This weekend we end to Cedar Bog near Urbana, and then continued to Clifton Gorge. Both are unique habitats that support unique wildflowers. First, Cedar Bog is not a bog, it is a fen. Bogs have stagnate water, while fens have moving water that stays much clearer. But it has been called Cedar Bog for so long that no one has an interest in changing it. One very unique feature of Cedar Bog is where the water comes from. The site is near where part of the ancient Teays River was (wiki LINK). This river was filled in during early glaciers, but is a deep a porous area for water. Being deep, the water from it is very cool, and this water helps to keep the temperature of the Cedar Bog low.
The very big thing at Cedar Bog is that Showy Lady Slipper Orchids. But we found many more plants to look at. So lets start the journey
The very big thing at Cedar Bog is that Showy Lady Slipper Orchids. But we found many more plants to look at. So lets start the journey
These Showy Lady Slippers were certainly the star of the show, and there were several areas with many plants.
We saw this very weird plant near the two orchids. After some work, we found it to be a Tuberous Indian Plantain. The flowers have not opened yet, but it is a very interesting plant. The flowers do not open a huge amount. Here is a link to a photo of them open LINK |
We also saw a Lily not yet in bloom. From what we saw, it might have been a Michigan Lily. The nature center at Cedar Blog was very nice. The person in attendance was an OCVNer and was very helpful and they had nice displays. They also had some nice books of wild flowers for the public to look at. They were arranged by blooming month and by color. It is a really nice idea, and was very helpful in confirming the flowers for us. Maybe some local parks should try that.
Here are some links to Cedar Bog
Cedar Bog Website
Cedar Bog Facebook Page
Next we traveled another 30 minutes south to Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve. Is is supposed to have wonderful spring wildflowers. But as we found out it has very nice early summer wildflowers as well. Here is a link to the Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve Website. It was a VERY busy day there. The gorge is deep enough to provide a different climate for the plants between the gorge bottom and the rim.
We started out finding two different Waterleafs in the gorge bottom.
Yay - another VIOLET. This is (probably) the Pale Violet (Viola striata), also called the Stripped White Violet. This is a stemmed violet with the stipules large and sharply toothed . The stipules (small leaf like structure at joints) are just visible, but blurry in this photo. |
We saw a number of these plants in fruit. Without the flower it can be hard, but the fruit;s unique 3 sided shape and perfoliate leaves (pierced by stem) gave us clues, We are pretty sure it is a Bellwort, sometimes called Straw Bell, or the sc. name of Uvularia perfoliata. |
After getting home and making a list, we came up with 12 plants we had not identified before. For a trip within Ohio, that is a pretty good day.