Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 27, 2025
I love coming across plants with really distinctive common names, particularly within larger, well known genera. To me, it could speak to a particularly strong relationship with the people of an area, due to either its use or its distinctiveness. I'm thinking of Orange Grass, a plant in the Hypericum (St. John's Wort) genus. Most plants in this genera are known as '____ St.John's Wort'. Obviously, this is one of the more well known genera in modern times because of its use as a supplement (presumably its been used in natural medicine for a long time). I wonder if, because it is quite unique looking, the common name became well known enough before its classification into the genus, that it stuck. The who concept of common names, and their variability, has always been fascinating to me as a means of exploring our relationship with plants. #NatureAppreciation #Nature #NativePlants
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 27, 2025
Just ran across a notable habitat description for a plant: "high watertable morainic bluffs". This is one I haven't seen before for my area. Moraines are hilly depositions of glacial sediment. Bluffs in my area are formed through riverine erosion. I generally think of them as two separate entities but obviously they can intersect. Thinking about the different timescales of glacial deposition and river erosion is fascinating to me. Add in the high watertable component, which is counter-intuitive to bluffs, occuring due to a perched watertable or some other geological feature, and you have a pretty unique community. This plant is characteristic of wet-mesic acid sand prairies, another pretty damn specific habitat type so its notable that the other habitat it can be found in is also quite unique. #NatureAppreciation #Ecology #Plants #Nature
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 22, 2025
So I'm in the process of working on most comprehensive plant ecology project I've ever done - I'm about 800 hours in - and a small part of it is compiling a photo collection of all the plants in my region. There's upwards of 100 carex (sedge) species and I've only every known most of them (vaguely) by name. I can't tell you how amazing it is seeing some of these plants for the first time, like knowing someone over the internet for for ten years and then finally meeting them in person. #Ecology #PlantEcology #NatureAppreciation
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Aug 1, 2025

Some of the descriptions for where a rare plant is found in my flora book are really funny because there may have been only two sightings in the history of the state, so its like "depression at the base of a toppled tree" whereas a common species will be like "wet woods".

"I'm trying to find this plant" "Ok, have you checked under all the fallen trees?" or "Have you looked in the woods?"
#NatureAppreciation #Ecology #Plants

Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Jul 27, 2025

Bamboos are semelparous, meaning they only sexually reproduce once despite living several years, similar to the programmed death in Salmon. This life habit is rare in 'long lived' individuals.

"Most bamboos are tropical or warm temperate zone plants that form dense stands in disturbed habitats. Reproduction in bamboos does not appear to require substantial preparation or resources, but opportunites for successful seed germination probably are rare. Once established, a bamboo plant increases by asexual reproduction, continually sending up new stalks, until the habitat in which it germinated is packed with bamboo. Only that this point, where vegetative growth becomes severely limited, do plants benefit from producing seeds, which may colonize disturbed sites."

-Ecology, Ricklefs and Miller #PlantEcology #Plants #NatureAppreciation

Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Jul 25, 2025
The first plant to become established in the denuded areas after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens was a lupine (del Moral 1993). "In the decade following the eruption only 11 species became established in the area" (Ecology, Ricklefs and Miller). #Plants #NatureAppreciation #Ecology
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Jul 23, 2025
Humans have been identifying plants for as long as humas have existed. You could argue that there is no more fundamentally human characteristic than the ability to identify #plants. #RestorationEcology #Ecology #NatureAppreciation
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Jul 8, 2025
Just saw one of the most beautiful #spiders I've ever seen, what I think was a jumping #spider as it definitively jumped out of my hand. It had that same compact body form with underset legs, but a larger abdomen than I'm used to seeing. I was collecting spiderwort seed (really difficult to time the collection as it blooms for a month or more and sets seed continuously, while dropping it quickly) and saw an arthropod fall out of one of the spent, crushed seedheads. It could not have been better camaflauged and had a really gently baubled tan abdomen with a couple brown and reddish angular stripes. Its interesting that I didn't reflexively seek to drop it out of my hand (granted, that would have meant losing a lot of seed) because historically I've been afraid of spiders. I think I'm less afraid than I once was. Spiderwort is likely named for some of its physical characteristics. #Nature #NatureAppreciation #RestorationEcology
Hazel-Quercus 🟡⚪🟣⚫Jun 17, 2025
Today I saw an ants nest built into a flower pot and at first it looked like someone had tampered with the flowers and dug out a lot of dirt so I stuck my hands in to resettle it but then noticed that my hands were covered in medium black (carpenter?) #ants. They had mounded the loose soil up vertically, basically growing the soil profile by 20%, by placing it in the cup-shaped leaves and building a network of tunnels around the stems and leaves of the plant. It was brilliant! The best part is, the plant seems to be doing really well and I'm wondering, besides the airation the ants are providing, if there are other added benefits to the plant like pest control/fertilization. For all I know, they could be pollinating it! #NatureAppreciation
Blog Questions Challenge BotApr 11, 2025

Nature appreciation:

What's the silliest animal you've ever seen in nature?

If you could have any plant's superpower, what would it be and why?

What's your favorite sound of nature and where did you last hear it?

If you could design your own perfect little nature spot, what would it include?

#BlogQuestionsChallenge #Natureappreciation