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Underfoot: Earth Day 2022 – Happy Day…happy us!

April 18, 2022 Renee Carey

By Susan Sprout

The introductory article I created for UNDERFOOT two years ago was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. In it, I wrote that we would not be here without the planet and its components under our feet. I cited the number of different species in this world with us – over 87 billion – hinting that in just a handful of dirt there may be billions of single organisms. Now I would like to expand on that information.

In working to save the earth and its occupants, people come at it from many different directions. Conservation efforts support animals, plants, trees, land, air, water, soil. We only need to use our physical senses, as well as our common sense, to recognize the damage ecocidal practices and greed (corporate and personal) have done to the natural world.

The Age of Reason, during the 16th and 17th centuries, was a time when groups of people began to value ideas, ideals, and knowledge by using their powers of reasoning and the evidence gathered by their senses. Some of the true enlightenment that occurred then was based on the study of how things work in the natural world. I, personally, seem to be “plant-centric” as I search out what grows on top of the soil – pointing out flowering plants and trees and their lifestyles – in hopes that interested folks will take care of them. After all, plants and trees make up 80% of the total mass of all life on earth and are the base of vegetal support for all animals, including us. However, it is what is unseen, underground, that keeps the entire above-ground systems held together and working. The “rhizosphere microbiome” down there in healthy soils holds amazing amounts of fungi, bacteria, protists, insects, and arthropods – more than the number of humans who have ever lived on earth (Sheldrake, 2020).

Underground fungi grow as tiny, tube-shaped cells called hyphae that plow their way between soil particles. They group in masses called mycelium and create networks, fusing with or entering inside the roots of about 90% of all land plants and trees. And, there are so many, they make up 1/3 to 1/2 of the living mass of soil. Mycorrhizal (fungus root) associations have been around for over 400 million years, benefiting both partners and us. Very large amounts of carbon, as well as nutrients, minerals, and water are absorbed, reabsorbed, stored, and shared back and forth between and among partners in the networks which can extend for miles. Findings of research done in Amsterdam to investigate how plants and fungi maintain their “balance of power” in so complex and entangled a relationship showed neither plant nor fungus was in complete control. They were able to strike compromises, resolve trade-offs, and deploy sophisticated trading strategies. Something that not all species everywhere can do!

On this Earth Day – to all individuals, organizations, trusts, agencies, conservancies – evolved and involved – who can and do create networks by working together, by making beneficial compromises, using trade-offs and sophisticated strategies in order to help heal what’s wrong and harmful in the world and by continuing to support what works – for the earth and all of its inhabitants, seen and unseen – THANK YOU!

Learn more about fungi in “Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake, Random House, 2020.

On the Blog

Underfoot: Skunk Cabbage

April 11, 2022 Renee Carey

By, Susan Sprout

To all warm-blooded mammals reading this article – You undergo a process called “thermogenesis” to create your own body heat. Did you know that Skunk Cabbage is one of the few plant species that does this as well? Tramping along streams in very early spring, especially while snow and frost are still noticeable, you can see the purple and green mottled blossoms of Skunk Cabbage emerging from the cold, hard ground. They are able to because they use some of the carbohydrates they made last year, and stored in their foot-long, six-inch wide central root, to produce the heat energy they use to melt their way upward through the snow and out into the cold air. Their internal furnace can reach up to 60 degrees inside their four to six inch spathe or hooded cover that surrounds the club-shaped flower cluster or spadix. You may remember seeing the word “spathe” in an earlier article describing Green Dragon which is, along with Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Skunk Cabbage, a member of the Arum Family.

Skunk Cabbage is a wetland plant that grows near swamps, marshes, and in wet woodlands. It takes five to seven years before a young plant can blossom. In spring, it flowers before its bright green leaves come up and unfurl. Then these plants really become obvious because their big leaves can grow from fifteen to twenty-one inches long and twelve to fifteen inches wide! While walking along Big Run, I found about fifty blossoms starting to emerge. They were in all stages of growth, and some were beginning to leaf out.

When I pulled the edges of the spathe apart to look inside at the flowers, bunches of gnats and flies came zooming out. They were pollinators attracted by the warm air and stinky, putrescent odor. The name “skunk” is well-deserved in a plant with chemicals like skatole and cadaverine in its tissues to attract pollinators. Not many animals eat the roots, leaves or flowers either except bears in spring (They’ll eat anything.) and snapping turtles – because of the intense burning caused by calcium oxylate crystals found in their tissues. Slugs and snails help break down the dead plant when it dies back and goes dormant in the late summer.

Hooded spathe surrounding the flower cluster or spadix

This is not a “cabbage” you should eat, although people have eaten it in the past after boiling three times and drying. Its leaves have been used medicinally for skin problems – ulcers, wounds, blisters. Fresh leaves can also cause blisters, too. I found one reference of root usage in 1708 for treating “suppurating tumors”.

This is a pretty hardy plant. but it does not bounce back well from the deforestation and water level changes that accompany clear cutting, agriculture, and development.

On the Blog

Underfoot – Hairy Bittercress

April 5, 2022 Renee Carey

By Susan Sprout

Hairy bittercress, or Cardamine hirsuta, is flowering right now! Look for them along sidewalks and in lawn edges near shrubs and trees. Depending on the weather and growing conditions, they can be either an annual or a biennial, and may complete two generations in one year. The plants I have been monitoring stayed green and photosynthesizing all winter long, and only had a couple dead leaves showing down under their rosettes of new compound leaves. Growing from seeds that germinated in the fall really gave them a head start flowering in the spring. That’s why there are so many of their tiny, white flowers coming up in my lawn.

Basal rosette growth pattern of lower leaves

Thirteen different species of Cardamine have been found growing in Pennsylvania. Some are native. This one was introduced from Eurasia. They are all members of the Mustard Family, and all have four-petaled flowers shaped like a cross. The family’s name used to be Cruciferae for that reason. In the early 20th century, it was officially changed to Brassicaceae, based on the Latin word for cabbage. I have seen both names being used. Whatever the name, we love to eat them – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens and the condiment created from their seeds, Brussels sprouts, turnips…maybe not. Don’t be put off by the word “bitter” in Hairy bittercress’s name. There is a sharp taste, but it is not really bitter. In fact, its Germanic root word “cresso” means sharp and spicy. About the “hairy” part of its name – there are very few white hairs on the leaves growing up the flower stem. I had to use a magnifier in order to confirm their existence. This plant makes an excellent addition to a lettuce salad, sharp and not hairy.

Note the long, thin seed capsules and smaller leaves on the flower stalk

Another interesting thing I learned about Hairy bittercress is how it seeds. After pollination, the individual flowers will expand upward in thin toothpick- size seed capsules called “siliques”. When they are mature, the seed capsules will open from the bottom upward and forcefully eject their seeds, flinging them out and away from the parent plant. This maneuver is called ballochory. A new word for me. It comes from Greek “ballein” (to throw) and is also part of an old word I know – ballistics.

On the Blog

Underfoot: Horsetails

March 28, 2022 Renee Carey

By: Susan Sprout

People use the phrase “living fossil” to refer to living organisms that have a close similarity to extinct ones. Members of the same family and genus may have survived rather than the actual species. So it is with Horsetails of the genus Equisetum, the only living genus of the Horsetail Family, Equisetaceae. The fossilized imprints and stems of their Carboniferous progenitors, the sphenophytes, can be found in many of the Pennsylvania coal mines.

Today, way above those underground beds, and in all parts of the world except Australasia, there are fifteen different species of Horsetails living. Seven can be found in Pennsylvania. I have found two of the most common growing nearby. They are Field or Common Horsetail (E. arvense) and Scouring Rush (E. hyemale). They both look so very different from other herbaceous perennials found locally, that I’ve always been attracted by them.

Field Horsetail fertile stem with spore cone and emerging vegetative stem

In early spring, Field Horsetails grow from underground rhizomes, putting out a pink to brown fertile stem with a spore cone at the top. The green spores from it will disperse in the wind shortly before the stem withers. The yearly vegetative stems come next, looking like little trees with naked branches whirling around them similar to the spokes of umbrellas. A gentle stroke of the plant will tell you this plant isn’t a softie! it has a rough, sand-like surface that comes from the same mineral as sand. A mix of silicon dioxide and water from the soil is absorbed by roots and crystallized in the plant’s tissues. It has been observed in all parts of the plant – rhizome, stem, leaf and spores.

Yes, there are leaves, though not very obvious. They are projected as tiny teeth, their bottoms fused together as a sheath, making a dark stripe around the hollow stem directly above the branches. Look for Field Horsetails in wet meadows, along dirt roads in the woods (where I found mine), and open meadows.

Unlike Field Horsetails, Scouring Rush is unbranched and looks like a short bamboo forest when it emerges from the soil. Their jointed, hollow stems have dark bands where the tiny deciduous leaves are growing along them. Each shoot tip has a spore cone that will mature and release its spores to the wind from late spring to early summer. They are pretty hardy and can grow on stream banks (Muncy Creek on Chippewa Road), along railroad embankments, and roadsides. They seem to form colonies that spread a bit each year.

Scouring Rush beginning to lose their color over winter

Horsetails were useful to many during the exploration and colonization history of the New World. The newcomers brought with them the knowledge of herbal remedies using horsetails that date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans who used the plants to stop bleeding, heal ulcers, and knit wounds. They were probably delighted to see them growing here for their use. The common name Scouring Rush indicates its use as a polishing material because it has the grit of a fine sandpaper. It was good for cleaning pots and pans way before the invention of Brillo pads. In a pinch, I have used them myself on black iron frying pans while camping. Yes, I forgot to pack the Brillo.

Thank you to C&N for your support of conservation!

On the Blog

Underfoot: Honey Locust AKA Thorny Locust

March 3, 2022 Renee Carey

By, Susan Sprout

Take care when walking near this tree – it is armed and may be dangerous! Botanists have indicated that its thorns may be genetic upgrades developed to keep browsing animals from chewing on the bark. Honey locust, with the scientific name of Gleditsia triacanthos, is a member of the Fabaceae or Pea Family, like its close relative found nearby, Redbud, whose magenta flowers will be adorning bare branches soon. It is prettier and less prickly.

Light-demanding Honey locust trees can be found in wetlands and uplands, too. It is a hardy species, native to states on both sides of the Mississippi and up through West Virginia and into central Pennsylvania. In fact, the USDA Forest Service map showing its spread, actually mirrors the shape of the Muncy “bump,” the geological feature that indicates the end of Bald Eagle Mountain and causes the Susquehanna River to swish around it in a half-circle. (A much-used visual clue that I use when looking at maps, from there, I know where I am, a short hop to home.)

I read somewhere that a tree’s trunk is its essential identity. Honey locust’s trunk has ridged and fissured gray-brown bark with thorns growing out of it, up to three inches long. They extend singly and in bunches of three’s up through lower branches. You can see them better at this time of year without leaf cover. Does this indicate that its bark is worse than its bite? And by “bite,” the meaning is clear – the very sweet, honey-flavored “snack” that awaits inside the ripe seed pods. The edible pulp develops between the hard bean seeds in flat and slightly twisted pods that can range in length from eight to sixteen inches long to about an inch wide. Used as food and medicine by many indigenous populations in its range, animals and birds, too, like the sweetness.

notice the rough, fissured bark as well as the thorns

Do not confuse this tree with mature Black locust tree which has paired spines at the base of each leaf instead of long thorns. It has toxic properties. The Honey locust trees must grow to ten years of age before bearing seeds, with large crops occurring about every other year. They have been found alive up to 125 years old.

Today Honey locust is used as livestock food. Its dense wood is great for fence posts and furniture. Research is being done on its usefulness for treating diseases. A practical use, while camping, hiking, on extended walks – rips in cloth can be held together by thorns, carefully inserted like straight pins!

Thank you to PPL for your support!

On the Blog

Underfoot: Lichens

February 21, 2022 Renee Carey

By Susan Sprout

I like lichens, always have, always will… for lots of amazing reasons that I’d be happy to share with you! First of all, I really enjoy looking at them and studying their diverse shapes and sizes and colors and growth habits and where they grow and uses and, well, everything! Aren’t they lovely to look at, as they decorate tree trunks, upright or fallen? They brighten the dark winter bark, especially after a good wetting – fog, rain, snow – because moisture causes the topmost layer of “skin” to become more transparent, allowing the green algae layer to show through. They aren’t as crispy and brown then. Think of all the vertical paint they provide on rock faces that you’ve seen along the road. Lichens have special pigments caused by acids (four hundred are known) that provide a variety of colors – reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and of course, the green from algae.

Lichens have many different shapes and lifestyles. They are usually described by lichenologists (people who study lichens) as Foliose (flat, leaf-like lobes); Crustose (tightly adhering and crusty); Fruticose (branching with shrub-like tufts); Leprose (powdery); Gelatinous (jelly-like); Filamentous (stringy, matted hair); Byssoid (wispy, teased wool); Structureless. This doesn’t surprise you because you’ve seen them all, right? They are everywhere – from cold Arctic to hot, dry desert – growing on bark, wood, rock, soil, peat, glass, metal, plastic, cloth. They can even be found inside rocks, growing between the grains or mineral crystals. It has been estimated they cover six to eight percent of the earth’s surface, all the while pumping out oxygen for us air-breathers!

And that’s a segue to another reason lichens are so wonderfully interesting. They have a mutualistic relationship with algae which grows inside the main body or thallus of the fungus. Both parties benefit, a win-win situation. The fungi benefit from the carbohydrates produced by the algae (and sometimes cyanobacteria) as they photosynthesize to make food for growth AND the algae benefit by being surrounded with fungal filaments that protect and retain moisture for them in harsh environments. If cyanobacteria is present, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen to complement the food making process. A well-known lichenologist Trevor Goward has written, “Lichens are fungus that have discovered agriculture.”

There maybe upwards from 13,000 to 20,000 different species of lichens in the world, with North America boasting 3,600. Some of them may even have more than one species of fungus and algae on board. They can morph in shape and lifestyles (chimeras). Their long life span and slow, regular growth rate can be used to date events (lichenometry). There are lichens in England with a diameter of 18 to 19 inches that began life in 1195 A.D. and specimens in Sweden that are 187 inches across that may have been alive for 9,000 years.

Lichens can be used for food, clothing, insulation, colorfast dyes, soft drink colors, extracts in toothpaste, deodorants, salves, fixatives for perfumes, potpourri, and medicines. Modern medical research is verifying many of the old lichen remedies. Supposedly fifty percent of lichens have antibacterial properties. One drawback of ingesting lichens is their higher absorption rate and accumulation of Strontium 90 and Cesium 137 from radioactive fallout, which is anywhere from ten to one hundred times more than most other plants in temperate and northern regions.

On the Blog

Underfoot: Northern White Cedar AKA Arborvitae

January 26, 2022 Renee Carey

By Susan Sprout

You have probably seen a lot of evergreen trees called Arborvitae. It is a name used in the horticulture trade for the more than three hundred cultivars of Thuja occidentalis being sold for wind screens, privacy hedges, ornamentals and such. Did you know that the original, non-genetically modified, non-cross-bred Thuja occidentalis is native to North America, growing wild from the Arctic treeline to the southern Appalacian Mountains of Tennessee? Cool! (They DO actually grow better in places with cooler summers.)There are no known original stands of them in Pennsylvania, and are considered extirpated, which occurred, perhaps, during the lumber boom. There are many different re-imaginings of them growing here now, where people have planted all sorts of varieties – by their houses, in cemeteries and parks. Enough that some have become naturalized.

The closed green female cones of a September Arborvitae are beginning to dry and turn brown.

Arborvitae is not a true cedar, but a member of the Cypress Family, CUPRESSACEAE, that contains junipers, bald cypress, northern and Atlantic white cedars. Arborvitae’s scale-like leaves are flat against the fan-like, horizontal branches on which they grow. The tree’s trunk and large branches are light, reddish-brown with easily shredded bark. They are naturally adapted to wet forests, but grow on upland alkaline limestone soils as well. Often stunted in less favorable locations, this tree can slowly grow up to sixty feet tall and live for fifty to one hundred fifty years. One of the oldest trees in Eastern North America is an Arborvitae that is alive and well and living in Southern Ontario at the ripe old age of 1,316! They have the amazing ability to keep growing when parts of them have been killed or damaged. It also helps when they live on cliffs away from deer who strip their green branches for winter browse.

The open and empty, woody female cones of a December Arborvitae. The tiny male cones can be seen on the very tips of branches. Look for a tan coloration.

In 1588, this tree received the common name “arbre de vie” or Arborvitae – “Tree of Life” – because it was so helpful in preventing and treating Scorbut (scurvy), the winter illness from which many French sailors and explorers in the New World died. We know today that the leaf and bark teas made from the green Arborvitae twigs hold healing amounts of vitamin C and several essential amino acids. Externally, the leaf oil distilled from twigs is antibacterial and antiviral. Research and experimentation are on-going. The lightweight wood of Arborvitae splits easily and is used for poles, shingles, cross-ties and posts. It is very rot resistant. This fact maybe another reason for the longer lives of The Trees of Life.

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Underfoot: MOSSES, IN GENERAL

January 19, 2022 Renee Carey

By, Susan Sprout

Have you ever noticed mosses still growing as you take walks during our winter season? They seem to be everywhere – between slabs of the sidewalk, on brick foundations, tree trunks or under them, cliff sides, rocks, on dirt and rooftops. They have always amazed me, so underfoot, and many times, so unappreciated! Having diverged from green algae about 500 million years ago, they evolved to become an extremely important part of all land ecosystems. They promote soil formation with the addition of dead tissues, grow where other plants having roots cannot, hold moisture to use and pass on to other organisms. Mosses are Bryophytes, members of the Phylum Bryophyta, along with the other ancient plants, Liverworts and Hornworts. All are nonflowering (using spores to reproduce), have stem-like rhizoids (rather than true roots), diffuse water and nutrients through cell walls (instead of having a system of veins). Many plant scientists consider them the “coral reefs of the forest” for the benefits they provide, even though small and having leaves only one cell thick. Mosses play important roles storing and filtering nutrients and water that forests need to survive and grow.

Moss is a perfect nursery for Hemlock seedlings that can dry out quickly and die.

Mosses contain chlorophyll to make their own food, using sunlight and the process of photosynthesis, in order to grow and reproduce. They “exhale” oxygen into the atmosphere as a by-product. They provide food, water, shelter and cover for many small invertebrates, like insects. Humans have not been shy about reaping and using mosses for many of their requirements: fuel, insulation for dwellings and clothing, bedding, diapering, bandaging, roofing, gardening. One thing we do not use moss for is food. The complex carbohydrates of most mosses would take more energy to digest than we would gain from eating them! However, research has discovered them to be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. Folks living in London, England, are using different kinds of mosses in structures they call artificial trees. Where they are positioned throughout the city, the moss containers absorb particulates, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere while producing oxygen and keeping the surrounding air cooler. It is possible that mosses may provide yet to be discovered solutions to problems caused by climate fluctuations. They are much better equipped than other plants due to their worldwide distribution and their ability to soak up and hold moisture.

A downside for the mosses in this arrangement is a slow growth rate, a quarter inch to two inches per year depending on the species. We will need to be judicious in our harvesting of mosses. When all of the moss is stripped from a log or rock, it can take twenty years for it to recover. Leaving one-third to one-half of the moss in patches can shorten the recovery time to ten years. Log moss is one of the ten most sought-after, non-timber products in Pennsylvania. Both the PA Game Commission and DCNR prohibit removal of plants from their lands.

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Underfoot: BARRING THE BERRY – JAPANESE BARBERRY

January 11, 2022 Renee Carey

By Susan Sprout

The PA Dept. of Agriculture has added this particular berry-making plant (Berberis thunbergii) to its noxious weed list as of October 8, 2021, banning its sale or cultivation. Nurseries and landscapers will have a two-year period to phase out its use in this state.

Japanese barberry’s widespread distribution in our forests where it can thrive anywhere from deep shade to sunny edges + the fact that in some places it has become a dominant understory plant since our large deer population appears to eat just about everything else and leaves it alone to reproduce + the research that has shown increased populations of the black-legged or deer ticks, known transmitters of Lyme disease, occur in areas where it abounds = three good reasons why this plant became a good candidate for the noxious weed list!

You can identify Japanese barberry during the winter when its red berries stand out against its brown twigs and sticks and by carefully checking for its armament. It is armed – with single, pointed spines growing near where the leaves used to be, on opposite sides of twigs. This plant differs from another non-native species, European barberry, Berberis vulgaris, also found growing in PA, that has three-pronged spines. Our very own native American Barberry (Berberis canadensis) also has three-pronged spines – or rather – HAD three-pronged spines. It is one of about 104 species of plants that have been judged “extirpated” or no longer existing within PA. American barberry does grow wild in West Virginia southward to Georgia, however.

Just because barberry is considered a noxious weed in some places doesn’t mean it hasn’t had a long and interesting history of usefulness to mankind. The ancient Egyptians used it in a syrup with fennel to prevent the plague. Dried and fresh roots were used to make a colorfast yellow dye for cloth, leather, and wood. Berries were made into jams and jellies or without sweetener, provided an acidic kick to the taste of salads. Berberine, a constituent of these plants, actually fluoresces under ultraviolet light, making cells under a microscope easier to study. It is used in medicines for everything from heart failure to burns and eye infections. Can’t judge a plant wholly by its aggressiveness!

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Underfoot: Ah, Sweet Mystery!

December 20, 2021 Renee Carey

By, Susan Sprout

I love trees, especially this time of year, when leafless. They stand out so stark and sturdy against the sky. Sometimes, as a game, I try to identify trees by their silhouettes as we pass them by in the car. I look for hints of seeds, cones, leftover flower spikes, branch configuration.

There was no drive-by the day my cousin and I found this lovely mystery tree as we hiked Chad’s Trail at Glacial Pools. The sky was just perfect, a blue backdrop interrupted by wisps of cirrus clouds. We had to check the clues.

Clue #1 Little cone-like strobiles that hold samaras or double-winged seeds, oblong, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches long, brownish, disintegrating.

Strobiles will gradually give way to the wind for dispersal

Clue #2 The bark – shiny, dark and smooth, not papery and peeling. Many horizontal lines crossing the trunk – lenticels – corky pores through the bark that provide direct air exchange with the tree’s internal tissues.

Clue #3 The twigs – dark brown, slender, hairless. Snap a twig and sniff the broken end. Ah, the odor of wintergreen!

Perfect! Sweet Birch, Black Birch, Cherry Birch, Betula lenta.

Sweet Birch, a native to Eastern North America, ranges from Canada to the mountains of Georgia and Alabama. A USDA Forest Survey indicates that it is most abundant in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. It is one of the species that has replaced American Chestnut where it used to grow. Considered a pioneer species, it tends to grow quickly when young and can grow from stump sprouts if the main trunk is cut or dies. The shiny, smooth bark will become rough and in vertical flat plates as it ages and will continue a pattern of split, peel, and replace throughout the rest of its life which could be up to two hundred years! You can find them growing in cool, moist uplands with hardwoods and conifers. They like the moist , well-drained soil of stream banks as well as dry, rocky soil of ledges.

It used to take one hundred saplings and trees to manufacture just one quart of Birch oil, also called oil of wintergreen. Now chemically produced methyl salicylate is used to flavor things like medicines, candy and ice cream. Plus, you don’t have to tap the trees anymore to make Birch Beer. I like chewing on a twig as I hike along to allay my thirst. Ha. I just like the flavor!