Observations 4/15

Date: 4/15/14
Time: 12:50-1:50
Temperature: 65 degrees (approx)
Weather: Sunny, Partly Cloudy
Phenology Updates: 

Spring is upon us! It was a beautiful day to be at the UBNA. Today I walked around my site and made a general list of the species I could identify:

Tule Scirpus acutus
Cattail? Typha latifolia
Giant horsetail Equistem telmateia
Common Horsetail Equistem arvense
Sitka Willow? Salix sitchensis
Black Cottonwood Populus trichocarpa
Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus
some kind of big bulrush?

This for me is the real mystery. When this was first coming up I identified it as cattail, but the basal leaves have gotten too broad to be cattail- the closest I could get is some kind of Scirpus sps. These are shooting up all over the marshy, muddy edges of the pond, in conjunction with the Tule. I was just reading that Tule is an ecologically important plant because it is hardy against wind and water forces as well as prevents erosion, thereby allows for the establishment of other plants. I hope I am correctly identifying Tule here- its shoots are less than a foot long in my site:

In addition to this, the pond is surrounded by horsetail. From researching the horsetail I realized that I am not seeing two species of horsetail but rather the fertile and infertile stems of the same species, the Equisetum telmateia, or Giant Horsetail.

As you can see in the photo, there are large stems that are brown striped, unbranched and fleshy- these are the fertile horsetail. The fertile horsetail are the green, branched- these are sterile. The fertile horsetail have a big cone like top or "strobilus," where the spores are released. The infertile horsetail, called candocks, are smaller and look more like tiny pine trees. Right now all of the candocks are about 1 ft tall and all of the scouring rush (or fertile horsetail) are about 1.5 ft tall. From the last visit, I see that the candocks are really starting to unfurl their branches. Here are some sketches:

I also saw a different species called Common Horsetail or Equisetum arvense, which are shorter and have wider branchings. The common horsetail seemed farther along in its development, as you can see in the diagrammatic drawing below (of a candock):

Horsetails have a variety of ethnobotanical uses- for polishing, imbricating, and even eating. In early spring, the Coast Salish traditionally rely on the early shoots as a first food after eating dried foods all winter. You can cook the stalks of fertile horsetail like asparagus! Also, horsetail rhizome (which is thin and black) are used for imbrication, or pattern designs, of baskets.

I also had a surprise waiting for me at my site!

I think a duck layed her egg near the water's edge- good thing I didn't step on it! I wouldn't say she is the best mother because this isn't the most secluded spot to hatch. I later saw two Mallard ducks, or Anas platyrhynchos at the pond's edge- probably the mother and father. The male would be the green, glossy headed one with lighter feathers, and the female is the brown mottled duck on the right:

In general, my site is more colorful and greener than last week. I noticed some new flowers in the apple tree (Malus domestica?) to the left of the pond:

Most of the buds were still tightly closed and pink but a few were open and had turned white. The last main observation I will make for this week is a lichen I found on a fallen tree, which I think is Xanthoria parietina. Apparently if you ferment this lichen it can make a blue dye for fibers!

 

I'm guessing this is Sitka willow?

Now for some sketches!