps’ Mills Canoe Access
For years, people had used this property on the Avis side of the Route 150 bridge over Pine Creek to paddle, fish, swim, and cool off all summer long. So, when the property, previously under private ownership, came up for sale in 2019, NPC stepped in to help in ensure that this favored, local watering hole remained available for the public to enjoy for generations to come!
Most recently, the site was officially named the Phelps’ Mills Canoe Access (formerly referred to as the Avis Canoe Launch), as a nod to the large grist and saw mills that used to occupy the area, manufacturing boards, shingles, laths, palings, among other materials, that helped develop the northcentral PA region.
Pine Creek flows into the West Branch Susquehanna River. Consider enjoying this section of the river this summer by paddling from the Phelps’ Mills Canoe Access to the Jersey Shore River Access!
The newly installed parking area and access improvements at the Phelps’ Mills Canoe Access.
Conserving the Health of our Rivers
Beyond recreation, healthy rivers provide habitat, drinking water, replenish groundwater, help moderate floods and droughts, support forest health, and more!
As part of the Northcentral Stream Partnership, NPC is helping to conserve and strengthen the health of our rivers by stabilizing eroding streambanks and improving aquatic habitat on agriculturally impaired streams across the region. The Partnership’s sustained efforts to bring the waterways of Northcentral PA back to health while maintaining a working agricultural landscape is currently being used as a model to help improve water quality throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay.
On site at a few of the streambank stabilization projects completed this year!
Once I found and identified Wild Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis, it seemed to be everywhere, dancing back through the understory as far as I could see! So common, in fact, that in some environments, it may serve as an indicator species for its native Northern Hardwood Forests of Oak and Hickory, Beech and Maple.
Wild Sarsaparilla is lightly-shaded open woods.
In early spring, this plant shoots straight up from its woody, underground rhizome a smooth stalk or peduncle, with a curled bronze leaf that unfurls, greener and pinnately compound, having three smaller stems each with from three to seven tiny-toothed leaflets. Next, up comes another smooth stalk carrying just the flowers, usually three globe-shaped constellations of twenty to forty greenish-white five-petaled flowers that mostly stay hidden beneath the leaf.
Wild Sarsaparilla spring leaves with flowers heads
The fleshy fruits that appear after pollination ripen to a rich deep purple, almost black during the fall. Birds like grouse and thrushes eat the berries, as well as foxes and chipmunks. Deer browse the leaves. Native Americans used the plant for food, tea and medicine, poulticing its leaves for treatment of wounds and sores.
Wild Sarsaparilla is a member of the Ginseng Family, not to be confused with another plant of the same common name, but a woody, prickly vine whose scientific name is Smilax ornata, a member of the Smilax or Catbrier Family. Both plants have been used as flavorings in soft drinks.
Look for very small teeth on the leaves to help identify Wild Sarsaparilla
This herbaceous native has had a whole lot of names, common and scientific! So far, it has been identified as a member of three different families. As luck would have it, DNA evidence landed it back in one of them – LILIACEAE – the Lily Family!
Red trillium
Trilliums just don’t have the expected lily-like parallel veins on their leaves, but rather netted ones, that crisscross and meet up again across their surface. Each common name of Red Trillium helps describe some aspect of the plant. “Wake-robin” harkens its standout red bloom to the early arriving robin. “Stinking Benjamin” tells of the malodorous scent of its single flower used to attract carrion flies and beetles to pollinate it. “Birthwort” reminds us that its root was once used in tea made for new mothers. The “tri” in trillium is for three – three triangular-shaped leaves, three red to purple petals, three greenish-red sepals that protected the bud before it opened and remain under the petals.
This species of trillium has an erect stem, “erectum”, up to four inches long, holding the flower head above the leaves. It does have the habit of curling back down under the leaves, so you sometimes have to look under to find the flower. I discovered this flower near a woods road in the state forest where Laurel and Rhododendrons grow in rich wet to dry acid soil.
The liver-red three petal flower of Red Trillium
An ephemeral plant, Trillium can grow to twenty-four inches in height even with its short life cycle: blooming from April to June, setting seed, then dying back to its rhizomes underground for the rest of the year. This is how Trillium takes advantage of the high levels of early spring sunlight before the trees above leaf-out and block it. Smart!
While walking or riding along hillsides, cliffs, or ledges, set your mind to scan for red. Our native Wild Columbine is blooming now! It is a thick-tubered perennial plant whose roots snuggle down in shale crevices holding it tight to slippery slopes. A basal rosette of leaves developed last summer has stayed green during the winter and thus provided the energy for early blooming.
Columbine’s scientific name of Aquilegia canadensis is based on Latin for “eagle” because of the talon-like shapes of the red spurs holding nectar and enticing long-tongued insects and hummingbirds to visit and pollinate its blossoms. Each petal with its long, narrow spur at the back has also been likened to pigeons, their heads together and drinking from a bowl…that’s where the common name Columbine comes from.
The long, nectar bearing spurs of wild columbine entice long-tongued insects and hummingbirds to pollinate its blossoms.
After being pollinated, the bell-shaped, drooping flower tilts upward and forms a brown, oval pod that will slowly release seeds into the wind. Its leaves alternate and are made up of three lobed or cleft leaflets. They seem to have a bluish tinge, perhaps created by light shining off the lightly fuzzy leaves. Once you have found the plant, check the bright spurs for holes, chewed there by insects, maybe bumblebees, seeking a short cut to the nectar.
What a bouquet of Violets I discovered on my Mothers’ Day rambles! They weren’t my common backyard and garden blues. They were white and yellow and purple! Members of the Violet Family, VIOLACEAE, there are more than seventy-seven species throughout North America. My PA plant resource lists forty living in this state.
Downy Yellow Violet
Violets are grouped together based on whether they have their flowers and leaves on the same stalk (stemmed species) or on different stalks with leaves and flowers growing singly from their underground rhizomes (stemless species). All blooms have five petals, but size, shape, color, nectar guides, length of beards on side petals that bees have to squeeze through…all separate them further into species. And the leaves…shapes from heart to birdfoot to lance and halbert, with varying degrees of smooth and hairy.
Sweet White Violet
Seed capsules and the seeds themselves have their own special colors and attitudes of growth, pointing upward when ripening and ejecting seeds several feet where they may be gathered by ants for their fats and used to feed their larvae.
Trying to identify violets is difficult because they also hybridize! Three species I am relatively sure of are all natives and like rich woods and openings along roadways. Sweet White Violet: white stemless flowers, bent-back top petals, smooth reddish stems. Long-spurred Violet: pale lavender stemmed flowers, leaf tip very pointed with a smattering of hairs, quite a long spur containing nectar. Downy Yellow Violet: yellow stemmed flower and leaves with hairy stems, long tapering point on leaves.
Long-spurred Violet
The great thing about violets is no matter which ones you
find or where they are growing, you will know they all have high wildlife value
– caterpillars, butterflies, moths, bees, small wasps, ants, chewing insects –
they all love ’em. Yeah! I do, too!
Box Elder (or Ash-leafed Maple) While birdwatching at the Robert Porter Allen Natural Area and looking up for a change, I was happy to discover this deciduous, native tree growing by the trail in a low, moist area near the wetland. Surprise!
It isn’t a Boxwood, though it has whitish wood. Neither is it an Elderberry, though it sports elder-like pinnately compound leaves resembling one. Ash-leafed Maple is probably the better name for this tree because it is a species of maple and has opposite branching like them. Its leaves, unlike the the well-known, single, palm-shaped maple leaves, are made up of multiple leaflets ranging from three to nine opposite each other on its rachis or leaf stem. Flowers, long gone by April or May, are replaced on the female tree by double samaras or seeds, which give its identity away!
Box Elder with seeds hanging like bunches of grapes.
Box Elders range from Canada to central Florida. When you find this tree, look around for grosbeaks and finches who may be feeding on the samaras, which stay on the tree until early fall. Native Americans used the sap to make maple syrup, although it wasn’t as sweet as that from Sugar maples.
