I’ve been wondering for some time whether my frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) would flower in the pond, since it’s virtually taken over the entire pond surface, and even has leaves towering above some of the stem plants. This weekend, I was sitting down by the pond, and started thumbing through the thicket of leaves, looking for our resident frogs, and I started noticing quite a few of these pretty little yellowish hairy flowers just above the water’s surface. As I looked closer, I noticed them all throughout the pond.

It appears that the frogbit has been flowering for some time under the cover of it’s own leaves, unbeknownst to me. As you can see, the flower itself extends on a short stalk, directly from each nod. The stalk itself is only about an inch tall, and flower not much bigger. I lifted this particular plant out of the water slightly to be able to get a better picture. I suppose the next step is to see if any seed pods develop. I haven’t seen any yet. Not that this plants needs any seeds; it’s prolific enough of a grower for my liking.

While some folks may be preparing for Labor Day BBQ’s, eight members of GWAPA went on a ranger-guided tour of the Suitland bog in Suitland, MD. The ranger explained how it is an active job maintaining the bog to preserve many of the native species from being crowded out. Honeysuckle is a huge invasive problem for them, over-coming many of the native forest plants such as the Lady Slipper orchid or Spotted Wintergreen, a variegated creeping plant.

In the bog itself, magnolia trees are slowly starting to shade out some of the other native plants. The rangers work with volunteers to prevent too many magnolia and poison sumac trees from stealing light from the plants below. Even so, human development surrounding the bog is an ever-increasing issue that could impact the bog in the future, despite initial environmental studies that find little threat.

With water sources for the bog being several hundred feet away, it’s not hard to see how someone putting down lime on their lawn, could eventually alter the pH of the bog water itself. If that happened, it would be a terrible shame, as the plants here are truly gorgeous.

The Northern Pitcher-Plants (Sarracenia purpurea) vary quite significantly from plant-to-plant, in terms of their purple veining, but as you can see, they’re all quite nice. The green and orange stalks rising above the plants are its’ flowers.

The pitchers themselves were mostly filled with water due to recent rains. As you can see above, this particular pitcher has successfully lured in its prey. There are many different species of plants growing in amongst the pitcher plants. Various reeds, including Ten-Angled Pipewort (Eriocaulon decangulare), which is another rare Maryland native.

The seed nodules on this Eriocaulon’s flower are quite small, as you can see below. Since it flowers from July thru August, there were flower stalks to be found everywhere throughout the bog.

Another reed found in the bog is the Twisted Spikerush (Eleocharis tortilis), seen below. I suspect that this plant probably would grow in our aquariums, but would be much taller than the dwarf hairgrass we’re used to growing from the same genus. In any case, being a protected plant in Maryland, I suspect we’ll never get the change to try.

The pitcher plants were not the only carnivorous plant in this particular bog. There was also the Spatulate-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia) shown below which is a small sundew plant that lures and traps small insects with sticky dew found on each hairy leaf. Unfortunately, the water source feeding the part of the bog that these are found is slowly declining, so the future of this particular plant here is uncertain. Another type of sundew, the Thread-leaved Sundew (Drosera filiformis) was reportedly here as well, but there have been no recent sightings of this species.

There are many other rare species of plants at the Suitland Bog. This Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra) below is considered a very rare plant in Maryland. Nevertheless, it is a very beautiful plant that I hope endures. (Note: A commenter has mentioned that this picture below is not  Asclepias rubra. This plant is listed on the brochure for the bog, and was pointed out to us by our ranger. Perhaps I have the photo mixed up.)

Finally, the ranger mentioned a number of other bogs throughout Maryland. He mentioned another one in College Park that is on Pepco land, and has recently been mowed right over, probably non-intensionally by a maintenance worker. In this regard, it’s important for more citizens to know what precious things are growing right in their backyards, and to realize the impact they can have in protecting them by treating their own land with proper care. Most state’s natural resource departments are under-funded, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have tremendous sites to visit and appreciate. Additionally, they are always looking for volunteers to help pull out invasive species, and perform general maintenance on their sites. I hope you’ve enjoyed my account of our Suitland Bog tour.

After work today, I decided to take the dogs on some trails near my house that follow along the Middle Patuxent River. I like these trails because they’re not paved, and once you get on them, you rarely see anyone else along the way. You can still hear some of the traffic from the major highways surrounding the area, but for the most part, you have the illusion that you’re lost in nature.

Today, I was fortunate to see 6-7 deer out on the trails. They didn’t stick around long enough for me to take their picture, but they are quite magnificent creatures, especially the males with their large antlers. I’m not sure what the true rating of cleanliness for this river is, but I’m often encouraged when I see several frogs, water bugs, and freshwater asiatic clams in the riverbed. Of course, the clams themselves are introduced, but that’s for someone else to worry about.

The aquatic vegetation is not very rich in this waterway. I suspect that is due to a combination of too much shade, and too little still water to allow plants to get rooted. I have spotted what appears to be a species of Polygonum, both in the water and along the banks, but little else of interest. Nevertheless, it really is a beautiful river that I enjoy visiting. I hope you enjoy the pictures as well.

I wanted to post an updated picture of my 54G, anubias, java fern, and crypt tank. I’ve really let this tank go wild, partly because I like that look in some tanks, but largely because I’m gearing up to really downgrade the maintenance requirements for some of my tanks. That means that I’m going to go back to tanks that are largely free of stem plants requiring frequent trimming. So, at the past few GWAPA meetings, I’ve tried to stock up on crypts, and guess where they’ve been going to grow out?

The anubias in this tank may not be pristine, but they’re actually looking pretty good. I have four separate plants flowering right now, so that’s never a bad sign. Just as a reminder, this tank does not use CO2 (infact I run an airstone), and I only occasionally add a few milliliters of my own PMDD mix of trace, K, and P. I figure the fish provide enough N. Finally, it’s a corner, rounded front tank, so the pictures never truly reflect how it looks. The curve in the glass seems to distort the picture, removing a lot of the depth that’s in the tank. Comments are welcome.

On Saturday, GWAPA had its August 2007 meeting out in Braddock Heights, MD at Robert’s house. Robert maintains two circulating ranges in his fish room, which means that he has multiple tanks chained together creating a much larger shared water volume than if each tank were separate. The plumbing involved with this is very impressive, and a little chaotic, if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Robert did an excellent job dispelling some of the mystery during his talk. You can find a summary of his talk on GWAPA’s website.

Part of Robert’s setup is a prominently displayed Crinum veggie-filter. The water is circulated through this tank, where huge Crinum root-balls suck up nitrate from the water. With so many siphons and pumps, it’s impossible to use CO2 injection, but nevertheless, Robert maintains some very nice low-tech tanks with anubias, val, java fern, etc… He also sports one of, if not, the oldest American colonies of Melanotaenia praecox dwarf neon rainbows, being one of the first purchasers of females in the United States from Germany.

And beyond that, our meeting had another great mini-auction, including many rare plants, and even a few aquarium setups this time. I was happy to be able to give away a few copies of The Aquatic Gardener (TAG), featuring my very first published cover image and article about GWAPA’s recent Florida collecting trip.

Along with the Ludwigia that’s flowering, my Limnophila aromatica has been flowering for almost a month now outside in my pond. Each stem sends out a number of flower buds at each node. Then, the buds open to reveal these pretty little purple flowers. The flowers themselves are only about 3/4″ long and about 1/3″ from petal to petal, with the tiny little hairs that you can see in the picture. I often see some of the smaller bees visiting these flowers.

While in Peru, the pond foliage has absolutely exploded in quantity. The frog bite has claimed 100% of the water surface, while what I think is Ludwigia brevipes is creeping along the edge of the pond. Much to my delight, it is also flowering with these pretty little yellow flowers.

The flowers themselves seem quite delicate and don’t last more than a day or two, especially with the rain we’ve been having the past couple of days. To give you an idea, these flowers are probably smaller than a U.S. dime in size. I’ve never had a Ludwigia flower underwater, so I’m quite pleased to be able to see it emersed. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Around our camp in the Amazon, all sorts of lizards could be seen scurrying about. Often times, all you’d see is the flash of a tail, and then it would be gone. This pretty little lizard below was in our tent, and all around the camp.

And of course, besides your harmless little lizards, there were also black caymans around. This particular guy was brought to us by some of the local villagers nearby. It’s really amazing how long these creatures will stay in a single pose. I suppose they’re in defensive mode or something, but once they get set, they’ll barely flinch a muscle for 10 minutes straight. That’s great for long exposures in dim light!

Look at the claws on this guy below. Can you tell that he’s found in the trees? It may not be as apparent in this picture, but look to the next.

Pretty well camouflaged, isn’t he?

This was my wife’s favorite guy. He has a very beautiful blue ring around the inside of his mouth, and didn’t seem ashamed to show it. I think he’s actually a little iguana, but then again, what do I know?

And, just like the various insects, there are lizards that look like leaves down in the jungle. This lizard is about 6-8″ inches long, and if you weren’t looking closely, you’d likely miss him on the forest floor.

Here’s a semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial turtle that was brought to us. He doesn’t look much different from a lot of the turtles we see in the United States, but still very cool. And unlike some of the turtles around me, this guy would not stay put in his shell. I had more trouble getting him to sit still then I think I’ve ever had with a turtle. Aren’t they supposed to be slow?

Finally, we were fortunately to locate both a male and female of the same species below. Of course, I don’t remember which is which, but you can see how the patterns on their back are entirely different.

I think I prefer the spotted pattern of the one below, to the barred one above, but they’re both pretty darn fun to look at. And check out their eyes!

Oh, and their teeth! This might be my favorite shot from the trip. I hope you like it.

Besides a few odds and ends that I might throw in, I think this is the last set of nature pictures I’m going to post from our trip. If you’d like to see more general descriptions of our travels, you can read about them on my wife’s blog.

Before I went to the Amazon, I was always one of those people who said they were afraid of snakes. Growing up, the worst we had to worry about were copperheads, but I think the fear that something so tiny could put you in a world of hurt was scary. Right before the trip, I had to help my mom remove a harmless black snake from their deck. Just handling that snake, you could feel the strength that they have. In the Amazon, I witnessed far more deadly snakes than the copperhead, but also saw even more strength in the boas, and more beauty in the coloration of some of these creatures. I hope you enjoy my snake photos.

The snake above is a standard tree boa constrictor. These snakes are so strong, and really coil up around a tree in an instant. Below is its much prettier cousin, the rainbow boa. One of the other photographers happened across this beautiful snake during one of his afternoon walks. With every movement, the iridescent blue shimmered one its skin.

Micrurus putumayensis, below, was quite drab looking in the shade. In the sunlight, blue undertones started shining from its dark patches. A really nice looking snake.

Next is the famous fer-de-lance. This snake is very lethal, and is not afraid to strike. While our guides were handling this snake, it struck multiple times at the handling tools, causing venom to drip down the metal surface. They told us about one unfortunate previous guest who accidentally stepped on one of these, got bit, and needed over four months to finally get back to normal. He nearly didn’t make the first day. Scary stuff, but definitely a snake to respect.

Here is a vine snake that we found on one of our night walks. I kind of like how his head is disproportionate to his body.

Another pretty snake. Unfortunately, I don’t remember whether this one, the next, or both are vine snakes, or varieties of coral snakes. If anyone has any insight, please comment and set me straight.

Again, not sure what kind of snake this is, but isn’t it pretty with the orange and black checkerboard pattern?

While in the Amazon in Peru, we saw (and heard) a huge variety of frogs in the rain forest and at the river’s edge. If you looked close, you could see huge frogs on the river banks. Their eyes would shine as large globes in the night when you flashed your light at the bank. Reeds growing from the river would be home to multiple color forms of a single species of frog. In the forest itself, frogs would inhabit trees and undergrowth alike. At nighttime, you would hear bird calls that were really frog sounds, and vice versa. Since frogs have always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph, and just marvel at, I had a blast taking these pictures. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Above is one of the large frogs that we found sitting on a riverbank. He was not one to stick around for long. He got up into this tree, and this was the only shot I was able to get of him before he scurried up the tree out of sight. It’s hard to tell how big this frog is from the picture, but he’s probably a good 8-10″ from head to foot, with a bit of heft to him.

This frog above and the one below were both found in reeds by the river’s edge. If my notes are correct, they are both the same species of frog, but are obviously slightly different color morphs. Both are sitting on water hyacinth as is their natural habitat.

This tiny frog was sitting on this log during one of our afternoon forest walks. Not much larger than a half dollar, I wouldn’t have spotted him if it wasn’t for our guide’s sharp eyes.

Below, we were trying to adjust one of this frog’s legs up on the reed, when it slipped off. I liked the pose, and he held it, so I got this picture.

And finally, the next two are of my favorite frog on the trip. We were out collecting specimens at night, and stopped at a local village’s pond, full of grasses (and cichlids and even a coral snake). One of our guides spotted this little guy. For the pattern on his back, they call him a Giraffe Frog.

Could he be any more cooperative with the camera? I mean really, how awesome is this frog?