Shay and Hannah Field Botany

Phenology Post

Asimina triloba flowering

photo by Hannah Spivey

We returned to Ruffner Mountain today (04/11) to continue collecting plants and check our phenology species. Our Asimina triloba, pawpaw, tree had first flowers out (which is indicated by the visible stamens on flowers on at least three branches) and almost full flower. There are still no leaves present on the tree. The two pictures below show the pawpaw tree we are tracking.

Cornus florida in full flower

Photo by Hannah Spivey

The tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera seems to have changed only a little since our last visit. The flowers are more unfolded so we are saying it is at first flower. Our last tree,Cornus florida, showed an even bigger change since our last visit. Last time we jsut saw bud bursting, but this time we see all the leaves and flowers unfolded on the dogwood tree we are following. This seems to have happens fairly quickly.

Liriodendron tulipifera in first flower

photo by Hannah Spivey

Project Update

We collected many species of plants today from herbaceous to woody. Unfortunately, we have an abundance Toxicodendron randicans, Poison Ivy, which we have to be very careful of. We were also able to clearly identify Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata, by its distinct shredded bark. We also have several Trillium sp. plants. A few weeks ago we saw yellow flowers with tie-dyed looking leaves which we then identified in lab as Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum, it no longer has flowers on the plants at out site. We also collected many samples that we plan to key out later.