Virginia Spiraea

Last week the Ohio Heritage Naturalists had the fortune to examine a spectacular plant in bloom, Virginia spirea (Spiraea virginiana). This mega-rarity, as they are known in the botany business, is listed as federally threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is quite rare throughout the Appalachian region, due to its nature to reproduce clonally rather than sexually and its special habitat preferences. It takes root along rivers and streams where competition from trees is absent, but it does not tolerate constant flooding and inundation, restricting itself to a narrow band along high quality streams. Since it seems to inhabit this unusual niche, it is quite rare. There is some thought that this plant was more common after the most recent ice age ended, as it would have had plenty of treeless habitat to inhabit, and now has found refuge near rivers and streams. Today, West Virginia contains the largest populations. Last week was my first time seeing the plant, I was quite impressed. It was a tall shrub, about six feet high, and the specimens we saw appeared to be in full bloom. The shrub's pale white flower clusters looked like little puffballs of cotton from far away, but upon close inspection, the flowers seemed much more delicate and lacy. The flower did remind me somewhat of bridal veil-spiraea, a common non-native cultivated species found in yards across the state. Tonight, I thought I would share a few photos of this mega rarity.

For more information, check out the USDA Plants Website and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Natural Areas and Preserves Rare Plant Abstracts.

Tom

Fire-necked Batyle Beetle

Our trip to Scioto Brush Creek on Wednesday has turned up quite a few plant rarities, including an endangered sedge and grass. However, it turns out that I might have found a rare beetle as well. I spotted this colorful insect on a sprig of American Water Willow, a common plant throughout Ohio that is restricted to the sand and gravel bars of rivers. John Howard and I thought we should post this unknown specimen to Bugguide.net, and sure enough, this site of amateur and professional entomologists came through again! What I had found was in fact the Fire-necked Batyle Beetle (Batyle ignicollis), and a member of bugguide.net said this species is "Nice Find! this species is not that abundant." The point here? Scioto Brush Creek not only harbors a diverse and intact fish assemblage in its waters, extremely rare plants on its banks, but also unusual insects. I felt like I was traveling back in time as I entered the creek--I was thinking what the Olentangy River looked like 300 years ago, and thought that it might share some characteristics with Scioto Brush Creek. Clear water, narrow riffles and wide deep pools, and water willow everywhere. The Olentangy is covered with trash. I can't walk more than a few feet without finding some evidence of people. But in Scioto Brush Creek, I could count on one hand the pieces of trash we found. A football, a cord to an electric blanket, and a Seagram's bottle cap. Anyways, the place is great. Although this property is only 36 acres and protects only one bank of the Creek, it is fantastic. To learn more about Scioto Brush Creek, check out the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek, a local watershed group dedicated to protecting this area's unique resources.

Tom

A Dragon from Scioto Brush Creek

Another dragonfly from Wednesday's trip to Scioto Brush Creek. This is a black shouldered spinylegs. This one has awesome coloration, with the yellow abdomen and light green body especially striking.

Tom

Longnose Gar

John Howard, an excellent naturalist who lives in Adams County, was telling me about the fish that live in Scioto Brush Creek. Where we first entered the stream, it was rocky and shallow. Several hundred feet downstream, however, the stream deepened and widened into a gigantic pool. In this pool, we spotted perhaps the coolest fish I have ever seen in Ohio, a Longnose Gar, Lepisosteus osseus. Here you can see the gar looking like pencil in the river. I then zoomed in on the fish to give a closer view. I just never realized we had these fish in Ohio. I haven't seen any in the Olentangy, and I doubt they are here in Columbus, but in Scioto Brush Creek, they are readily seen as they like to float at the surface.

Tom

 

 

More from Scioto Brush Creek

I'll throw up some more pictures.....I had a request. Here we have a violet dancer, Argia fumipennis violacea, and northern brown snake, Storeria dekayi.

More Dragons

Sometimes you have one of those days when you see tons of cool stuff. Bugs, plants, reptiles, amphibians. Today the Ohio Heritage Naturalists traveled to Scioto Brush Creek and here is just one example of the interesting animals we found. I believe this is a black-shouldered Spinyleg, Dromogomphus spinosus. An amazingly beautiful animal, it was basking in a meadow opening above Scioto Brush Creek.

Tom

 

Muskingum County

Today, the Ohio Heritage Naturalists trekked to Muskingum County. While there, we saw many things, but the find of the day was a just "hatched" ( I don't know dragonfly lingo, but I'm willing to learn) tiger spiketail. Here our photos from the day. My goal was to get pictures of woodland sedges. I've labeled them and hopefully spelled them correctly. Click on the slideshow and it will take you to a nice webpage where you can see the labels and view larger versions of each shot. I was using the division's Nikon D70 with a 60mm macro lens, and I must say, there was a bit of a learning curve, but after cropping and sharpening, I am happy with the results. Thanks again to our volunteers who helped us inventory today.



Tom

Adams County Natural Heritage Naturalist Trip

I'm trying something new tonight. Here is a slideshow from today's Ohio Natural Heritage Naturalist field trip to a site in Adams county that was loaded with great dolomite barrens. We had a great time botanizing, but my neck was a bit sore from looking at the ground for four hours straight! We had a great time and I learned tons of new plants today, courtesy of the great volunteer naturalists that help us survey the state.