Category: Friday puzzle

Voodoo and the evil eye

Friday’s “evil frog eye” was actually part of a voodoo lily (Dracunculus vulgaris), found growing in a drainage ditch in California (I’ve seen one in a drainage ditch in Seattle as well):

Obviously this introduced garden ornamental has escaped cultivation and is now “going rogue.”  Will it become a nuisance weed? Will it displace native species? Should it be banned from sale by nurseries?

Sigh.

Chlorosis mystery uncovered – maybe

Sorry about the long wait in discussing the weekend’s post!  (Technical troubles with access here in BlogVille.)  In any case, many of you zeroed in on the defunct lime kiln as a possible pH adjuster.  It would have been really interesting during those years to see how materials were processed – for instance, was there a lot of lime dust that settled over the area?  Where did the limestone come from – was it carted in by train or was it local?  Were chlorosis problems visible then?

In any case, my educated guess is that a lot of limestone chunks brought to the area for processing were left scattered around the site and were eventually buried over time.  Plants recolonized the area, but where these chunks of limestone are sited we have pockets of chlorosis.  The only way to tell for sure would be to test the soil pH, and I did not have pH strips in my backpack.

An artifact from the old settlement, long since covered by the forest.

Interveinal chlorosis mystery

Today my family took our annual 4th of July weekend hike.  We ended up on a fairly new trail through the Robe Canyon Historic Park.  It was a gorgeous day and we saw all manner of plants and animals.  The highlight of this trail is an old lime kiln; bricks and other remnants of early settlers are scattered around the area.  The kiln closed in the 1930’s.  (The hot link embedded in the park name leads to a 2004 article about the trail and the history of the site.)

Ever on the lookout for interesting plants or plant problems, I found many of our native species with definite signs of interveinal chlorosis.  This is indicative of a foliar deficiency of iron or manganese. These forest soils are rarely deficient in either nutrient, and they also tend to be acidic (meaning that it’s easy to take up iron and managanese; alkaline soils inhibit uptake).

So why are these native plants, naturally growing on native soils, showing iron and/or manganese deficiency?Answer on Monday!

 

Gigantic hostas

I know Friday’s puzzle was a bit too easy – but I needed some way to discuss the giant hostas we have in our landscape this year:

We have had a very wet and cold spring.  While it was misery for us above-ground types, the plants absolutely loved the abundant water.  When the leaves open and expand on these continually-watered plants, they reach maximum size.  The hosta leaves in this photo aren’t the size of dinner plates – they’re more like turkey platters.

A word of caution to all of you with similar happy plants:  when the drier, hotter months of summer arrive, you’re going to have to keep these puppies well watered.  Otherwise, the leaves will soon turn crispy and brown around the edges.

A jewel of an orchid

Orchid fanciers Derek and Joseph correctly identified Friday’s mystery plant as a jewel orchid, specifically Macodes petola:


Friday’s sparkly leaf photo shows why “jewel orchid” is the common name used for several genera of orchids with showstopping foliage.

And Ray noted that Goodyera spp. (rattlesnake plantain) is a native US jewel orchid with beautiful variegated foliage. Next time you’re hiking in the woods, keep your eye out for this common yet striking plant.

Mystery pits revealed

I’d turned Friday’s picture on end to try to fool you…but to no avail.  Deirdre and Gail both guessed woodpeckers, and yes, this is sapsucker damage:

Though some woodpeckers look for insects under the bark, sapsuckers drill neat lines of wells that fill with sap.  The birds can then move down the line of wells, lapping up sugar water.  (Kind of the avian version of lining up tequilla shots on the bar.)  Healthy trees are generally not at risk of dying from drilling injury, though if the tree is completely girdled that would be a problem.  Trees stressed by other factors could be also be killed by this final straw.

(Deb and @s both thought the photo might be a cactus skeleton, and it certainly looks like one!  Hadn’t thought of that myself.)