Hawkweeds

I took a quick walk into the wooded area near my office's parking lot before commuting home tonight.  I debated snapping some shots of the pine trees but decided I should save those for later this fall when the other plants drop their leaves.  Looking down, I spied some small plants with yellow flowers:

The flowers were small, less than half an inch wide.  I noticed a few of the flowers had lost their petals, and all that remained were small poofy seeds similar to those you would see on a dandelion.  I grabbed a leaf from the base of one of the plants and headed out.

Once home I took an older Peterson's field guide that I inherited a few years ago down from my bookshelf :

I haven't spent much time with this book before, and looking at its title page I realized that it was  illustrated by Roger Tory Peterson, founder of Peterson's field guides - cool stuff!  This 1968 version of the guide arranges the flowers by color, making it very easy to use by a know-nothing like me.  I flipped to the "yellow" section, which begins with color illustrations.  After many pages of pretty yellow flowers, the illustrations turn to black and white sketches.  On the page "Small Dandelionlike Flowers: Hawkweeds" I found what appeared to be most similar to the plant I saw today:

The hawkweeds, genus Hieracium, belong to the composite, or daisy, family, the largest family of flowering plants.  Per Peterson, "the flower heads are clusters of many small flowers growing together (hence, composite)".   The hawkweed's composite blossom consists of flat, strap-shaped florets (called rays) that have 3 to 5 teeth at their tips:

The individual hawkweed species are set apart from one another based upon leaf shape and color, locations of fine hairs on the plants, number of blossoms per plant, and whether their leaves climb the stem or are primarily about the plants base (basal).   This plant had leaves "mainly in the basal rosette", indicating that this hawkweed was likely an "alien" species.  I observed a single blossom per plant.  The leaves were slender, slightly-toothed, and had hairs on both their top and underside:

Not seeing an exact match in my guide, I turned to the "hawkweed" entry on Wikipedia for reinforcement.  I clicked on several of the linked species within Wikipedia's extensive list but wasn't able to find one with slightly toothy leaves.  Wikipedia explained why classification to the species level may not be possible, as over 9,000 have been named!  In addition, there is "a lot of geographical variation" amongst individual species due in part to the plant's asexual seed production, resulting in hundreds of subspecies for each type.  So I guess that's a wrap for the evening.  This ID wasn't a total bust though, as it helped me learn a lot about flowers, their classification, and my Peterson's wildflower guide.



To sum up:

Plant, animal, mineral:  Plant
Name:  Hawkweed, genus Hieracium
Location:  42.453101, -71.234967
Sources:  A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America [2nd Edition], Wikipedia

Work meanderings 2

I've already cheated.  Well, sort of.  I took two sets of photos yesterday as I knew I had to travel for work today.  I did head outside, though not for long enough to snap shots of an unidentifiable object in the cobblestoned streets of Portland, ME.  The drive up was lovely, the leaves are really starting to change up north.

So anyway, in addition to yesterday's post showing the Black Tupelo, I came across this pretty tree.  The bark was smooth and a silvery grey:

The leaves followed an alternate pattern and were beginning to turn yellow:

They were small, not lobed, and had small teeth at the end of each vein: 

I decided to try out Virginia Tech's Tree ID multichotomous key again, but had no luck.  I answered most questions with "I don't know" as I had limited information.  I realized there are certain characteristics I could look for in the future, such as "bundle scars", the markers where a leaf's stem, or petiole, breaks away from the twig.  I could also check out if the tip of the twig where new leaves form has "bud scales".   So perhaps I should find some trees with branches closer to the ground to check out tomorrow!

Back to my little dichotomous key book for this one.  The book's last question had me count the number of pairs of veins on the leaf, asking if they were between 9 and 14, with each vein ending in a conspicuous tooth.  The drawing of the leaf matched the ones I found, and a quick Google image search confirmed - American Beech, Fagus grandifolia. 


To sum up:

Plant, animal, mineral:  Plant
Name: American Beech, Fagus grandifolia
Coordinates:  42.45219 ,-71.23506
Location:  Lexington, MA
Sources:  Virginia Tech's Tree ID, Tree Finder

Work meanderings

Part of why I wanted to do this blog was to break free of my cubicle, give my eyes a break, and get some fresh air.  Around 4 today I went for a quick jaunt around the office parks that surround my work and realized there are a great variety of mature trees to explore- some familiar, some not.  As fall is here I need to work quickly if I'm to identify the deciduous species nearby, so I think they'll be my focus for the next week or so.  I'll be given an extra clue having the autumn color at hand.

On today's walk I came across an interesting tree that is beginning to drop bright red leaves:

The leaves are small, not lobed, and have smooth edges.  They are green to start, arranged densely and alternately, with small, dark fruit about the size of a blueberry hanging in clusters:

The tree stands tall and straight and the bark is deeply furrowed:

After some Googling to find an online tree identification key, I came upon Virginia Tech's Tree ID Tools website: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/tools.htm.  I used the multichotomous key, a type of multiple-choice questionnaire that led me to several possible species.  I liked that the key encouraged me to answer "I don't know" rather than guess and that it included photos and descriptions for each possible answer.

Of the proposed matches, Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica, appeared the closest.  It is observed throughout the east coast to mid-Florida and as far north as coastal Maine.  The Black Gum is known in the south as the Black Tupelo, with the word tupelo formed from Native American words for "tree" and "swamp".  Though it is naturally found in marshes, it has seen much use as an ornamental tree, such as in the office park I was in today.  Further Googling of "Black Gum" showed me some photos of  what it may look like later this fall - I'll have to check it out!


To sum up:

Plant, animal, mineral:  Plant
Name:  Black Gum (Black Tupelo), Nyssa sylvatica
Coordinates:  42.452192,-71.23506
Location:  Lexington, MA
Sources:  Virginia Tech's Tree ID, Wikipedia

Starting with a softball

Yesterday my wife and I went out for a walk in beautiful Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, MA.  I asked her to pick a tree or plant for me to ID, ideally one that was labeled so we could check if I was correct.   She threw me a softball and pointed out this nice looking tree:

I said, "Easy, it's a Blue Spruce!"
She countered with, "Are you sure?"

My confidence waned as I opened the small dichotomous key guidebook I had with me- there were only five spruce species listed and "Blue" wasn't one of them (not super surprising as the key is only 64 pages). I made a note to myself that I should stop by the library to pick up a more thorough guide.

I looked at the silvery-blue needles, which were short, 4-sided (as opposed to flat), and very sharp:

My wife found a pinecone, which was small and had spines:

The key led me to Colorado Spruce, Picea pungens.  The tag confirmed, and a quick Wikipedia search let me know that this tree is also known as the "Blue Spruce".



To sum up:

Plant, animal, mineral:  Plant
Name:  Colorado (Blue) Spruce, Picea Pungens
Coordinates:  42.293896,-71.108636
Location:  Jamaica Plain, MA

Sources:  Tree Finder: a Manual for the Identification of Trees by Their Leaves, Wikipedia

Requisite Introductory Post

I'm setting out to identify a plant, animal, or rock type each day.  This blog has a few purposes - the primary is for me to learn while I bumble about outdoors, and share what I learn with you.  Another purpose is to get me outside and away from the computer screen.  (Online journal to get me outdoors- is that ironical?)  Just to warn you, I might mix it up and stray from the plant/animal/mineral theme and branch out to fungus for a bit once I find an appropriate guide for n00bs such as myself.