On Saturday Sept 6 I attended the ONAPA Field Trip on Late Summer Wildflowers of Shawnee State Forest. ONAPA is the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association, if you are not familiar with them, I encourage you to look at their website (LINK), they are a great group. Leading the walk was Guy Denny, who has a remarkable amount of knowledge about the regions plants and ecosystem. We toured for almost 6 hours and saw many plants, some rare and some common. It will take me a number of posts to share the information.
The Shawnee State Forest has been called the "Little Smokeys of Ohio" and many of the plant there are plants that you see more commonly in the Smokey Mountains.
On of the first plants we saw was Hollow Joe-pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum). It looks very similar to the Sweet and Spotted Joe-pye weed we have in Northwest Ohio, but is a little different form, and the stem is hollow.
The Shawnee State Forest has been called the "Little Smokeys of Ohio" and many of the plant there are plants that you see more commonly in the Smokey Mountains.
On of the first plants we saw was Hollow Joe-pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum). It looks very similar to the Sweet and Spotted Joe-pye weed we have in Northwest Ohio, but is a little different form, and the stem is hollow.
Besides plant there we many insects, the first we noted was the Sycamore Tussock Moth Caterpillar shown below. And yes there were Sycamore trees in the area.
This nice little yellow flower, Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) was next to be spotted. I did not get a great photo of this, but the one below shows it fairly well.
In this area, we were shown a demonstration of using nettles to make a cord. Some Wood Nettle along the side of the road had its outer layer stripped and twisted to make a crude, but strong cord. Apparently it has been done for a long time (back to the ancient Greeks), but it was the first I had heard about it.
There were many plants of the confusing family of sunflowers out, so I was glad to have an expert for identification. The first we saw was the Small-Headed Sunflower (Helianthus microcephalus). It does indeed have a small head, with sparse petals on it.
There were many plants of the confusing family of sunflowers out, so I was glad to have an expert for identification. The first we saw was the Small-Headed Sunflower (Helianthus microcephalus). It does indeed have a small head, with sparse petals on it.
The final plant for this post will be the Spotted Phlox (Phlox maculata). Most of the Phlox family is hard to tell apart, but this one is the only one with a spotted stem, making ID easy. I included a photo of just the stem to show the spots.
That is not even a quarter of the way through my list, so hopefully I can squeeze in some time to add more posts.