Marsh Ecosystem

Hemiptera Milkweed Bug Oncopeltus fasciatus
Genus: Oncopeltus Order Hemiptera
-very large–sized hemipteran (true bug) of the family Lygaeidae. It feeds mainly on grains, particularly those of the milkweed. Like all hemiptera, it feeds through a long mouthpart known as a rostrum
-These bugs can sometimes be found by the hundreds on a single milkweed plant. Adults and all levels of instars can be mixed together. The adults, being flying insects, can be quite a sight when airborne.
-Milkweed bugs have few predators because they concentrate in their bodies bad tasting compounds found in the sap of milkweed plants. The bugs use their bright colors to advertise their bad taste. Inexperienced birds that taste their first milkweed bug are unlikely to try to eat another orange and black insect, such as a Monarch or Viceroy butterfly.



Common Green Darner
Anax junius


This member of the largest family of dragonflies has a light green thorax and a long, thin abdomen. The abdomen of males is a bluish color while females are purplish-gray. They have large brown compound eyes in contact in the middle of the face and a black and blue target-like mark on upper part of head. The wings are yellowish and the base of the hindwing is broader than forewing. All dragonflies hold their wings outstretched when at rest. Nymphs are a greenish brown in color and go through a series of molts to reach adult size. They are aquatic and move through the water by jet propulsion: water is drawn in and expelled out of the rectum. Moving water through the rectum is also how they breathe as that is where the gills are located.
Habitat

-Common around marshy ponds and swamps.
-Diet: nymphs and adults use mandibles to feed on other insects such as mosquitoes and midges. Nymphs are predatory so they will also eat small fish and aquatic worms.
Size
-length is 2 ½ - 3 ¼ inches; wingspan is about 4 ½ inches.
-Found all over the United States and into Canada. Those further north in the United States and Canada may migrate south in winter and the offspring migrate back north in the spring.
-Strong fliers capable of reaching speeds of 55 mph.





GREEN FROG (Rana clamitans) (2.95 to 4.92 in)
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Ranidae
Genus: Rana
Characteristics:
-Green, greenish brown, brownish, yellowish green and olive, with some rare individuals being blue. They are generally brighter in front with small irregular black spots. -Their legs have dark transverse bands. They are yellowish or white below, and males usually have a bright yellow throat.
-The tympanum (eardrum) is large; in males the tympanum is much larger than the eye and females tend to have a tympanum the same size as the eye.
-The dorso-lateral ridge is well defined and extends from the back of the eye posteriorly down the body. The toes are well webbed and the first fingers do not extend beyond the second.
-Green frogs are found in a wide variety of habitats that surround most inland waters.

Special Adaptations:
-Green frogs are preyed upon by a variety of animals. Tadpoles and eggs are eaten by leeches, dragonfly larvae, other aquatic insects, fish, turtles, and herons. Adult frogs are eaten by larger frogs, turtles, snakes, herons, other wading birds, raccoons, otters, mink, and humans.

-Green frogs often look much like mink frogs where the two species occur together. This may be a form of mimicry because mink frogs have a musky skin secretion that makes them foul tasting to many predators. Green frogs do not have a foul taste, so may be taking advantage of their resemblance to mink frogs to avoid being preyed upon Green frogs overwinter in the water usually buried in the substrate. Green frogs produce as many as six different calls.




Opossum: (Didelphis marsupialis)
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae

-weighs about seven pounds.
-It’s face is elongate, narrow and coneshaped; black, hairless ears that are leathery in texture and tipped in pink or white. T
-Their tales are naked and scaly, and their feet are shaped like hands. Dense underfur is white with grayish tips, and the guard hairs are dark gray or black, but from a distance, opossums appear grayish in color. Some individuals may have underfur tipped in brown, and these animals will have a brownish cast rather than gray.
-The opossum has black, beady eyes set in the whitish head, and the feet are black with pink or white toes. The inner toe of each hind foot is like a thumb.
-The female opossum has a woolly pouch on her abdomen for carrying and nourishing her newborn young. The skull of the opossum belies its ancient lineage because it contains 50 teeth, the most of any Indiana mammal.

Wool Grass :
Order: Cyperales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Scirpus
Species: S. cyperines

The common name of this species is misleading because it isn't a member of the Grass family (Poaceae). Instead, it is a member of the Sedge family (Cyperaceae), like other Scirpus spp. To make matters even more confusing, these species are collectively referred to as 'Bulrushes,' even though they are not members of the Rush family (Juncaceae). Notwithstanding such problems with nomenclature, Wool Grass is one of the more attractive bulrushes, particularly during the early fall when its spikelets become woolly reddish brown. It can be distinguished from similar species by considering the following features: 1) Wool Grass has leafy culms, as opposed to leafless culms, 2) its spikelets are reddish brown and exceptionally woolly at maturity, 3) its inflorescence is a drooping compound umbel at the apex of the culm, and 4) it has small clusters of 3-12 sessile or nearly sessile spikelets on the terminal branchlets of each umbel, as opposed to individual spikelets.

Special Adaptations: Bulrushes are an important source of food and cover to many vertebrate animals. Many species of ducks and other wetland birds feed on the seedheads of bulrushes; Canada Geese and the Trumpeter Swan also eat the foliage. See the Bird Table for a listing of these species. Because Wool Grass and other bulrushes often form dense colonies of plants, they provide good nesting habitat for various species of wetland birds. Muskrats eat both the foliage and rhizomes of bulrushes, while the Meadow Vole eats the seedheads.


Monarch caterpillar/butterfly: Danaus plexippus
Order: Lepidoptera Family: Danaidae Genus: Danaus
-Predominantly open country, frost intolerant species whose range of breeding habitats is greatly dependent upon the presence of asclepiad flora (milkweeds).
-Follows a pattern of seasonal migration. There are two distinct populations in the North America, those that breed in the East and those that breed in the West. Each autumn millions of these butterflies leave their breeding grounds and fly to overwintering sites. The Eastern population overwinters in the volcanic mountains of eastern Michoacan in central Mexico. The Western breeders spend their winters along the California coast.

-Both male and female monarchs are bright orange with black borders and black veins. The veins on the female are thicker than those of the male. Male monarchs also have a swollen pouch on both of their hind wings.
-Monarchs are poisonous to vertebrates. Their poison comes from the milkweed they feed on. The larva feed on a wide range of milkweeds of the genus Asclepias. From these plants they acquire and store cardiac glycosides, secondary plant compounds that protect them from predation. The adults of the species forage for flower nectar.

-Small caterpillars hatch from eggs laid by female Monarchs. They grow, shedding their skin to get bigger. Eventually each caterpillar stops growing and forms a case around itself called a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis it changes its body its body in a process called metamorphosis. When it is done it emerges as an adult butterfly.

Silky Dogwood /Cornus amomum
Order:Cornales Family:Cornaceae Genus:Cornus L.



-Also known as Swamp Dogwood, Silky Dogwood is a common medium-sized shrub found along streams and in other wet areas. The leaves are opposite, simple, and have prominent veins. The veins curve inwards as they near the edge of the leaf.
-Clusters of small white flowers appear in late spring or early summer.

Swamp Milkweed /Asclepias incarnata
Order:Gentianales Family:Asclepiadaceae Class: Asclepias L

Characteristics:
-erect, perennial, up to 5' tall forb, milky juice, mostly hairless or sparsely downy; stems with divided branches toward the top
-Flower deep pink to red, 5-parted, 3/8" tall, fragrant, horns much taller than the hoods; inflorescence usually several, erect umbels; blooms July-Aug.
-Fruit pods with many seeds on silky hairs
-Leaf is opposite, lance-like or oblong-linear with pointed tips and mostly pointed bases
Habitat is full sun; wet to moist; shores, marshes, streambanks, prairies; in sandy, loamy soil

Leopard frog /Rana pipien

Order:Anura Family:Ranidae Genus:Rana

-The dorsolateral folds begin directly behind the eyes and extend to the groin along the ventral surface of the frog. Additional spots extend along the side of the frog below the dorsolateral folds. Although the dorsal surface of this frog is very colorful, the belly and undersides of the legs are pale white.
-Northern Leopard Frogs are brown to green frogs with three rows of irregularly arranged black spots located on the dorsal surface. These spots are most usually outlined in a whitish, cream colored border
-A deep, rattling snore interspersed with "chuckling" or the sound of a thumb rubbing against a balloon;






Great Blue Heron: Ardea herodias
Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Ardeidae Genus: Ardea
-Great blue herons always live near sources of water, including rivers, lake edges, marshes, saltwater seacoasts, and swamps. They usually nest in trees or bushes that stand near water. They tend to avoid marine habitats along the east coast and instead live inland.
-Largest herons in North America. They stand approximately 60 cm tall and are 97 to 137 cm long. They weigh 2.1 to 2.5 kg. They have long, rounded wings, long bills that taper to a point at the end, and short tails. They also have very long necks and legs. The bills are a yellowish color and the legs are green.
-Great blue herons have gray upper bodies, and their necks are streaked with white, black and rust-brown. They have grey feathers on the back of their necks with chestnut colored feathers on their thighs. The males have a puffy plume of feathers behind their heads and also tend to be slightly larger than females.
-Great blue herons fish in both the night and the day, with most of their activity occurring around dawn and dusk. Herons use their long legs to wade in shallow water and their sharp "spearlike" bills to catch their food.
-Great blue herons control fish and insect populations in many different habitats. They are also an important source of food for the animals that prey on them.


Scarlet Smartweed /P. coccinea

Order: Caryophyllales Family: Polygonaceae Genus: Persicaria

Characteristics:
- 2–3' tall and sparingly branched. The central stem is more or less erect (for terrestrial plants), swelling somewhat at the nodes where the leaf-sheaths wrap around the stem. These nodes can be brownish and hairy, but are never bristly at the edges. -The alternate leaves are up to 8" long and 3" across, and have short petioles. They are usually lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate. Their margins are smooth, although they may curl up and down or twist about. The surface of the leaves (upper and lower) can be either hairless, or have appressed silvery hairs, depending on the local ecotype. The midvein on the underside of each leaf is quite prominent.
-The flowering stalks are quite hairy and often brownish in appearance. The cylindrical racemes are about 2-3" long and densely crowded with flowers. Each flower is about 1/6" across, consisting of 5 petal-like sepals, 5 stamens, and a divided white stigma. The sepals of these flowers are rosy pink or scarlet, and rather showy.
- The root system produces long rhizomes, which enable this plant to form sizable colonies.

Duckweed /Lemnaceae
Order: Alismatales Family:Araceae Subfamily: Lemnoideae

-The family of duckweeds are the smallest flowering plants. These plants grow floating in still or slow-moving fresh water around the globe, except in the coldest regions. The growth of these high-protein plants can be extremely rapid. Lemna is one of the best known of this group and has been the subject of much research.
-These plants are very simple, lacking an obvious stem or leaves. They consist of a small 'thalloid' or plate-like structure that floats on or just under the water surface, with or without simple rootlets.

Special Adaptations: Researchers are using these plants to study basic plant development, plant biochemistry, photosynthesis, the toxicity of hazardous substances, and much more.

Lowland Ecosystem

1. Lopseed Lavender Phryma leptostachya L.
Verbenaceae (Verbena Family)
Stems: Simple or openly branched above, swollen above each node.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, thin, ovate to lanceolate, margins irregularly coarsely-too Flower: Pairs of small, white or pinkish-lavender flowers in slender, elongated, spike-like clusters along top of stem and its diverging branches.
This species also occurs in Asia. The downward-hanging fruit, which accounts for the common name, makes the plant easily recognizable. Three of the calyx teeth are hooked at the tip, which may assist in dispersal by attachment to animals.
Native American chewed the root to treat sore throats; boiled the root and gargled the liquid for sore throats and took the liquid to treat rheumatism in the legs.




2. Gooseberry Shrub /Ribes uva-crispa
Order: Saxifragales Family:Grossulariaceae Genus: Ribes

-straggling bush growing to 1-3 meters (3-10 feet) tall, the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots.
-The bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves.

-The fruit of wild gooseberries is smaller than in the cultivated varieties, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but in one variety smooth, constituting the R. uva-crispa of writers; berries' colour is usually green, but there are red variants and occasionally deep purple berries occur.

-gooseberry canes normally produce a spine at each leaf node and bear roughly grape-sized berries singly or in groups of 2 or 3

3. Harvestmen Class: Arachnida
Order: Opiliones Arachnid
Harvestmen are members of the class Arachnida, which also includes spiders, scorpions, and mites. Like all arachnids, harvestmen have 4 pairs of legs, fang-like mouthparts called "chelicerae," and 2 antennae-like appendages near the mouth called "pedipalps." They have no antennae. Very long legs, and these species are usually called "daddy-long-legs." Harvestmen are often confused with spiders, but harvestmen are not true spiders. Spiders have 2 body segments (cephalothorax and abdomen) that are distinct and separated. On harvestmen the 2 body segments appear fused into a single large body segment (as with mites and ticks). Also, spiders have venomous fangs, whereas the fangs of harvestmen have no venom glands.
Some harvestmen search methodically over the ground and on plants for slow-moving or dead insects, insect eggs, earthworms, and decaying plant material.

4. American Toad Bufo americana Amphibian

Order: Anura
Family: Bufonidae
Genus: Bufo

The skin color brown, presence of several dark spots on their backs which contain only one or two warts each. These black spots are sometimes circled with white or yellow. Some types of American toads have a prominent ridge on the top of their heads. American toads have four toes on each front leg and five toes connected together by a webbing on each hind leg. The pupils of American toads are oval and black with a circle of gold around them. The sexes can be distinguished in two ways. Males have dark colored throats, of black or brown, while females have white throats and are lighter overall.
These toads have an immense ability to adapt to their surroundings as long as there is a source of semi-permanent water for them to use in the breeding season. This quality has allowed them to successfully colonize suburban and agricultural areas.


5. Jumpseed / Virginia Knotweed

Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Persicaria (per-sih-KAR-ee-uh) (Info)
Species: virginiana var. filiformis

Four-petaled very small greenish-white flower spaced out on slender spike (1 ft long); jointed stem with hairy axils; entire, alternate leaves.
Used to treat whooping cough with a tea from the leaves along with the bark of Honey Locust.

6. Rough Bedstraw Gallium asprellum


Family: Rubiaceae
Grows as a thicket hard round burrs slightly below center, four petalled white flowers. It's very very scratchy, whorled leaves are mostly in sixes distinguishes it from cleavers which have leaves in eights.

7. Millipede /Class: Diplopoda Phylum: Arthropoda
Are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment (except for the first segment behind the head which does not have any appendages at all, and the next few which only have one pair of legs). Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies. Can be easily distinguished from the somewhat similar and related centipedes (Class Chilopoda), which move rapidly, and have a single pair of legs for each body segment

8. Prickly Ash / Z. americanum
Order: Sapindales Family: Rutaceae Genus: Zanthoxylum

The plant has membranous leaflets numbering between 5-11 and growing in opposite pairs. It has "axillary flower and fruit clusters".
-The buds are hairy. Dark green leaves are bitter-aromatic, with crenate margins.
-The berries begin red and turn deep blue to black, with stalked fruit pods.
-Flowers are dioecious, with yellow-green petals. The greenish-yellow flowers appear about April or May, before the leaves are borne in dense, stemless clusters from the axils of the branches.
- The branches have brown, cone-shaped prickles, and the bark, leaves, and pods are highly aromatic (lemon-like)
-The common or northern prickly-ash is generally a shrub from 10 to 12 feet high, rarely exceeding 25 feet. Its leaflets are from 5 to 11 in number and from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.

Maple Ash Ecosystem

Woodland Agrimony Species: Agrimonia striata
Family: Rosaceae Order - Rosales

Leaves: Grow on slender stems up to 3 feet tall but they are usually 2 feet tall or less. Each leaf contains 3-9 leaflets, which are thin and oblong with large coarse teeth. They have conspicuous glands on the underside but are otherwise without hairs or with short hairs on the veins beneath.

Flower: The yellow flowering and fruiting stem has glands on the surface and sometimes also a few straight bristles. The bottom half of the bell-shaped fruit is about 1/4" long and covered with glands but not hairy. The roots are sometimes tuberous and thickened but not fibrous.

Starry Campion Species: Silene stellata

Order: Caryophyllales Family: Caryophyllaceae

Genus: Silene (belongs to a large genus that is related to carnations).

Leaves: on both ends of the often-unbranched round central stem are usually opposite, with the middle leaves in whorls of four.

Flowers: Five-petaled white flowers are enclosed at their base by a bell-shaped light green calyx with five teeth along its upper rim. Frilled petals have 8-12 intricate narrow lobes but no scent. Starry Campion should not be confused with the similar-looking naturalized weed, Bladder Campion (Silene vulgaris) which features the most inflated calyx pouch. Pollination is mainly by moths.

Soil: This hardy, drought-tolerant plant prefer Wet Mesic , Mesic , Dry Mesic

Broadleaved Water Leaf Species Hydrophyllum canadense L. – bluntleaf

Order: Solanales

Family Hydrophyllaceae – Waterleaf family

Genus Hydrophyllum L.

Flowers: white to pale violet, delicate, with 5 petals and a series of long, projecting stamens. The hairy filaments give the blossom cluster a fuzzy appearance. Arranged in a loose cluster arising on a long flower stem from below a leaf, but not exceeding the leaf in length. Leaves without separate lobes, maplelike, with sharply projecting lobes. Plant 6 to 20 inches in height.

Young leaves and top stems are edible –raw or cooked.

Stem: somewhat hairy

Hawthorn Species: Crataegus

Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Genus: Crataegus

Leaves: of the many species and hybrids of Hawthorns vary greatly in shape. Those of Dotted Hawthorn (Crataegus punctata) are distinctive in that they are narrow and obovate, with prominent veins.

Soil: adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions. Most species perform best in average soils of good drainage with an alkaline or neutral pH, but most adapt to soils of an acidic pH.

Flower: clusters of white blossoms from early spring through late spring that vary from being mildly fragrant to extremely malodorous.

Fruit: Green fruits that result from the perfect flowers may be pendulous or upright, of yellow, orange, or red coloration when ripe.

Bark: The mature barks of the native Hawthorns are usually scaly to platy, and colored various shades of gray and brown, often with orange or red interior barks. Hawthorns are so named by a combination of an alternative name for the fruits (haws) and the plentiful thorns. The thorns are often found singly on the twigs and branchlets, and may be thick or thin, straight or curved.

Special Adaptations: When an abandoned agricultural field transitions back to forest, sun-tolerant weeds and herbs appear first, followed by dense shrubs like hawthorn and blackberry. After about a decade, birches and other small fast-growing trees move in, sprouting wherever the wind blows their lightweight seeds. In 30 to 40 years, slower-spreading trees like ash, red maple, and oak take root, followed by shade-tolerant trees such as beech and hemlock.

A common observation is that as ecosystems mature through successional stages, they tend to become more diverse and complex. The number of organisms and species increases and niches become narrower as competition for resources increases.

White Ash Species: Fraxinus americana

Order: Lamiales Family: Olive (Oleaceae) Genus: Fraxinus

Leaves: opposite, pinnately compound, and have 5 to 9 dark green leaflets (usually seven or nine) with white-green undersides. The leaflets are smooth or only sparsely serrated on their margins, with short stalks that attach to the central rachis. One of the first trees to change color in autumn, its leaves often go through shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple. Its stems are thicker than those of Green Ash and Blue Ash, giving it a more bold texture in winter.

Fruits: (known as samaras) hang in clusters from female trees of White Ash, with each fruit being composed of a plump anchoring seed attached to a wing (for a thinner version, see Green Ash). The mature fruits of the ashes separate and spin downward like helicopter blades in autumn.

Flowers: Male flowers and female flowers occur on separate trees of White Ash in late winter or early spring, and thus the male and female trees are termed "dioecious". Both types of flowers occur before the leaves emerge and often go unnoticed, since they are relatively small and do not have petals.

Bark: Young smooth bark does not become flaky like that of Green Ash, but eventually forms interlacing ridges and furrows, yielding mature bark which is identical in appearance to that of Green Ash.

Special Adaptations:

It is found naturally on fertile river flood plains where there is ample supply of flowing water and well-drained soil with plenty of minerals. It also likes a lot of sun, and grows best in clearings where there are few trees of other species to compete with it for light.

When the leaves of White Ash drop in autumn, they leave behind U-shaped leaf scars on the twigs, like a wide horseshoe. A small lateral bud rests within the curved portion of the "U". The stout, ascending twigs of White Ash are thicker than those of Green Ash and Blue Ash, and give this tree a bolder texture in winter.

Soil: Rich, moist, well-drained soils of acidic to neutral pH are ideal for growing White Ash. It is not quite as stress-tolerant as Green Ash or Blue Ash, especially to prolonged drought, occasional flooding, or very alkaline (high pH) soils. It grows in full sun to partial sun. A native of eastern North America, White Ash is found mostly in cut-over forests, open fields, and fencerows. Under ideal conditions in the open, it grows to 70 feet tall by 50 feet wide, with a medium to rapid growth rate. Its shape is upright oval when young, becoming upright spreading to rounded with maturity. As a member of the Olive Family, White Ash is related to the Fringe Trees, Forsythias, Privets, and Lilacs, as well as other species of Ash.

American Basswood Species: Tilia Americana L.

Order: Malvales

Family: Tiliaceae (Linden )

Genus: Tilia

Leaf: Alternate, simple, ovate leaves that are about as wide as long, with a truncate (flattened) or heart-shaped base, finely serrated margins, and a short tip at the apex of the leaf .
Flower: has perfect, small, creamy flowers that open in early summer. These are noted for both their fragrance and for their nectar, which is a favorite of bees in the production of honey. Flowering is obvious from a distance - not because of the actual flowers, but due to the showy, lime-colored, curving bracts that contrast agains the background of dark-green foliage.
Fruit: A round, unribbed nutlet (1/4 inch) that is covered with gray-brown hair; occur in a hanging cluster with a curving, leafy bract acting as wing on top of the cluster, ripening in the fall.
Twig: Moderately stout, zigzag, green (summer) or red (winter); Buds are each very plump with one side bulging out disproportionately. Buds are edible but very mucilaginous.
Bark: At first smooth and gray-green, later turning gray-brown and becoming ridged with long, shallow furrows and flat topped ridges. The bark is very fibrous.

Soil: prefers moist, drained, deep, rich soils of variable pH, adapts to average that are seasonally dry. It thrives in full sun to partial sun. Grows as a principal species in only two forest types: the sugar maple-basswood type in western Wisconsin and central Minnesota, the northern red oak-basswood-white ash type common to parts of New England, NY, PN, and the southern Appalachians. The weak wood of this tree is both lightweight and odorless, making it the wood of choice for packing food into boxes and crates. However, the inner bark of this and other Basswoods is very tough, and the Native Americans cut it into thin strips and used it for rope, mats, and even bandages. Japanese Beetle, which can skeletonize large sectors of the leaf canopy of this species (as well as other Lindens) in a few days.

Tall Bellflower /Campanula americana
Order: Asterales Family:Campanulaceae Genus:Campanula

Characteristics:
Tall Bellflower/American Bellflower, reaches from three to more than six feet in height, its blue-violet blooms providing a bright late-summer accent to savanna or woodland plantings.

-Self-seeding, it is either annual or biennial by habit, seemingly depending on when germination occurs. First-year plants are tight rosettes of triangular leaves that bolt the following spring to form tall stems, which exude milky sap if broken or cut. Because Campanula americana is the only bellflower with wide-spread petals, a petal tube that elongates with age and stamens that extend over the petals, it often is assigned the special designation Campanulastrum americanum.

Kentucky Coffee Tree /G. dioicus

Order:Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Gymnocladus


Characteristics:
A relatively fast-growing tree and generally grows in parks and along city streets for ornamental purposes. The tree is typically long-lived however often appears dead for the first six months of its growth. This is because the Kentucky Coffee tree sheds its leaves early during the late spring and therefore appears bare for up to 6 months.

-Largest leaves of any tree found in eastern North America, with each being up to three feet long and composed of many leaflets. The leaflets attach in alternate fashion to a rachilla, and several rachilla attach in opposite fashion to the central rachis.

-Twigs: have huge leaf scars with one or two small lateral buds that are barely visible just above the leaf scars. Like its close relative Honeylocust, a terminal bud is absent from the ends of its twigs.
-
Special Adaptations:
Thick fruit pods containing large seeds (or beans) are found only on female trees, and often hang on during winter. Pioneers in Kentucky and elsewhere used the beans as a coffee substitute (hence the common name), and Native Americans roasted the beans for food.

Oak Hickory Forest

Oak Hickory Forest Species List

White Avens

Order: Rosales

Family: Rose (Rosaceae)

Genus: Geum

Species: Gem canadense
Leaves: alternate, entire leaves
Flowers: 1/2 wide, radially symmetrical; five petals as long as or longer than the five sepals with pointed tips. Spherical seed heads, round balls with hooked spines that cling to clothing and animal fur.
Stem: smooth to slightly hairy.

Special Adaptations:
Forb/herb (a non-woody plant that is not a grass) found in thickets and open woods. Spring & summer, sometimes fall. The roots of this plant were harvested and used to add an agreeable taste to beer and ale. Native Americans also made the roots into a tasty beverage to treat problems of the stomach and bowels.

May Apple

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Berberidaceae (Barberry Family)

Genus: Podophyllum

Species: Podophyllum peltatum
Leaves: Opposite, 2 large lobed, deeply cleft leaves.
Flower: Solitary, white flower growing beneath leaves. The flower is 1 1/2-2'' wide, with 6-9 waxy petals. Plants without flowers have a single, umbrellalike leaf.
It is the flower that appears in early May, not the "apple".
Fruit: or "apple" is produced early summer and ripens later in summer. Yellowish, lemon-shaped, 2" long, edible - turtles love 'em, used for jelly.
Special Adaptation:
Native to wooded areas of eastern N. America.
anti-cancer compound

Enchanter's Nightshade

Order: Myrtales

Family: Evening Primrose (Onagraceae)

Genus: Circaea

Species: Circaea lutetiana

Leaves: opposite, thin, dark green, egg-shaped and long-stalked,

Flower: small, 1/8" white flowers in short racemes. Petals deeply 2-lobed, though they appear to have four. This plant spreads its seeds by producing burrs.

Special adaptations:
With a creeping rhizome which branches here and there until compact colonies are produced.
In woods where there is a little wind, parachute seeds would be of little use, so the plant has forced animals and humans to distribute its seeds.

Hackberry Tree
Order: Rosales
Family:Ulmaceae
Genus: Celtis
Species name: C.occidentalis




Leaves: Alternate along the stem, medium to dark green, and about 4" long, ovate, serrated, with an acute to acuminate apex, and with the leaf base asymmetrical (skewed or lop-sided, like the foliage of most Elm Family members)
Fruits: are drupes, which start out dark green and ripen to a deep reddish-purplish.

Special Adaptations: Hackberry forms a rounded vase reaching a height of 40 to 80 feet, is a rapid grower, and transplants easily. The mature bark is light gray, rough and corky and its small berry like fruit turns from orange red to purple and is relished by birds. The fruit temporarily stains walks. Has an elm-like form and is, in fact, related to the elm. The wood of hackberry has never been used to any large extent due to its softness and an almost immediate propensity to rot when in contact with the elements. However, Celtis occidentalis is a forgiving urban tree and is considered tolerant of most soil and moisture conditions.

American Elm
Order: Urticales
Family: Ulmaceae
Genus: Ulmus
Species: U. americana

Characteristics: It is an extremely hardy tree that can withstand winter temperatures as low as −42 °C (−44 °F). Trees in areas unaffected by Dutch elm disease can live for several hundred years. The crown forms a high, spreading canopy with open air space beneath.
Leaves: alternate, 7–20 cm long, with double-serrate margins and an oblique base. The tree is hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers, (i.e. with both male and female parts) and is therefore capable of self-pollination.
Flowers: small, purple-brown, and, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous; they emerge in early spring before the leaves. The fruit is a flat samara 2 cm long and 1.5 cm broad, with a circular wing surrounding the single 4–5 mm seed

Chinquapin Oak
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Species Name: Q. muehlenbergii

Leaves: are alternate, glossy, oblong to slightly obovate, with margins that may be deeply crenate or shallowly crenate.

Flowers: having pollen-bearing catkins in mid-spring that fertilize the inconspicuous female flowers on the same tree. Since it is a member of the White Oak group, the fruits only take a single season to develop.

Special Adaptations:
The Chinkapin Oak is especially known for its sweet acorns. The acorns are sweet and palatable. Indeed, the nuts contained inside of the thin shell are among the sweetest of any oak; they taste excellent even when eaten raw. These acorns provide an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people. The acorns are eaten by squirrels, mice, voles, chipmunks, deer, turkey, and other birds. Like the other members of the white oak family, the wood of the Chinkapin oak is a durable hardwood prized for many types of construction.

Shagbark Hickory
Order: Fagales
Family: Juglandaceae
Genus: Carya
Species: C. ovata

Characteristics:
It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 27 m tall, and will live up to 200 years. Mature Shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark. This characteristic is however only found on mature trees; young specimens have smooth bark. The Shagbark Hickory's nut is edible and has a very sweet taste.

Leaves: are 30–60 cm long, pinnate, with five (rarely three or seven) leaflets, the terminal three leaflets much larger than the basal pair. The Shagbark hickory is monoecious.
Flowers: are borne on long-stalked catkins at the tip of old wood or in the axils of the previous season's leaves. Pistillate flowers occur in short terminal spikes. The fruit is a drupe, an edible nut, 2.5–4 cm long contained in a thick, green four-sectioned husk which turns dark and splits off at maturity in the fall and a hard, bony shell. The terminal buds on the Shagbark Hickory are large and covered with loose scales.


Spicebush
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Species:Lindera benzoin

Leaves: can be either deciduous or evergreen depending on species,[2] and are alternate, entire or three-lobed, and strongly spicy-aromatic. The flowers are small, yellowish, with six tepals

Fruits: are shiny red berries called drupes. Birds, including American Robin, Northern Bobwhite, Gray Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, and Great Crested Flycatcher, eat the drupes. Raccoons and Virginia Opossums eat them too.