Ημερολόγιο της/του dlcarterksu

I had the afternoon off, so I walked Thistle down by the lake and along the bluff at Sheridan Park.

Notable finds from this walk were Cotoneaster divaricatus and Shepherdia canadensis.

I found a large, escaped Cotoneaster population growing on an open slope with Juniperus communis. This species will have to be added to the naturalized (and natural) flora of SE Wisconsin. The state herbarium has two previous records from the region. One was annotated as cultivated. The other was potentially naturalized in Racine county (so it probably should have been in our flora). From the looks of this population, we may be seeing more of it in the coming years. The thickets, woodlands, and shores of the near-lake parts of Milwaukee County are a who's who escaped shrubs.

I had seen Shepherdia earlier this summer in Kenosha county, but the leaves on the plants I observed there were much smaller, so I suspected, probably in part because of all the crap I've seen in this area, that this was an escaped Viburnum (a real ID whiff). Robert Curtis set me straight. Shepherdia canadensis is uncommon and restricted to sandy areas very near Lake Michigan in SE Wisconsin.

I forgot to put the battery from my charger back in my camera, so I used my phone, which doesn't handle wet surfaces well. Oh well.

I wanted to get out this weekend before the rain, so I took Thistle to walk in the Kettle Moraine State forest and associated sandy barrens/prairies and around Scuppernong Springs. I was hoping the Aristida species (four of them) on the sand prairies would still be holding their seeds, but they had all dropped.

I went for a walk at Jacobus Park in Wauwatosa, checking out a neighborhood where maybe I want to live. It was a mild, windy morning, with temperatures in the sixties and high humidity.

This was a short walk, because a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) tornado watch was issued, and sure enough, I was in my basement with sirens going off about an hour later. I may be there again soon.

Today I went to the lake to make a collection from the naturalized population of Cotoneaster down by the lake. While doing that, I photographed some other plants in the area.

Later, I went to a woods just inland to check on the status of a particular listed plant. It was not detectable at present, but that may be due to the season. I did find many other interesting woodland and swamp plants. Unfortunately, run-off from a nearby project has deposited mud over many of the best parts of the swamp and the margins of the meandering woodland stream that drains it. DNR was informed.

It was a frigid weekend for the deer opener, and having come away with no deer, at least I saw a few plants and misc.