I’ll begin this Post with the teaser photograph immediately below, offering it without explanatory text, which you’ll see after the A First Time Encounter heading.

 

A forester, I’ve long found fascination in tree form… whether the veneer-quality cherrybark oak below left, or the distorted, burly Bigfoot oak below right. I’ve included these photos in previous Posts. So, I won’t include any location or explanatory text. My real intent is to lead to revealing more about the unique curiosity in the photo above.

Common Oddities on Living Trees

 

The two photos above capture the range of tree form I’ve encountered across my Alabama forest wanderings, and that I have discussed in prior Posts. These two curiosities below result from non-fatal viral or fungal infections and the resultant growth abnormalities.

 

As does this odd form associated with a broken and now calloused-over branch stub.

 

And, this curiosity originated with a severed (e.g., wind breakage) companion bole (a twin stem), which left an infection court (the wound) for decay fungi that are actively hollowing the trunk and misshaping the base.

 

I now have a full portfolio of odd tree forms and curiosities, including the spherical two-foot diameter burl below left and the primitive spirit face below right. Both are viral or fungal-triggered growth abnormalities.

Less Common Curiosities

 

Root grafts with an adjacent living tree of the same species maintain active growth in the remaining rind of this yellow poplar stump, which is root-grafted to a large and vibrant yellow poplar tree just off-camera. The pole-sized (12-inch root collar diameter) trunk fell long enough ago that even its decaying remains are no longer present.

 

This poplar lost its twin fork (again, wind?) likely decades previous. The raw wound continues to callous and within another decade the scar will have closed. Decay fungi are nearly certain to be consuming interior wood.

 

These two beech stumps (eight and twelve inches diameter, respectively) enjoy root grafts with a mature beech nearby.

 

Some in our contemporary popular literature attribute such oddities to a caring and nurturing parent tree, one that shows love and compassion for the unfortunate smaller neighbor. I say “rubbish.” Physical contact (above or below ground) of like species often results in a grafted union. I simply will not accept that such union has its basis in affection, love, emotional embrace or any form of tree-attributed anthropomorphism. In this case, the larger neighbor feels no sense of commitment, obligation, or adoptive spirit for the still-living stump. Instead, I believe that the reasons and explanations are physiological.

The plant physiology literature continues to explore the mechanism and its underlying evolutionary advantages. For example, some have postulated about the advantage to the vibrant living beech-neighbor via its grafted root-union with the above two stump-trees. Here’s my own assessment. By grafting to roots of the two stump-trees, the vibrant survivor now taps soil resources (water, nutrients, soil aeration) accessed and gathered from both its own original roots as well as the root system of the two stump-trees. I don’t buy the mother-love emotion rationale. So, rather than an act of commensalism (mutually advantageous partnership), the larger tree has out-competed the smaller (weaker) individuals, accelerating their demise… and now, via the graft union, the victor has appropriated the victims’ roots for its own purposes. All is fair in love and war… and, this is brutal combat. Love and peace are a myth among trees competing for scarce resources. Simply, to the victor go the spoils. Another iteration of Darwin’s survival of the fittest.

A First-Time Encounter

 

I have previously seen all of the examples above in my five decades of forest wanderings… some more frequently than others, but none have I seen rarely enough for me to dedicate an entire Post to its revelation and discussion. However, this one that I encountered February 24, 2021, within the bottomland hardwood forests on the eastern end of Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge spurred this Blog Post. The trunk and the 30x30x30″ cube are southern red oak. This adjacent growth anomaly brought to mind a piece of furniture lying on the forest floor, a portable barked-artifact that could be moved and repositioned. However, rest assured, it is securely anchored. I believe that, like the two beech stumps, this table owes its origin to a broken stump with roots grafted to the surviving southern red oak tree.

 

I offer four quarter-views to complete the 360 perspective. I feel somewhat like the magician giving a full-round view of the box his assistant has just entered… after he has closed the lid and before he begins sawing the container into two halves. I don’t want the reader to think I have hidden some secret facet of this forest anomaly.

 

I examined it time and again, marveling at its mystery.

 

Yet, isn’t almost everything in Nature a mystery of sorts? I recently found an apt Albert Einstein quote: It’s not that one thing is a miracle, but that the whole thing is a miracle. If not a miracle, then certainly a wonder, just one more element of Nature’s capacity to intrigue, inspire, and lift us. This barked-table…this astounding growth abnormality…falls within Nature’s trick-bag, her infinite reservoir of magic that stirs my imagination and stimulates the forest scientist within me to ponder and seek to understand.

I know from both my science discipline and my lifelong Nature addiction that nothing she presents should surprise me. Leonardo da Vinci observed 500 years ago:

While human ingenuity may devise various inventions to the same ends, it will never devise anything more beautiful, nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than nature does, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous.

Although this particular curiosity puzzles me, I know that the effect falls within Nature’s own laws. Again, da Vinci:

Necessity is the theme and the inventress, the eternal curb and law of nature. Nature never breaks her own laws.

As I’ve written many times during the frequent occasions when I’ve pondered Nature’s causes and effects, I’ve often wished I could travel back in time in decadal increments, returning to the series of events leading to creating phenomenon like this barked-table anomaly.

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer three observations from contemplating Nature’s odd handiwork:

• Nature’s capacity to intrigue and inspire is without limit
• Grand mystery awaits the observant student of Nature
• The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding Nature

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, Humble, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

 

 

I returned November 30 mid-morning to the eastern end of nearby Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. As is often the case for my Refuge excursions, I bushwhacked through the bottomland hardwood forests. I saw and photographed enough magic and wonder to yield two Blog Posts. I focused the first one last week on the fungi and non-flowering plants I encountered:

I celebrate the bottomland hardwood and its forest tree oddities and curiosities with this second Post. I hope you’ll pardon a little mirthful image play!

The Bottomland Hardwood Forest

 

Typical of these very productive bottomlands along the Tennessee River (now Lake Wheeler), the forests are diverse, generally 70-90 years old, and 80 to well over 100 feet tall. During this walk I found a recently wind-thrown oak and paced its height (well, okay, its length) at 112 feet. The point is, these are rich sites.

 

Although there is nothing unusual about this shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), the species’ signature bark is a curiosity in and of itself. Some species of bats seek shelter under the bark strips. I have long been a fan of shagbark hickory, even when as a practicing forester I had to maneuver my diameter tape under the strips to make an accurate measurement of a tree’s diameter. The sawyer doesn’t care what the diameter is of the shagginess; he cares only about the wood and its merchantable yield.

 

Okay, now I enter the realm of true tree form oddities and curiosities.

Tree Form Curiosities

 

Bear with me. Upon encountering this misshapen sugar maple (Acer saccharum), I snapped a photo because of its distorted burl shape, the few small stems protruding from surface warts, and its profuse covering of mosses. It wasn’t until I inserted the photo in this Post that I noticed the image of my favorite Wookie, Chewbacca, gazing to the forward right, just like he is in the photo I borrowed from a uncredited website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discovered no hidden images in this wounded sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) that is fighting a losing battle with heart rot. The stem is attempting to callous over the old wound even as the decay is eating more deeply and most likely extending upward into the trunk. Keep in mind that the fungi is consuming only dead wood, the structural and load-bearing interior wood. Only the rind of any tree constitutes the living cambium, the conducting xylem and phloem tissue. Apparent in this view is that some living creature (e.g. chipmunk. squirrel, bird, insect) is working to increase the hollow, depositing excavated woody debris from within. The fight will continue until some tipping point is reached or the tree succumbs from other causes.

 

The Morton Arboretum website describes cankers, the growths below on a red oak species and a hickory: A ‘canker’ is really a symptom of an injury often associated with an open wound that has become infected by a fungal or bacterial pathogen. Canker diseases frequently kill branches or structurally weaken a plant until the infected area breaks free, often in a wind or ice storm. These are classic specimens. In effect, they act as benign tumors… a non fatal cancer. Both the oak and the hickory seemed otherwise healthy, the structural weakness not manifesting any detectable deterioration of tree vigor and vitality.

 

This oak stands adjacent to the HGH access road, which leads me back to the gravel lot and my car after my forest ramblings. I’ve seen it many times, giving my brain ample time to construct a vivid image.

 

 

A visage that takes me back to my days as Vice Chancellor at NC State University, home of the Wolfpack. The wolf with the cap greets me with an imagined wink when I pass. No menacing growl from this canine. More a faint good-natured smile. I suppose that were I a Duke Blue Devil or a Carolina Tar Heel (bitter rivals of the Wolfpack on the field of play), the thinly concealed grin would transform to a vicious snarl!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, nothing fanciful with this tortured sweetgum, yet another individual fighting the good fight with heart rot. The swollen trunk signals deep decay. Fungi fruiting bodies along the left side suggest cambium on that side is dying. Fighting the good fight may be an overstatement; this tree is, it appears, losing the good fight. As I have said with nearly every one of my forest Posts, life and death operate hand-in-hand. Nothing mirthful about the situation facing this sweetgum.

 

If possible, this oak may be in even worse straits, its life on the edge. Again, it wasn’t until I placed the photo in this Post that I saw proof that we are in Alabama, home of the National Championship Crimson Tide and its mascot Big Al. The photo speaks for itself.

 

The woods are filled with fanciful images and faces. I suppose they are, in fact, as Robert Frost proclaimed in Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, lovely, dark and deep. Not dark and sinister, foul and repugnant, nor teeming with savage beasts. These bottomland hardwood forests fill me with their beauty, magic, wonder, and awe.

Hardwoods Straight and Tall

 

I captured these two photos during a previous visit this past summer, depicting the forest in its full majestic glory. Trees stout and towering… no tortured forms nor blemishes. These are the trees of forest glamour magazines, with coifed hair, flattering makeup, fresh from the gym, six-pack abs, and just-right lighting. Except that these are the real thing… no photo-shopping. Yet, this isn’t Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. Even these rich sites produce forests of mixed vintage, with trees ranging from the beauties below to the misshapen forms and curiosities above. I suppose such is the way of Nature. Variety, in point of fact, whether within forests or of human populations, is the spice of life, survival, and evolution.

 

Beauty surely is in the eye of the beholder. Retired Steve sees magnificence across the forest spectrum.

Amazing Find

 

November 30 brought a big surprise, one of a very positive nature. August 8, 2020, I had bushwhacked this same bottomland forest. When I emerged onto the gravel road for trekking back to my vehicle, I noticed the empty selfie-stick sling at my side. I re-entered the woods to search, the forest rich with undergrowth all about me. See the two photos immediately above. While not impenetrable thickets, the forest floor is not bare and open to finding an 18-inch collapsed telescoping rod. I abandoned the search after 30 minutes of trying to retrace the rambling pathway I had taken. On each subsequent trundle through these woods, perhaps three times since mid-August, I stayed alert for the rod, without success. As I was nearing the road for my return to the parking area, I saw a shiny object in the autumn leaf litter several feet ahead. Only the two-inch square reflecting pad (below) peeked through the litter, the rest of the rod effectively hidden!

 

I observe often that Nature keeps much of her beauty, magic, wonder, and awe hidden in plain sight. Apparently that is not all she hides. So, November 30, 2020, proved to be a good day. Lots of fungi, ferns, and mosses; fanciful tree form oddities and curiosities; a months-long missing piece of equipment revealed to a forest wanderer (and wonderer)!

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer two observations from my late November trek through the early winter riparian forest:

• There’s pure magic in the southern riparian forest… whether in towering trees or in strange and distorted sylvan Nature-creations
• Each tree tells a story, demanding forest sleuthing and, occasionally, vivid imagination

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

 

October 26, 2020, I visited TVA’s Marbut Bend Trail, managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) with fellow Nature enthusiast, Alabama State Parks Naturalist Emeritus Mike Ezell. From the Marbut Bend Trail website (https://www.tva.com/environment/recreation/tva-trails/tva-trails-detail-page/marbut-bend-trail):

Looking for a lovely, hand-holding stroll for two? You’ll find it at TVA’s newly opened Marbut Bend Trail. This easy, flat and A.D.A.-accessible 1.1-mile walk will take you across boardwalks through a wetland and a pond created by a beaver dam, along the shoreline of two embayments (or coves) of the Elk River and through an open field filled with hay bails. The combination of wetland and field draws a lively mix of wildlife; expect to see migratory shore birds, wood ducks, blue-winged teals, great blue herons, egrets, deer, raccoons—and, of course, beavers. Throw out a blanket on the farmland and snuggle in for a romantic picnic. The trail is about 12 miles northwest of Athens, Alabama, on Hwy. 99.

I could not have prepared a better description. Located near Elk River’s entry to Wheeler Lake (the Tennessee River impoundment above TVA’s Wheeler Dam), Elk River at this point assumes the same level as the Lake. I spent little time off-trail. I do not intend for this Post to offer deep insight, reflection, and discussion of this very family-friendly slice of the broad Tennessee Valley. I feel more like a Chamber advocate than a naturalist with this Post. However, my motive for presenting this rather Nature-shallow Post aligns with my retirement Mission:

Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Anything I can do (and write) to encourage fellow citizens to immerse themselves in Nature helps achieve that mission. I had not heard of Marbut Bend Trail until Mike suggested we visit. I know that many residents of the Huntsville metropolitan area are also likewise ignorant of this wonderful preserve just 30 miles from city center. Importantly, all Huntsville citizens (USA) hold joint title to Marbut Bend, just as we do for all federal Forests, Parks, Preserves, Memorials, and Monuments.

So, allow me a quick catalog of natural features and landscapes along Marbut Bend Trail. Wet meadows and marshes dominate this view from the entrance.

 

Diverse Wetland Habitats

I’m fascinated and inspired by wooden walkways across otherwise inaccessible ecotypes (below left). I snapped the lake image from a wooden deck later along the trail. Not visible in the photo are dozens of great egrets and a single great blue heron. Although a forester, I retain within me a closet meteorologist, obsessed with the firmament. The sky provides nuance and character to every Nature scene and viewscape, even as in and of itself the sky and its associated weather merit study and understanding. Perhaps this cloud deck presaged the October 28 deluge (I measured 3.25″) dumped by the remnants of hurricane Zeta. The lower right image confirms my memory of calmness, with not even a breeze to ripple its mirrored surface.

 

Excellent signage helps visitors understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature.

 

Cattails grow in abundance (below left). Duckweed covered the water adjacent to the boardwalk (below right).

 

The cattails below left are releasing countless windborne seeds. The woolgrass is providing a feast for marauding birds. A fool for autumn, I cherish the signs, signals, and look of summer (hot, humid, persistent) in full retreat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, signage assists the casual observer (and the forest naturalist) in understanding and appreciating Nature’s marsh-side wonder.

 

Marbut Bend’s is a story of ecotones, one ecotype transitioning to another, including the forest edge with marsh (below left) and the forest edge to mudflat (below right). Wildlife of all manner capitalize on the panoply of habitats.

 

From upland forest to marsh to mudflat to open lake — a pure gift to biological diversity, all easily accessible along a well-maintained gravel path and boardwalk trail.

 

This set of photos reminds me that there is a world of Nature’s inspiration close to home and within reach of a 1.1-mile easy stroll!

Upland Margins

Too dry for obligate wetland species, the transition zones support trees (shrubs) like black willow (Salix nigra; below left) and climbing hempvine (Mikania scandens; below right). Both species offered late October aesthetic value, the willow with its red twigs and the hempvine still in full flower.

 

Roundleaf greenbrier (Smilax rotundifolia) likewise occupied the transition and upland sites. Various birds will appreciate its contribution of ripe berries.

 

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) verified the advance of autumn, providing a dash of fall color.

 

Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), an aggressive invasive, and hickory (Carya sp.) likewise added seasonal color to the uplands.

 

Same for pawpaw (Asimina triloba) and basswood (Tilia americana) matching the hickory’s color.

 

 

 

 

 

I find our common mosses attractive occupants of forest floor, windthrow soil mounds, lower tree trunks, and rocks and outcrops. This patch has colonized and decorated a windthrow soil mound.

 

 

I’ll end with a photo of an abrupt transition, where loblolly pine meets marsh. Mike stands in full appreciation of the vivid demarcation.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

A late October 1.1-mile hike at Marbut Bend Trail, a TVA property, afforded:

• Diverse habitats
• Rich biodiversity
• Manifold fall indicators

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

August 18, 2020, Alabama State Parks Naturalist Emeritus Mike Ezell and I focused our Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge explorations interior to the Blackwell Swamp loop road on the Refuge’s eastern extension. See two previous Posts from our wanderings in both a pine terrace forest (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/09/09/pine-forest-on-a-rich-terrace-above-lake-wheeler-on-the-wnw-refuge/) and through a bottomland hardwood ecosystem (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/09/16/hardwood-forest-on-seasonally-flooded-lowlands-along-lake-wheeler-on-the-wnw-refuge/).

Even as our main target had been the two forest types, we marveled at the floral and butterfly extravaganza along the gravel road.

Floral Elegance

 

We appreciated that maintenance crews had not mowed vegetation between the woods edge and driving surface. A wall of vegetation grew to head height…and higher. Although we did not inventory every species in bloom that we encountered, we did photograph some of the more impressive late summer flowers. Mike stands admiring the roadside botanical garden below.

 

Pineland (or snow) squarestem (Melanthera nivea) grew profusely along the road (below left), standing 5-8-feet. We spotted an occasional buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), a species of flowering plant in the coffee family. It is native to eastern and southern North America. From the Morton Arboretum online: Buttonbush is a great shrub for naturalizing in wet areas. The glossy green leaves and fragrant, round flower clusters during mid-summer attract butterflies.  Native to the Chicago area and the eastern United States, buttonbush attracts more than 24 species of birds, as well as numerous species of butterflies. No wonder the roadside attracted so many butterflies!

 

And what a gem we discovered with this halberd-leaf rosemallow (Hibiscus laevis), one of just a few we spotted. I felt fortunate to read this from the NC State University online Extension Gardener: White to pink flowers bloom from June to August and are 5 petaled with a deeper colored throat and up to 6 inches wide. Prominent long stamens in the center of the cup-shaped flower. Each flower lasts for a day. Fortunate because we were there for that flower’s single day performance! And I learned more from the site:

The Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow is a native perennial in the mallow family.  It has erect green stems and large showy white or pink flowers.  It is a relative of the okra and has a slimy mucilaginous sap.  It grows quickly in warm weather and works well in wetland gardens and woodland habitats. This plant prefers full or partial sun, fertile soil, and wet conditions. Use in the water or rain garden, along streams or ponds or wet areas of the cottage or native plant garden. Although the text is intended for adventurous home gardeners, as a naturalist intending to understand Nature’s natives in-place, I can better appreciate that this rosemallow is perfectly suited to flourish along the Blackwell Swamp Road.

 

 

We identified a few specimens of Carolina horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) in flower. I turned to Wikipedia’s simple paragraph: Solanum carolinense, the Carolina horsenettle, is not a true nettle, but a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family. It is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to the southeastern United States that has spread widely throughout much of temperate North America. The Plants for a Future website offered more complex detail, including:

All parts of the plant are potentially poisonous. Fatalities have been reported with children. I’ll make sure not to ingest any parts!

 

I did not recall previously encountering American groundnut (Apios americana) in flower. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Texas) describes the species as a Climbing vine with maroon or reddish-brown pea-like flowers in compact racemes arising from leaf axils. This legume has a cord-like rootstalk with edible tubers the Indians gathered for food. The Pilgrims relied on them as a food source during their initial years in Massachusetts. The tubers can be used in soups and stews or fried like potatoes; the cooked seeds can also be eaten. The flowers are sufficiently beautiful to warrant cultivation, but the plant tends to take over. The generic name, from Greek for pear, alludes to the shape of the tubers. I can understand why a gardener might be tempted to transplant a seedling or two into a perennial landscape bed, risking the plant’s propensity to take over.

 

We found abundant bear’s foot (Smallanthus uvedalia). Also known as hairy leafcup, this species is a member of the Asteraceae, the Sunflower family. A USDA online source notes that this leafcup is a species of moist to dry, lightly shaded to open woodland, savanna, thickets, fields, and bottomland. This species is found from Michigan southwest to Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, south to Oklahoma and Texas, east to New York and New Jersey, and, south to Florida. Some manuals also consider it native from Mexico to Panama. This species flowers in July to September. It is an excellent nectar/pollen plant and is visited by many species of bees and wasps. 

 

We also found a member of the pea family, bigpod sesbania (Sesbania herbacea). I find the technical plant manual descriptions written in a language (yes, it’s English) uniquely their own, both confidently specific and accurate, yet somewhat lyrical and mystical. From a USDA online source: Bigpod sesbania is a semi-woody, native, perennial where it can be grown yearlong in frost-free zones or as an annual warm-season legume where it is frost-killed. It has smooth, green, tapering stems that become woody with age. Although it only has a few wide-spreading branches, it can grow 3–10 ft tall. The Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Guide former species name exaltata means extremely tall, and refers to the plant’s height. The alternately arranged 30 cm leaves are even-pinnately compound, with approximately 20–70 oppositely arranged leaflets. Leaflets are 0.75–2.5 cm long, with smooth margins and a pointed tip. They are somewhat hairy or waxy underneath.

 

We encountered many other plants in late summer bloom, but did not see our role to inventory an exhaustive list.

Lepidopteran Abundance

 

We saw any number of bee, wasp, and fly pollinators. However, we focused our attention on our Lepidopteran friends. Two of the more showy species common along the road shoulder were Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papillio glaucus; below) and black swallowtail (Papillio polyxenes; further below). From Wikipedia: The Eastern swallowtail is a species of butterfly native to eastern North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States, where it is common in many different habitats. It flies from spring to fall, during which it produces two to three broods. Adults feed on the nectar of many species of flowers. The male is yellow with four black “tiger stripes”  on each forewing. Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph is almost completely black.

The green eggs are laid singly on plants of the families Magnoliaceae and Rosaceae. Young caterpillars are brown and white; older ones are green with two black, yellow, and blue eyespots on the thorax. The caterpillar will turn brown prior to pupating. It will reach a length of 5.5 centimeters (2.2 in). The chrysalis varies from a whitish color to dark brown. Hibernation occurs in this stage in locations with cold winter months. The eastern tiger swallowtail is the state Alabama state butterfly (as well as state mascot). State mascot? I had no idea. I suppose most Alabamians, depending upon their perspective, assumed our state mascot was either Aubie the Tiger or Big AL!

Photo Credit: Mike Ezell

 

Likewise, the black swallowtail is also a common butterfly in our region and along our road shoulder. From a University of Florida entomology website: The eastern black swallowtail is one of our most common and most studied swallowtails. Although it is admired for its beauty, it is one of the very few butterflies that may occasionally be considered a pest. It has been known by a variety of other names including black swallowtail, American swallowtail, parsnip swallowtail, parsley swallowtail, celeryworm, and caraway worm. Several subspecies of Papillio polyxenes occur in Mexico, Central America and South America. Habitats of the black swallowtail are generally open areas, including both uplands and wet areas—wet prairies, fields, flat-woods, pine savannas, roadsides, weedy areas, and gardens. Males perch and patrol open areas for females—often near patches of host plant.

Eggs are laid singly on the host plants—usually on new foliage and occasionally on flowers. Development time is variable depending on temperature and host plant species, but generally the egg stage lasts four to nine days, the larval stage 10–30 days, and the pupal stage nine to 18 days (except for overwintering pupae). Pupae are the overwintering stage. There are two generations in northern parts of the range but at least three generations in the South.

Photo Credit: Mike Ezell

 

Mike identified and photographed a long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus). From the Alabama Butterfly Atlas: No other skipper in Alabama has iridescent blue-green on its upper wings and body! These flashy skippers avidly visit flowers for nectar, and often hang upside-down to feed.   In most years, Long-tails move into Alabama from Florida, usually appearing by early summer.  They colonize as far north as the New England States, where the arrival of cold weather sees them start a southward movement to warmer climates. They cannot tolerate freezing temperatures in any stage of their life cycle. Long-tailed Skippers overwinter as reproductively arrested adults in tropical and subtropical areas. It is likely that this widespread species will eventually be documented in every county in Alabama, where they are welcome and frequent garden visitors.

The Long-tailed Skipper is distributed from Argentina northward through Central America, the West Indies, and Mexico to southeastern Texas and along the Gulf coastal states to Florida.

Photo Credit: Mike Ezell

 

We saw many individuals of Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae). From iNaturalist: The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly in the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. That subfamily was formerly set apart as a separate family, the Heliconiidae. The Heliconiinae are “longwing butterflies,” which have long, narrow wings compared to other butterflies. Gulf fritillary is the only member of genus Agraulis. Agraulis vanillae is most commonly found in the southern areas of the United States, specifically in many regions of Florida and Texas.

Gulf fritillaries have a chemical defense mechanism in which they release odorous chemicals in response to predator sightings. As a result, common predators learn to avoid this species. Pheromones play a critical role in male-female courtship behaviors, with male gulf fritillaries emitting sex pheromones that contribute to mate choice in females.

Photo Credit: Mike Ezell

 

Blackwell Swamp

 

From floral elegance to butterfly abundance along the roadway, allow me a sidelong gaze into Blackwell Swamp from a view-point at road’s edge. We stopped to enjoy the view eastward just as a barred owl swept silently from our left as we enjoyed the open panorama of water, aqua-vegetation, and the hardwood forests fronting the swamp.

 

The barred owl (Strix varia) alighted on a willow oak branch just a dozen feet above ground. The lighting (too-bright background) did not allow a clear image, yet we thrilled nevertheless at seeing this magnificent true owl. From the All About Birds website: The Barred Owl’s hooting call, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” is a classic sound of old forests and treed swamps. But this attractive owl, with soulful brown eyes and brown-and-white-striped plumage, can also pass completely unnoticed as it flies noiselessly through the dense canopy or snoozes on a tree limb. Originally a bird of the east, during the twentieth century it spread through the Pacific Northwest and southward into California.

 

I’ll repeat that Mike and I had no advance intent to explore roadside vegetation. Its richness and beauty came as a bonus, meriting this third Blog Post from our wanderings on the eastern end of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge on a seasonably hot and humid mid-August day. A bit of sweat and insects was a toll rewarded amply by a full dose of beauty, magic, wonder, and awe!

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer two observations from our mid-August observations along the Blackwell Swamp loop road:

• There’s pure magic along the southern riparian forest-edge roadside
• Sunlight fuels Nature’s explosion of botanic (and pollinator) power 

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

 

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.