By Susan Sprout

On the march, a three-inch-long millipede was crossing a dirt road in Ravensburg Park, going from the dry forest towards a creek bank. Its journey may well have been ended as a car came zooming towards it. My quick intervention moved this leggy critter, placing it in the roadside ditch that it appeared to be travelling toward. Millipedes are one of the first and largest air-breathing invertebrates (without a backbone) to walk on land some 420 million years ago and growing to six and a half feet long and a foot and a half wide. That fast car would surely have wrecked if it had run over one of those. What a speed-bump that would have been!

The species of millipede I saw was probably Narceus americanus AKA American Giant Millipede, Worm Millepede, Iron Worm. It is not a worm and certainly not made of iron, but an arthropod more closely related to shrimp, crayfish, and lobsters. The outer covering of its segmented body is made up of plates of chiton (like your fingernails) and has two pairs of jointed-legs per segment. “Millepede” means thousand-legged, but this type only has between150 and 200 legs total.

Why am I writing about a millipede? Well, it was underfoot (almost undercar) and found in the woods where I find so many great plants! Actually, millipedes are considered a beneficial species for all of us, plants and animals, because they decompose decaying plant matter. They, and thousands of species worldwide, live by breaking down and recycling nutrients back into the soil much faster than plants decompose naturally. Bacteria, algae, fungus, critters in the soil, as well as the more obvious green plants and trees on top of it, will uptake their rich body byproducts to keep on growing.

Millipedes breathe using spiracles on their segments – small openings that deliver oxygen into a trachea and their body tissues. Most arthropods can regulate (open and close) these openings. Millipedes cannot and must live in a moist or humid environment or they will desiccate and die. Eyes on both sides of their heads can detect light and movement. Their amazing antennae have the ability to taste food, smell odors like pheromones for sensing mates, feel their way as they dig or perambulate across a road, tell differences in temperature and find water. My guess is, the millipede I was lucky to find, was on its way to moister ground near a stream. Although blessed with remarkable senses for use in its habitat, it could not detect a moving car. So, drive slowly through the woods, save these guys when you can, and then wash your hands. Their defensive secretions, though they show promise as sources for new medicines, can make you itch!

Check out National Wildlife Federation and Animal Diversity Web for lots more interesting info on Millipedes.

By Susan Sprout

Virginia Bluebells, or Virginia Cowslips, are ephemeral – here in the spring and gone during summer. Look for them blooming now with nodding but showy, blue trumpet-shaped flowers. They arrive early, eager for the higher amounts of unhampered sunlight before the trees above them leaf out to block it. As the name suggests, their bright blue flowers hang in loose clusters like bells, their trumpets shaped by the fusing of five petals. The buds, which usually start out pink, bloom blue. They grow quickly to their eight-to-twenty-four-inch height before dying back and reverting to just underground parts. Considered dormant because they are not photosynthesizing, I will bet the woody roots that we do not see are still busy getting nutrients and water during the summer and fall. With all of their stored resources, they are ready to go when it is spring!

Virginia Bluebells have oval leaves ranging in length from two inches at the top of the plant where they almost clasp on to the stem, then downward to the lower parts where they are eight inches long and tapered. Situated alternately on the stems, the leaves do not shade each other out – more sun for all. Another reason they can grow upwards in such a hurry. Seeds develop at the base of the flowers after they are pollinated by bees, especially bumblebees that look for pollen and nectar early in spring. The bumpy, roundish seed pod turns from green to tan to brown as it and the four seeds in each one mature.

These native perennials tend to grow in masses when water is near, in bottom lands and riverwoods, where the soil is rich and the land occasionally gets flooded. Once established, they will bloom year after year. Their seedlings will flower in their second year. They can be found from E. Canada south to North Carolina and west to Arkansas and Minnesota (lots of lakes there for bluebells to grow near).  The native people in those areas used the plant as a treatment for tuberculosis and whooping cough. And, guess what? Deer do not like to eat it!

By Susan Sprout

Ever been hiking off trail in the woods and get your foot caught by a shrub with drooping branches that had become rooted in the ground? You may have had a run-in with Hobblebush AKA Tangle-legs! If you can remember where you got entangled, hike back in for positive identification now because Hobblebush is in bloom from late April into May with flowers that are very distinctive and easy to recognize.

Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides), a native perennial shrub, is found in what Thoreau called “the under-woods” – the understory of woods. It was cool and moist there, and down a ravine that I simply could not negotiate. I sat on the ground at the top of the ridge and scooted down as far as I could, without sliding to the bottom on my bottom. I leaned forward and got some photos. What lovely white flowers greeted me! Looking down from the trail above, I had spied some bushes with white on them, but could not distinguish if it was the flash of sunlight on shiny leaves or white flowers. Yeah, flowers! Elegantly arranged on sparse branches, the blossoms are made up of two kinds of flowers –small fertile ones in the center and larger, five-petaled infertile ones on the outer edges. I get the feeling that those bigger flowers are there to get the attention of pollinators who will service the inner cluster. When pollinated, those inner flowers will make red berries that change to a bluish-black as they mature in the early fall. The bright green leaves of Hobblebush grow opposite each other on the twigs. They were wrinkled and not yet fully extended when I found them. When fully grown, they are heart-shaped with a bumpy or irregularly-textured surface.

Hobblebush is listed as “occasional” in my PA plant reference, declining due to over-browsing by deer. The ecological importance of this shrub is without doubt. Gamebirds, songbirds, small mammals, butterflies, browsers – all make use of its bounty. Humans, too, have eaten the berries or made them into jam. Rubbing the head with its crushed leaves was a medicinal use of this plant by Native Americans who suffered from migraines. So, if you have a run-in with Hobblebush while hiking, extract your foot carefully so you do not pull the roots out. If you accidently do, tamp them back down into the dirt and duff gently.  We need them for the health of our woods and its inhabitants.

Editor’s note: Thank you Sue!! As someone who frequently trips while walking in the woods, I feel better now knowing I have a native shrub to blame.

By Susan Sprout

Going out and about, you have probably noticed our wonderful Eastern Redbud blooming now in Central Pennsylvania. So attractive and conspicuous with those magenta blossoms decorating all the branches! They certainly stand out whether they are growing along a country road or in people’s yards. A closer look reveals that the flowers have appeared before the leaves and are coming straight out of the bark. Growing in little clusters as they do, the branches look upholstered with the blossoms! A common folk tradition stemming from their early arrival is to take some branches inside the house “to drive the winter out.”

Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is considered a shrub or small tree and a member of the Pea or Legume Family, Fabaceae. It is a native species as are two close relatives, Honey Locust tree and Kentucky Coffeetree. Redbud’s flowers are pea flower-shaped with a lower keel like a sailboat, and two vertical wings spreading out above like sails. The buds can remain unopened for quite a while and retain a darker pink color.  As they mature, the keel splits open revealing two rows of pollen-bearing stamens and the female receptacle called the stigma that receives pollen. At this time, they become a paler pink color. After pollination, groups of two-to-four-inch seed pods that resemble those of garden peas begin growing from the flowers and dangle downward. Starting out green, they mature turning dark brown to black and split open along one side to release four to ten flat bean-like seeds.

Redbud leaves are bright green and heart-shaped with smooth edges and pointed tips. Three to five inches in diameter, they grow alternately on the branches or twigs and have five to seven veins radiating from the leaf base where it connects to the stem. Underneath, they are a lighter color and have some tufts of hair where the veins meet.

Although slightly sour to taste, Redbud flowers are edible and high in Vitamin C. Several sources reported their use in salads and pancakes. In folk medicine, tree bark was used to treat dysentery. Our colonial ancestors used the green twigs to season wild game. Funny thing, the game, AKA venison on the hoof, enjoys those same green twigs as browse!

Recently, staff visited a couple of past streambank stabilization projects while also looking at some sites for the 2023 construction season (which gets underway in March!!!).

At a site that had streambank stabilization done in 2018 and trees planted in 2019, we found this guy.

The stonefly in this photo is an adult Allocapnia (genus) in the family Capniidae, more commonly known as the “Tiny Winter Blacks” or “Snowflies”. They typically emerge as adults during the coldest part of the winter. So, the adults have very short, non-functional wings (visible in the photo), because air temperatures are often too cold for insects to fly during frigid winter days. Instead of flying, adult Allocapnia stoneflies move around by crawling on snow, ice, substrates, and vegetation (including trees).

Thanks to Dave Rebuck for sharing this entomology lesson!

Thank you to all the landowners who work with us, and all the donors who make it possible to reduce sediment and clean-up local streams.

By, Susan Sprout

Many odd, strange, and curiously costumed kids of all ages are out and about at the end of October. So, let’s take a look at a creepy, gelatinous growing thing that likes to live in and digest decaying logs. Heh! Heh! Heh!

You can find Tremella in the forest – in the duff on the floor, or mysteriously appearing on hard and soft wood – especially dead trees, lying there decomposing. Tremella’s unseen hyphae eat the wood from the inside of logs where you cannot see them doing it. Creepy! Then, when they have digested enough for extra energy, they will reproduce and create more of themselves to take over the world. (Oops, I didn’t mean to say that.)

They exude jello-like masses of lobed or wrinkled or leaflike jelly with spores inside it. These globs can be orange, or yellow, or black, or reddish-brown in color, depending on the species that produced it. They will break apart and dissolve to let loose all of the spores that will take over the world. Heh! Heh! Heh! 

IT’S JELLY FUNGUS! Seriously, it is a fun kind of fungus because lots of folks don’t recognize it as one, and make icky, yucky noises when they see it or are brave enough to touch it. “Trembling” Tremellas… and they don’t just appear for Halloween, but can ooze into existence from May to November. Be vigilant and watch for them – in the woods, on your back fence, the sides of a raised bed. They are coming!!!  Unfortunately something has taken over my mind…and my computer. I must sign off for n

Recently, staff from the Tioga State Forest spent some time on the Coal Creek property to gather information to help them develop their management goals for the property and identify any immediate needs that NPC should work on while we own the property.

Is the drainage on the roads working? Are there invasive plants that should be addressed sooner rather than later? Are there any timber stand improvement activities that could happen?

Thanks to the support of NPC’s members, we were in a position where we could buy the Coal Creek property earlier this year. NPC will own the property while the Active Treatment System (ATS) for Coal Creek, Morris Run, and Fall Brook is built.

Once the ATS is up and running the property will be transferred to the Bureau of Forestry and managed as part of the Tioga State Forest.

After a morning on the property conversations are underway and lists are being drawn up. We’ll begin having some conversations about what are next steps and what’s reasonable for NPC to take on during our ownership. Stay tuned for future updates as those plans are developed and we start to implement projects.

One thing that everyone seems interested in is the property’s historic uses. One group walked to the northern end of the property and explored some old roads, now grass covered walkng paths that led to a coal mine. During the jaunt, they found a stone “wall” under one of the walking paths (former road).

In looking at the 1938 aerial image the road that is now walking path can be seen. It’s evident the road was being used and people needed to get to where the road was leading. Now, it’s finding that spot on the ground.

Stay tuned as we learn more about the property’s past while exploring what its future will look like.

By, Susan Sprout

Northern Wild Senna is a member of the Fabaceae family, well-known as the legume or pea or bean family and having about 20,000 species in many countries. This particular species, Senna hebecarpa, is a perennial plant native to northeastern United States from the Great Lakes to Georgia. I found it growing in a field of goldenrods. Taller than I am, it was a real stand out in all that yellowness because of its height. It has yellow flowers, too. Its leaves are pinnately compound – smooth-edged leaflets arranged in pairs, up to ten opposite each other on a single stem, kind of like the barbs of a bird’s feather are arranged on a quill.

This plant’s blooming period begins in late summer, and its yellow petals are beginning to turn white now as they age. Very visible in each flower are five black anthers containing pollen and one curled pistil with long, white hairy edges waiting to pull in the pollen grains. The pistil will slowly develop into a flat, brownish seed pod having up to eighteen segments, each containing one seed. A mature pod is curled and amazingly hairy.

Something else that sets this plant apart from many is that its flowers do not contain nectaries, the glands that produce nectar! The bees that visit, come for its nutritious pollen because it is higher in protein according to a study done at Penn State in 2016. So where’s the nectar? It is in small, club-shaped glands found singly on leaf stems near their point of attachment to the main plant stem. The nectar there seems to attract parasitic wasps, lady beetles and ants which may in turn protect the plant from other types of insects determined to eat its foliage.

Northern Wild Senna plants have a tendency to spread by horizontal rhizomes under the soil and create colonies. They like partial to full sun and loamy, moist soil near streams and water catchment areas. They can also live in sandy and rocky places, too, once they get a foothold. The plants have a vertical growing habit, but may get top heavy as the seed pods develop and flop over sideways.

White-tail deer and other herbivores don’t seem to care for the rather toxic and cathartic (purgative) foliage. Senna plants, like this one, and their near relatives, have been used by native populations in many countries for millennia as laxatives, worm remedies, and as poultices for healing sores.