The one thing that excites me more than a pop-up summer thunderstorm is a walk in a damp, dripping, glowing-green forest after the storm has passed. The forest's living essence is made all the more real and immediate by the intoxicating perfume of decaying things, creatures flitting like ghosts through the leaves and underbrush, and clinging raindrops unleashed from the treetops by an evanescent breeze. Photos above are from a hike this morning on Glade Run Trail in Coopers Rock State Forest.
From top: common boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), which is closely related to Joe Pye weed, and sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale); the deep purple-red berries of common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis); hollow Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium fistulosum), which can attain a height of 7 to 8 feet; eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), whose tattered wings show the wear and tear of summer errands; a colony of gregarious fungi, perhaps cross-veined troop mushroom (Xeromphalina kauffmanii), which grow in huge numbers on decaying hardwoods; a red-capped bolete, perhaps Leccinum longicurvipes, which is symbiont with oak trees; an eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens); white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata); bigleaf aster (Eurybia macrophylla); cowbane (Oxypolis rigidior), also known as common water dropwort; bluestem goldenrod (Solidago caesia), a woodland goldenrod with flowerheads in the leaf axils; and Appalachian oak-leach (Aureolaria laevigata), also known as smooth false foxglove, which is semi-parasitic on oak tree roots.
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A few good native plants from yesterday: New Jersey tea, Ceanothus americanus; smooth yellow false foxglove, Aureolaria flava; and American dittany, Cunila origanoides. Fern leaf yellow false foxgloves and starry campion grow there too. They were too high up the bank to get good phone pictures. The dittany blooms with small blue flowers later in the season and, yes, it smells like a Mediterranean herb.
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Golden-yellow Wave, Idaea aureolaria Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/5.6 1/80 iso: 200 Srbsko, Czech Republic 6/29/2008
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Fern-Leaved False Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia) by Wayne National Forest
Via Flickr:
Meet the fern-leaved false foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia). This showy native plant is listed in Ohio as Threatened, and it’s only ever been found in Athens, Washington, and Jefferson Counties. One of the state’s few populations can be found in the national forest’s Athens Ranger District, and our staff has been helping protect and promote this rare plant. But why is it rare?
Part of the reason is its range. Ohio is on the western edge of this species’ normal range. Edge populations are almost always small and spotty, so it’s not too surprising it’s rare here in Ohio.
But another reason is habitat. Like all plants, fern-leaved false foxglove needs a certain combination of habitat features to survive. This species lives in sunny oak-dominated forests and woodlands with dry soils. Historically, open oak-dominated forests and woodlands used to be widespread across southeast Ohio. The openness of these habitats was maintained by Indigenous cultural burning practices. But during the 1900s, a period of fire suppression began, and tree density increased. As more trees grew, the understory became shadier and shadier. If you’re a sun-loving plant like fern-leaved false foxglove, this was bad news.
Luckily for the fern-leaved false foxglove population in the national forest, our botanists and fire crews have come to the rescue. Last year, our botanists thinned out some of the younger trees that were shading out the fern-leaved false foxgloves. Then this past spring, our fire crews conducted a prescribed burn, which further thinned out some younger trees and also rejuvenated the soil. Thanks to these efforts, the fern-leaved false foxglove population boomed as more sunlight reached the forest floor. This will help ensure the rare fern-leaved false foxglove population persists for years to come!
The national forest is home to many uncommon, rare, and declining plant species. Our botanists work hard to protect populations of these species to ensure their continued survival.
Forest Service photo by Kyle Brooks.
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Aureolaria flava, lance leaved yellow false fox glove, from last August
photographed along Auxier Ridge, RRG
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Slender false foxglove or common gerardia (Agalinis tenuifolia)
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Aureolaria flava - Smooth Yellow False Foxglove, an oak leach
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Large-flowered Yellow False Foxglove (Aureolaria grandiflora)
Kalscheur Oak Savannah, 7-29-17
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Downy yellow false foxglove or downy oak leach (Aureolaria virginica) is a perennial forb native to the eastern United States and Canada. Like other members of the genus Aureolaria, this species is hemiparasitic on oaks.
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20170928 Stone Mountain State Park North Carolina
20200915 Smooth or Downy Yellow False Foxglove Aureolaria flava or virginica
20200915 Smooth 0r Downy Yellow False Foxglove Aureolaria floava or virginica
Sometimes known as Smooth Gerardia or Gerardia laevigata or also known as toad flax
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More late summer treasure from a short hike around Messinger Lake (a.k.a., trout pond) at Coopers Rock State Forest.
From top: the nearly ripe berries of frost grape (Vitis vulpina)*, whose fruit reaches full maturity just before the first frost of October; sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), whose dried leaves were once used as an ingredient in snuff; Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), also known as ghost plant and corpse plant, a parasitic plant that derives nutrients from trees via a mycorrhizal relationship with fungi; Appalachian ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes arcisepala), a late summer orchid found growing at the moist edges of wetlands; white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), a late-summer perennial of Appalachia’s rich woods and clearings; a pair of eastern destroying angels (Amanita bisporigera) hiding in the ferns, an idyllic spot for these deadly beauties; a young sulphur shelf fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus), also known as chicken-of-the-woods, at prime edibility; and Appalachian oak-leech (Aureolaria laevigata), also known as entireleaf yellow false foxglove and smooth false foxglove, a partially-parasitic plant that attaches to and derives nutrients from oak tree roots while also creating energy from photosynthesis.
* Corrected the scientific name from an earlier post.
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In the same lucky spot as the dittany, another interesting plant, yellow false foxglove, Aureolaria, partially parasitic on the roots of oak trees.Is this smooth or fern-leaved yellow false foxglove? I’m guessing fern-leaved, but I could be wrong, and it even seemed as if two kinds were growing along there. The bees love these!
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Golden-yellow Wave, Idaea aureolaria Canon 400D EF 100 2.8 f/4 1/80 iso: 800 Srbsko, CZE June 27, 2010
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Fernleaf false foxglove, Aureolaria pedicularia. It is partially parasitic on the roots of oak trees. And the bees love it! When all of the flowers open, it’s as if the plant itself hums.
Growing on the same road bank as the American dittany, along with lots of silverrod but no goldenrod. <3
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