Meadow

1. Cockspur thorn /C. crus-galli
Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Genus: Crataegus

-small tree growing up to about 10 meters tall and 8 meters wide, rounded in form when young and spreading and flattening as it matures.

-Leaves are 5 to 6 centimeters long, glossy dark green in color and turning gold to red in the fall.
-Flowers are white and have a scent generally considered unpleasant.
-Fruits are bright red pomes each about a centimeter wide.
-It is native to eastern North America from Ontario to Texas to Florida, and it is widely used in horticulture.

2.New England aster / Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (L.) Nesom
Order: Asterales
Asteraceae (Aster Family)

- leaves: hairy, clasping,are arranged densely on its stout stems.
- Flower size: flowerheads around 1-1/2 inches across
Flower color: purple rays around a yellow disk
Flowering time: August to October
Compared to other native asters, New England aster flowers have more rays (around 40) and, usually, more intense purple color.

-Habitat: damp thickets and meadows
-Height: 3-7 feet

3.Closed Gentian /Gentiana clausa...also known as Bottle Gentian


Leaves: The leaf arrangement is opposite. Leaves can reach 10cm in length (4inches). Each leaf is lanceolate entire and stemless.

Flowers: The flowers have 5 Regular Parts and are up to 3.5cm long (1.5 inches). They are blue sometimes violet. Blooms first appear in mid summer and continue into mid fall. The corolla appears completely closed but can be opened at the top.

Habitat: Moist fields or open woods.

4.Tall Sunflower /Helianthus giganteus
Order: Asterales Family:Asteraceae Genus: Helianthus

Stem: 3 to 12 ft. tall, bristly-hairy, usually branching above, often reddish
Stems tall and rather stiff, hairy and rough to the touch,often purplish.
Ray flowers: ten to twenty in number, surrounding the yellow or yellowish brown disk. Bracts of the involucres lanceolate, ciliate, with slender, spreading tips. Receptacle chaffy, the chaff oblong-linear and pointed.
Leaves : Rough, firm, lance-shaped, saw-toothed, sessile, very rough above, margins serrate, long pointed at the apex, narrowed at the base, opposite or alternate, 2 to 6 inches long, one-half to 1 inch wide.

5.Daisy Fleabane /Erigeron strigosus
Order: Asterales Aster family: (Asteraceae)

-The upper stems terminate in small clusters of daisy-like compound flowers and their buds. The compound flowers are about ½" across, consisting of about 40-100 ray florets that surround numerous disk florets. The tiny disk florets are yellow, while the ray florets are usually white (sometimes light violet or pink).

- The root system consists of a taproot. This plant spreads by re-seeding itself, and often forms loose colonies.
-The alternate leaves are up to 4" long and 2/3" across, becoming smaller and more sparsely distributed as they ascend the stems. They are usually oblanceolate (shaped like a narrow spoon), narrowly ovate, or linear. Some of the larger leaves may have a few coarse teeth toward their outer tips. The base of each leaf narrows gradually to a slender petiole-like base.

Special Adaptations:
-The blooming period occurs primarily from late spring to mid-summer, and lasts about 1-2 months. Both the ray and disk florets can set fertile seed without cross-pollination. The small achenes enclosing the seeds have small bristles or white hairs that promote distribution of the seeds by wind.

-Primarily small bees and flies visit the flowers for nectar or pollen. Among the bees, are such visitors as Little Carpenter bees, Nomadine bees, Carder bees, Green Metallic bees, and Plasterer bees. An exceptional variety of flies also visit the flowers, while less common visitors include small butterflies, wasps, and beetles. The caterpillars of Schinia lynx (Lynx Flower Moth) eat the buds and flowerheads. Mammalian herbivores occasionally feed on the foliage and flowers, including livestock, deer, rabbits, and groundhogs

6.Autumn Olive /E. umbellata
Order: Rosales Family: Elaeagnaceae Genus:Elaeagnus



-native to eastern Asia from the Himalayas east to Japan. Because airborne nitrogen can be fixed in its roots, it has the capability to grow in infertile habitats.
-deciduous shrub growing to 4-10 m tall, with a dense, thorny crown
-leaves are alternate, 4-10 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, entire but with a waved margin they are silvery when they leaf out early in spring due to numerous tiny, scales, but turning greener above as the silvery scales wear off through the summer (unlike the related E. angustifolia, which remains silvery to leaf fall).
-flowers are clustered 1-7 together in the leaf axils, fragrant.
-fruit is round to oval drupe 1 cm long, silvery-scaled orange ripening red dotted with silver or brown. When ripe, the fruit is juicy and edible, and works well as a dried fruit. It is small, extremely numerous, tart-tasting, and it has a chewable seed. It has been shown to have from 7 to 17 times the amount of the antioxidant lycopene that tomatoes have.


7.Slender Fragrant Goldenrod /Euthamia tenuifolia (Solidago tenuifolia)


-Slender fragrant goldenrod looks quite similar to lance-leaved goldenrod. Slender fragrant goldenrod has narrower leaves -- around 1/8 inch wide, generally with only a single vein running down the leaf.

-Habitat: dry, sandy soil
-Height: 1-2 feet
-Flower size: 1/4 inch long
-Flower color: yellow


8.
Sweet /Anisescented Goldenrod /Solidago odora

Leaves: The leaves are alternate, toothless & when held up to light, there are tiny transparent dots. The leaves are entire, narrow, have only one main vein and have no petiole but instead merge smoothly with the stem. The leaves become small near the top. They have small glands appearing as dots.

Flowers: The flowers have numerous parts. They are yellow. The flowers are on the upper side of arching branches. The flowers are unusual because they grow only on the top side of the stems. When the Goldenrod gets taller, it typically droops over or lays on the ground due to the weight of its flowers and leaves.

Use: Fresh and dried leaves and flowers are highly recommended for a brewed tea. Leave in hot water for 10 minutes, and you'll get an "anise-flavored" tea.

Orange Fairy Cup -BOG

Orange Fairy Cup/Orange Peel Fungus A. aurantia

Order: Pezizales Family: Pyronemataceae Genus: Aleuria

Characteristics:
-Often called the "Orange Peel Fungus," this attractive cup fungus is bright orange, with a fuzzy whitish underside (at least when young).
Aleuria aurantia occasionally develops a slit down one side, reminiscent of species of Otidea (see Otidea onotica for an example), but it does not consistently do so, and it is more brightly colored than most Otidea species. Under the microscope, Aleuria aurantia has spores that become marvelously reticulate, clearly separating it from species of Otidea.
-Cup-shaped, often becoming flattened or irregularly shaped as a result of the clustered growth habit; reaching widths of 10 cm, but often smaller; bright orange and smooth above; undersurface usually whitish-fuzzy, at least when young, but often orange and more or less smooth; without a stem. Odor none. Flesh orangish; brittle.
-Saprobic, usually growing in clusters on the ground, often in clayey soil or disturbed ground (roadbanks, landscaping areas, and so on); summer and fall (fall and winter in California); widely distributed in North America.

Common Earthball-BOG

Common Earthball/ Scleroderma citrinum
Class: Agaricomycetes Order: Boletales Family: Sclerodermataceae
Genus: Scleroderma


Characteristics:
-Earthballs are superficially similar to, and considered look-alikes of the edible puffball, but whereas the Puffball has a single opening on top through which the spores are dispersed, the earthball just breaks up to release the spores.
- Scleroderma citrinum has much firmer flesh and a dark gleba (interior) much earlier in development than puffballs. Scleroderma citrinum has no stem but is attached to the soil by mycelial cords. The peridium, or outer wall, is thick and firm, usually ochre yellow externally with irregular warts.

Whitewash Lichen -BOG

Whitewash Lichen/ Phlyctis argena (Spreng.) Flotow
Class: Ascomycetes Family:Phlyctidaceae

-The name “whitewash lichen” is certainly fitting—this looks like dull white paint. It occurs in a thin layer (crustose) on tree bark (corticolous), on many different deciduous and some cone-bearing trees, in both open and sheltered conditions. It is found on red maple and cedar, for example. It does not have any apothecia (fancy lichen talk for fruiting bodies).
-Thallus a white to grey crust, reacting yellow to slowly red with KOH, with diffuse, extensive, pale greenish soralia that erode leaving raised lines. Widespread and common on bark, sometimes on walls.

Spring Peeper -BOG

Spring Peeper / P. crucifer

Order:Anura Family:Hylidae Genus:Pseudacris

General Characteristics:

-This is a very small, delicate treefrog, measuring only about 2.5 cm. (1 in.) in length. It is easily identified by the presence of an "X" on the dorsum.
-The ground color can vary from dull gray or tan to bright brick red or pink. The southern subspecies can be distinguished from the northern species by virtue of its darkly speckled venter.

-In the northern reaches of their range Spring Peepers must frequently endure occasional periods of subfreezing temperatures during the breeding season, and this species is tolerant of freezing of some of its body fluids. This treefrog frequently occurs in breeding aggregations of several hundred individuals, and commonly breeds in many small wetlands, including swamps, temporary pools and disturbed habitats such as farm ponds and borrow pits.

Hairy Woodpecker -BOG

Hairy Woodpecker / P. villosus

Order:Piciformes Family:Picidae Genus:Picoides

General Characteristics:
-The plumage of Hairy Woodpeckers is a mix of black and white.
Its wings, lower back, and tail are black with white spots; its upper back and outer tail feathers are white. Its underside is white, and its head is marked with wide alternating black and white stripes. Males have a red spot at the backs of their heads which females lack.
-
-Hairy Woodpeckers forage primarily on the trunks or main limbs of trees, where they probe into crevices and scale off bark searching for prey. They drum frequently in spring.
-They feed on bark-boring and wood-boring beetle larvae in dead and dying trees are the main food of Hairy Woodpeckers. They also feed on sap from sapsucker holes, berries, nuts, seeds, and suet.

Special Adaptations:
-While Hairy Woodpeckers are still widespread and common throughout their range, their populations in many areas have probably declined from historic levels. Forestry practices that remove snags and large trees have reduced nesting and roosting areas, and the introduced European Starlings and House Sparrows compete for nesting and roosting sites.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers -BOG

Red-bellied Woodpecker /M. carolinus

Order:Piciformes Family:Picidae Genus:Melanerpes



General Characteristics:
-Light cream to pink chest and belly, barred black and white wings and back, reddish markings around its bill and a red crown. The male has red on the crown and on the nape of his neck. The female has red just on the nape of her neck.

-Red-bellied woodpeckers tap their bills together when they are courting.
The nest cavity is built by both the male and the female. The cavity is lined with wood chips and is about a foot deep. It is usually built in a dead or dying tree.
The female lays three to eight eggs and both the male and female incubate the eggs and care for the young. The male incubates at night. The chicks hatch in about three weeks and they fledge in about a month. The chicks usually stay with their parents until the fall.

Special Adaptations:

The red-bellied woodpecker eats beetles, grasshoppers, ants and other insects. It also eats acorns, beechnuts and fruits. It uses its bill to probe for insects in trees and tree stumps. The red-bellied woodpecker sometimes stores food in a tree cavity. In the winter, the red-bellied woodpecker's diet is mostly seeds and it can often be found at birdfeeders.

Evergreen Wood Fern -BOG

Evergreen Wood Fern /D. intermedia

Order:Polypodiales Family:Dryopteridaceae Genus:Dryopteris


General Characteristics:
-A large, lacy, woodland fern; identifiable by its larger size, thrice-cut fronds. Petiole (leaf stalk) 1/3 length of leaf, scaly at least at base; scales scattered, brown with dark brown stripe.
-Blade green, deltate-ovate, thrice-cut and lacy. Pinnae (primary leaflets) more-or-less in plane of blade, lanceolate-oblong; basal pinnae triangular and slightly reduced in size.
-Rootstalk erect or ascending, producing offshoots.
-Sori midway between midvein and margin of segments.

special adaptations:
Each sorus consists of clusters of spore cases called sporangia that are shielded by a flap structure called an indusium. The asexual spores are released according to environmental conditions to enhance survival. Spores that land in favorable growing areas develop into an intermediate sexual structures called prothallia, which subsequently produce male and female organs known respectively as the sperm producing antherium and the egg bearing archegonium (in most cases on the same prothallium). The preference of ferns for boggy areas is due to the need for a film of moisture so that the sperm can swim to the eggs. The motile sperm is believed to be due to the retention of the processes of their aquatic ancestors. The fern frond grows from the resultant zygote.

MARSH FERN -BOG

Marsh Fern T. palustris

Order: Polypodiales Family: Thelypteridaceae Genus: Thelypteris

General Characteristics:

-A common wetland fern; each frond arising individually from a creeping rhizome without forming clumps.Fronds monomorphic or slightly dimorphic, deciduous.
-Fertile leaves more erect, narrower, with leaf edges slightly rolled over spore-bearing sori, 9"-36" tall.
-Petiole (leaf stalk) smooth and pale green above, black at base, sparsely set with smooth, tan, ovate scales, 3½"-18". Petioles of fertile fronds much longer than those of sterile.
-Leaflets deeply cut to within 1mm of rib; lobes oblong, with smooth edge. About a dozen per frond, they are all perpendicular to the stem.

-Sori round, on underside of fronds near the midvein, tan & often hairy

-Distinguished from the closely related Long Beech Fern (Phegopteris connectilis), by its lowest leaflets growing perpendicular to the stem.