On Saturday, we took our dogs on a hike at Gunpowder Falls State Park (Jerusalem Road) where we explored the trails there for a few hours. Little Gunpowder Falls river is a very pretty river, meandering across a large rock bed. Despite the name, we never came across any significant falls, however. Along the trail, one of our dogs discovered a toad in an unfortunate position; its back-end was fully engulfed by the unhinged mouth of a snake (see picture below). Elsewhere, the trail opened off to a large grove of poplar trees, which provided an impressive area of shade to everything beneath them. We also found a few fallen trees with basketball-sized fungus growing on them. All in all, it was a nice hike with the dogs at a location we had never explored before.

Little Gunpowder Falls (Click thumbnails for larger view)

On Saturday, a few GWAPA members met at the Suitland Bog in Suitland, MD for a guided tour by the bog’s caretaker. We visited this bog two years ago, and thought it was time for another visit. On my previous trip, I had thought I had gotten a picture of Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra), but was corrected by a reader that infact I had not. So, this year, I’m proud to have found it, and got the picture below!

In addition to the Red Milkweed blooming, there was also another type blooming in the bog, which is shown below. Both are very pretty pink flowers. The ranger stated that the milkweeds weren’t always present in the bog, but showed up one day many years ago. He suspects that they were introduced by birds.

Also, interestingly enough, the main attraction at the bog, the Northern Pitcher-Plants (Sarracenia purpurea), are also not native to the bog. Apparently, prior to the mindset of preserving native habitats, botanists would collect interesting plants from other areas, and transplant them into habitats they believed the plants would do well. This is exactly what occured with the pitcher-plants, which were originally transplanted from New Jersey. Currently, the ranger actually has to weed out some of the pitcher-plants to prevent them from over-crowding the natives.

Another one of the carnivorous plants in the bog, Round-Leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) has been shaded out a little bit since I was there two years ago. Only a few remain, but the ranger is hopeful that some tree maintenance in the bog will help them make a comeback.

The main attraction for me personally is the Ten-Angled Pipewort (Eriocaulon decangulare), which is a magnificant grass, and was in full-bloom. One of the reasons I’m so interested in this particular plant, is that I believe it would probably grow submerged.

It’s quite easy to distinguish an Eriocaulon from other grasses, as the flower-heads are very distinctive. Fortunately, these plants seem to be doing pretty well in the bog. The ranger told us, however, that if they didn’t actively trim and maintain the area, that the whole bog would be totally reclaimed by the forest, and would likely disappear.

For that reason, I’m extremely grateful to him and his colleagues for knowing the importance of preserving this habitat, and making it available for the public to visit. I’m hoping that a few GWAPA members will be able to help volunteer a couple times a year to further this effort.

I haven’t posted in a little while because I was taking a break while vacationing at the beach on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. On our way over to the beach, my wife and I stopped at Adkins Arboretum, a native-plants garden and preserve located right next door to Tuckahoe State Park, along the Tuckahoe Creek.

As soon as you get out of your car, you see a butterfly garden comprised entirely of native flowers. With bumblebees and butterflies actively buzzing through the garden, we snapped a few shots of the flowers there.

As we walked toward the visitor center, we had to cross a bridge over the Tuckahoe Creek. I was hoping to see more aquatic plants present, but most were marsh plants, instead of true aquatics. Nevertheless, it was still beautiful, and housed several species of dragonflies and frogs.

At the visitor center, they were selling a wide variety of plants native to Maryland. I was amazed at how many different plants were available. There’s really not much of a reason why you can’t put together a beautiful flower garden using plants from your area.

We perused through their library and gift shop, and then decided to head out on the trails. The trails are well-kept, and mulched in most areas. They’re certainly more accessible for kids and families then some of the walking paths next door at the state park. That said, there’s also an element of nature that’s lost because of this.

Along the trail, we spotted quite a few different mushrooms and fungi growing. I suspect that they’re loving the above average amount of rainfall that Maryland has been having so far this year.

Even despite the well-manicured trails, we still ended up with several ticks crawling on us, but fortunately none had attached yet. As someone who’s witnessed the effects of tick-borne diseases in someone close to me, please make sure to wear proper attire, and take all precautions when hiking to avoid tick bites. Especially folks in the Mid-Atlantic region, where Lyme and other diseases are prevalent, should take extra care.

Finally, after our jaunt through the woods, we ended up back at the visitor center, where we took one more stroll through their flower garden. I would recommend stopping at Adkins Arboretum to anyone traveling to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It’s just a short drive off of Route 50, the main passage to the shore from the Baltimore/Washington region.

For residents closer, the arboretum seems to run special events quite frequently, which look quite interesting. If you’re in the area, check it out!

Last weekend, a friend and I visited the North Tract of the Patuxent Research Refuge, a 12,841 acres area which was formerly a military training ground, and has now been returned to nature. While collecting is not permitted in this park, it was still very interesting to hike around the various bodies of water to see what aquatic plants were present.

The first lake we visited had cattails on one side of it, and lillies on the other. The cattail side also had a number of other aquatic plants present including (but not limited to) Ludwigia palustrus, Hydrilla, Callitriche sp., and some aquatic grass shown below that we’re not entirely sure what it was.

In other areas, spatterdock was present throughout. It was very interesting to see which areas had a variety of plants, and which were pretty much dominated by a single species.

Not being limited to interesting aquatic plants, while walking along one of the roads, we came across a series of stands of Pricklypear (Opuntia humifusa) which were in full bloom, exhibiting beautiful yellow flowers. I believe this is the first time that I’ve seen this plant in Maryland, so I very much enjoyed checking it out. I guess cacti are not limited to southern hot zones!

In addition to the lakes, a series of streams run through the property. Most of them are shaded, and so there’s little chance for aquatic plants to grow, but they’re beautiful nevertheless.

Across the street from that stream happened to be a large boggy area. We pulled over to have a look, and sure enough, we found sphagnum moss, but little else besides the grasses shown below.

There were a few lillies there, but it seemed to mostly be a dead-zone in terms of the aquatic plants we were interested in. Throughout the course of our trip, we noticed a lot of beaver activity, evident from the saw off tree trunks, but we never did see any beavers.

In contrast to some of the lakes, which were dominated by lillies, the marsh areas were covered in Brasenia schreberi. In amongst the Brasenia there were several other plants.

Many Utricularia flowers were present, most likely being U. geminiscapa, but that’s just our best guess. Some of the Brasenia was also flowering, showing smallish red flowers.

At our last stop, we found a field of Proserpinaca palustris, most of which was growing in its emersed form, even though it was submersed. This is likely due to recent rainfall that inundated the plants when the water levels rose. Further down the stems you could clearly see the fine-toothed-pinnate leaves that are so typical of Proserpinaca.

To any other folks exploring nature in this region, please be sure to use proper tick prevention, as they’re out, and Lyme is prevalent throughout the area. So, while not a collecting trip, it was a great day to be out and about exploring our native Maryland habitats.

Today I woke up to 6-8 inches of snow on the ground outside. After the requisite sidewalk shoveling and digging out my car, my wife and I managed to take a short hike in the woods along the Little Patuxent River near our house. I’ve posted similar snowy scenes of this trail in the past, but I wanted to share today’s batch.

So far this winter, we haven’t really had any significant snowfall, and with March upon us, I had already succumb to the fact that we would have to wait another year for snow. Fortunately, mother nature proved me wrong, and fully covered the trail and trees.

My wife and I slogged along in somewhat inadequate winter-wear, so our expedition wasn’t more than an hour long. Since the river is not right along the trail, I had to make some side trips to reach the water. More than once, snow had obscured rocks or holes, which I seemed to have a penchant for finding.

I was none the worse for wear, however, and managed to get to the riverside in several spots. The water itself was crystal clear when looking down, but from an angle looked black against the snow.

While I definitely appreciate the beauty of the more open patches of water, I think I’m drawn more toward the spots where snow-covered limbs or large rocks protrude from the water.

Since the temperature stayed in the upper twenties/low thirties throughout much of the day, the snow was wet and clung to the tree branches, giving them a wonderful wintery outline.

As mentioned, our hike didn’t last long as our jeans were soaked with melted snow, and our faces stung by the wind. I’m very glad that we were graced with this snowfall, so that now I can unregrettably wish for Spring!

Firstly, I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and continue to enjoy life as we move into 2009. Yesterday, my wife, dogs, and I took a hike through some trails near our house which I have documented several times previously on this site. These trails wind in-between the Little and Middle Patuxent Rivers, with one segment shown below.

Of course, the weather is far too cold for any aquatic vegetation to be present in the water now, but as you can see the rocky floor of the river is not especially good to support plant life anyhow. I have seen Potamegeton in here previously, however.

With all of the leaves fallen, you could see far more of the forest than normal. While this did make us a little bit more aware of otherwise unseen homes and roads, we also had the opportunity to see some really neat trees that we would have missed at other times of the year.

And of course, our dogs took full advantage of the more open space, running wild in the few secluded areas that we let them off the lease. Bella, in particular, our black lab and weimaraner mix was racing around too quickly to get a clear picture.

Below is another set of trees that I found particularly interesting. I haven’t a clue whether this could be one of them, but I’m certainly reminded of the old Indian marker trees that are present through Appalachia and surrounding forests.

Along those same lines, it’s always thoughtful to remember that although some of these wilderness areas look pristine and untouched, that we’re only a part of a long line of people who have walked the land. In this case, old bridge remnants lay moss covered as memories of some old road that passed overhead.

I guess it’s true that eventually, the forest will fully reclaim these structures. All the while, I’ll enjoy walking and exploring the forests and waterways near our house.

Autumn is a wonderful time of year in Maryland. It may not be known for the spectacular leaf colors that New England is, but they are brilliant nevertheless. This weekend, my wife and I took a walk along the Little and Middle Patuxent Rivers with our two dogs to enjoy the season. I’ve talked about this area a number of times on the blog, but there’s something new and different every time we’re out in the forest.

Along the water’s edge, I was hopping some rocks with the dogs, and looked down to see an freshwater Asiatic clam in a part of the river that I’d looked for them before, but never found them. I didn’t see many fish out and about this time, however, but I suspect that’s due to the declining temperatures.

Of course, the main reason we were out was to see the leaves. There were stunning bright orange and red leaves lining the trees, and littering the forest floor. I’m pretty sure that this is the peak for the leaves this year in our area, as the trees all around exhibit a full spectrum of color.

We also took a different trail this time on our hike to an old quarry. It’s now in the process of being reclaimed by the forest, but you can see above how the hillside was mined for rock. There were a few leftover rusting pipes coming from the water, that I assume were used to transport water to the quarry. Overall, a nice relaxing hike before heading back to work on Monday.

Yesterday, I went with a couple friends out to survey what native aquatic plants are growing along some portions of the Patuxent River in Maryland. I like to do this every once in awhile because each time you go, you’re likely to find something different. In addition, from year to year, certain plants may exist in huge patches, while the next year, they’ll be quite sparse. Finally, if I ever get around to setting up a tank to mimic my local habitat, it’s good to know what the local habitat consists of.

Lake off the Patuxent River

We visited a lake that is part of the Patuxent watershed. The lake itself is covered with tons of lily pads, which during this time of year were flowering quite nicely. This trip, we saw both white and pink flowers. I didn’t know that the pink flowered lilies were native — perhaps they’re not?

Lily pad, with flower

All along the banks, hairgrass, likely Eleocharis parvulus, carpeted the lake bed. Of course, there was also several giant hairgrass species as well.

Hairgrass, probably Eleocharis parvulus

In several places, amoungst the hairgrass we found a flowering bladderwort, which could be Utricularia gibba. Although the yellow flower is pretty, this is definitely a native plant that I would not want to keep in my tanks. Often found as a contaminate on plants that you buy, this carnivorous plant is much like hair algae in its invasiveness of your aquarium.

Utricularia sp. flower

All throughout the area, Ludwigia palustris could be found. This is one of the nicer local native plants that is an excellent stem plant for any type of tank. We were talking yesterday about how surprising it is that Ludwigia repens is the most widely sold plant from its genus, but that L. palustris is smaller leaved, and thus probably more suitable for a wider variety of aquariums.

Ludwigia palustris

One of the other surprises that we saw yesterday was this patch of Brasenia schreberi. Everywhere else throughout the lake this plant sent small 2-3″ pads to the surface. Within the cracks of the boat ramp it looked like this, staying completely submersed. That brings up the question as to why? My theory is that due to being on the boat ramp, it is occasionally trampled, and thus is being trained to stay short, like a Red Tiger Lotus can be trained in our aquarium. It’s also possible that it’s just stunted due to the limitations of living in a crack between the boat ramp’s cement tiles.

Brasenia schreberi

Another plant that could potentially be suitable for aquarium use is Lindernia dubia. Currently, I don’t think it is being produced by any of the large aquatic plant nurseries, but this is a nice stem plant. We found it growing both submersed, and emersed with flowers, as shown below. (I like the dragonfly too!)

Lindernia dubia

One of the more interesting plants that we have locally is Proserpinaca palustris, or Mermaid Weed. Emersed, the stems look like a Rotala with serrated edges, but submersed, the leaves become quite tooth-like and bright red. I’ve never kept this plant myself before, but I understand it’s a fairly difficult plant to grow in the aquarium. This is probably why it’s available, but not commonly traded among aquarists.

Proserpinaca palustris (Mermaid Weed) with Brasenia schreberi

We saw a few plants that we couldn’t identify, with the most interesting being this plant below. At first glance, we thought it might be an Eriocaulon sp., but the bulbs on this grass are wrong for that. It’s probably just a stunted giant hairgrass, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to find a grass plant that stayed this size underwater? (Updated: a reader identifies this as Xyris caroliniana.)

Probably Xyris caroliniana, unsuitable for aquarium use

Now that I’ve mentioned what we did find, we were surprised that we didn’t find any Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny) or Rotala ramosior. Both of these plants are excellent aquarium plants, and usually present in some quantity locally. Additionally, there were a number of Polygonum species around, but I didn’t get any pictures of those. Despite incredibly hot and humid weather, we had a really good time, geeking it up, exploring our local waterway. Lastly, I need to stress that whenever you go out in your local habitat, do not collect plants from protected areas. If you are in an area where it is legal to collect, only take a stem or two, and grow it out in your aquarium. Never take a plant if it is the only one in the area. Be responsible!

Last weekend, my family took our annual trip across the state for a long weekend at Ocean City, MD. Along the way, my wife and I tried to get in as many nature-related things that we could because, well, we love the outdoors!

On the way over, we detoured near Salisbury, MD to do some hiking and biking at Pocomoke River State Park. I’ve never been to this park before, but as soon as we pulled up we knew we found a great place to spend an afternoon. The river itself was covered with lily pads, a few of them just starting to send up yellow flower buds.

In addition, the parks contains some of the northern most bald cyrus trees on the east coast. I know that there are ones a tad further north in Delaware, but the sign said this is their northern limit. Nevertheless, I always enjoy checking out the various knees that pop up from the water.

The only downside of our trip there were more mosquitoes and deer ticks than we would have cared for. I suppose that would explain why we saw so many lizards and toads on the trails.

Once in Ocean City, one of my favorite pasttimes is crabbing for Maryland Blue Crabs using twine and chicken necks. The crabs are definitely down in recent years, so while the crabbing wasn’t fantastic, the sunset definitely was!

Walking along the beach, we came across another kind of crab, scurrying quite invisibly across the sand. This guy (above) was no more than 2-3 inches across, but ran like lightning. I’m glad I got him to standstill long enough for a photo.

Finally, we spent another day clamming on Assateague Island, and came home with our legal limit of clams for quite the feast of fresh steamed clams, fried clamstrips, and New England clam chowder. One of the unique things about Assateague Island is that it is home to a wild colony of horses leftover of several shipwrecks a few centuries ago. (This story is disputed, saying that the horses came from early barrier island settlers, but shipwrecks sound more exciting.) The horses have adapted to the harsh environment of the island and thrive, having to be thinned down to 150 during the famous channel swim to Chincoteague every year.

We had a great little excursion, but I’m now ready to get back to focusing on my aquariums at home.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day outside, as slowly but surely, spring is pushing winter on its way. To take advantage of the favorable weather, we decided to take a day trip to Cunningham Falls State Park, near Thurmont, MD.

It just so happens that this weekend, the park was having a maple-syrup festival, where they gave live demonstrations of how they tap maple trees for their sweet sap and boil it down into pancake syrup. We stayed around a little while, listening to the demonstration, but soon found ourselves out on the trails, for which we came.

The forest in this park is very rocky, with rock outcroppings all over the place. Even most of the trails are littered with rocks, large and small, and of course, moss is decorating nearly all of the rocks.

I couldn’t have attached the moss on the rock below any better than nature itself. Beautiful, with the full covering, and yet enough gaps exposing the rock underneath. In fact, now I’m going to have to try and actually duplicate this kind of wonderful moss/rock work in my aquarium one of these days.

To start out, we took the trails that everyone takes to get to the park’s main attraction — the falls. Being a series of cascading falls, descending what is probably 4-5 stories, they are pretty impressive. Below is a picture of the bottom two sections of the falls.

Finally, we headed off to some more difficult and less frequented trails so that we could take in the forest, believing we were the only humans around. (For the most of the hike, that was the reality.) While the forest was still bare from winter, many of the trees had buds, ensuring that if we came back in a couple months, the woods would be entirely new.