Saturday, April 10, 2010

Vegetation: April 10, 2010

My nature spot is now teeming with different plants, shrubs, trees and grasses. While spending some time there this past week, I was able to identify four of these forms of vegetation: common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), wild violets (Viola decumbens), lyre-leaved rock cress (Arabis lyrata), and white clover (Trifolium repens L.).


A bright yellow dandelion grows in my nature spot (Rachel Schoenian, 2010).


Wild violets hidden in the tall grasses (Photo by: Rachel Schoenian, 2010).


Lyre-leaved Rock cress in the area (Photo by: Rachel Schoenian, 2010).


White clover is scattered throughout the grassy areas of my nature spot (Photo by: Rachel Schoenian, 2010).

Lyre-leaved Rock-cress is a native species to the United States, inhabiting many of the eastern and midwestern states as well as parts of central and western Canada, Montana, Washington, and Alaska (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife 2008). The plant is typically four to twelve inches in height and generally resides in rocks or sandy soil. It makes sense that I found this particular plant in my nature spot, as there is an abundance of rocky and sandy soil around the banks of the Jordan River. During its flowering time, from April to May, lyre-leaved rock-cress plants grow small white flowers, usually only ¼ of an inch in diameter (Connecticut Botanical Society 2005). The plants are either biennial or short-lived perennial herbs and are also known as Lyrate rock-cress or sand cress. (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife 2008). Lyre-leaved Rock cress also serves as food for larva of the falcate orange-tip butterfly, which tend to visit the plants around flowering time (Connecticut Botanical Society 2005).


Another image of the Lyre-leaved Rock cress (Photo by: Rachel Schoenian, 2010).

While observing my nature spot to write this entry, I noticed that there was no shortage of vegetation options to choose from. The area is host to two maple trees which tower over the rest of the plants. Ivy grows along the sides of the bridge. And the grasses are crawling with all sorts of different weeds and forms of vegetation. It was not that I did not observe these plants, but that it would have taken me days to identify each and every one of them!

Works Cited
Connecticut Botanical Society. 2005. “Lyre-leaved Rock Cress.” 10 April 2010. http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/arabislyra.html.
Massachusetts Divison of Fisheries and Wildlife. 2008. “Lyre-leaved Rock-cress.” 10 April 2010. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/species_info/nhfacts/arabidopsis_lyrata.pdf.