Shoreline Fens of the Bruce Peninsula

I wonder if it's perhaps time to start rethinking the name of this blog.  With the amount of out-of-state traveling and botanizing I do throughout the surrounding states and regions, I feel like it has as much to do with the natural treasures of those places as it does with home sweet Ohio.  I'm only thinking out loud and have no real intentions of tackling the matter but it does stand to reason this blog is much more than just the fine buckeye state!  Recent times have seen focus on some of those extended forays; such as upstate New York and the southern Adirondacks, as well as the cranberry glades of West Virginia.  All were quite tardy and well past due but still worth the time to produce and share.  That being said, your blogger has decided to keep with that theme and travel back in time even further to catch up on some old business!  What better way to waste away the last days of winter with some warming tales of summers past?

A couple years ago during the summer of 2011 found myself wandering the botanical and geological masterpiece that is the Bruce peninsula in Ontario, Canada.  I began to weigh in on my travels and findings a ways back but lost track and it unfortunately got lost in the shuffle.  I'd like to dive back in and finish up my tales of the Bruce before spring fully awakens and my blogging switches back to more relevant topics.

Large shoreline fen complexes the Bruce peninsula is widely known for

One of the most spectacular aspects to this limestone derived slab of the Niagara escarpment are its huge expanses of shoreline fen complexes.  Unlike the small, isolated fens that pocket west-central and northeast Ohio, these graminoid dominated ecosystems stretch on as far as the eye can see in some places and are hundreds of acres in size.  Lake Huron's adjacent nippy waters play a direct role in the hydrology of these fens and keep their soils saturated and thriving with spike rushes (Eleocharis spp.), sedges (Carex spp.), and other fascinating flora characteristic of this habitat-type.  Areas of the Bruce such as Dorcas Bay, Petrel Point, Oliphant, and Red Bay claim prime examples of these shoreline wetlands and their associating plants; some of which are exhibited below.

Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

My mid-June visit happened to coincide with the en masse blooming of the fen's most noticeable occupant: the northern pitcher plant.  Literally thousands of its large, blood-red flowers were suspended over the stunted pitchers growing below in the nutrient-poor and mucky soil.  The wetland almost seemed to suffer from an aggressive case of the chickenpox due to the mass-flowering of pitcher plants.

N. Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

N. Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

The chilled, water saturated muck and marl soil of fens rarely hold any appreciable amount of nutrients (most specifically nitrogen) and require some plants to find ulterior methods for fulfilling their nutritional needs.  For the pitcher plants, sundews (Drosera spp.), and bladderworts (Utricularia spp.) that grow and persist in these fens, that other tactic is being insectivorous.

Linear-leaved Sundew (Drosera linearis)

Linear-leaved sundew's (Drosera linearis) glistening, enticing leaves intermingled with the pitcher plants across the swathe of fen and established an intimidating web of death for any winged insect.  Upon capture through a plant's own unique practices, the insects are broken down by the plant's natural enzymes and converted into a usuable form and ingested.  Speaking from experience itself, I don't see how these plants could ever go hungry with the unlimited number of mosquitoes, midges, and biting flies etc. that abound.

Fen orchid (Liparis loeselii)

Fen orchid (Liparis loeselii)

Naturally, my main draw to the Bruce was its famous flora and most specifically its orchid diversity.  At the conclusion of my week spent there, I found no less than 20 species of orchid at one stage of its seasonal life cycle or another.  One of the most exciting of orchid discoveries occurred while scanning the drier hummocks of Oliphant fen for anything unusual.  The appropriately named fen orchid or Loesel's twayblade (Liparis loeselii) may pale in comparison to the physique of the forthcoming orchids in this post but their intricate lime-green flowers don't fail to impress.

Large expanse of shoreline fen on the Bruce peninsula

Gazing out across the open meadows allows your mind to soak in the details and impressive size of the Bruce's shoreline fens.  Come July these wetlands come alive with a pink/purple sea of rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) and grass pink (Calopogon tuberosus) orchids that would make even the least botanically-interested stop and take notice.

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum)

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum)

My visit was a few weeks too early for the orchid fireworks show and I was instead greeted with the conspicuous fruiting stalks of cotton grass (Eriophorum viridicarinatum) gently weaving in the cool breezes off Lake Huron.

Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum)

Another strikingly white and easily discernible plant showing off its seasonal charm throughout the fens was Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum).  This was a huge get for your blogger and provided a very satisfying opportunity to photograph and mark off another predominant life species; not to mention finally experience the spicy and refreshing aroma of its crushed foliage.

Shrubby, wooded borders of the fen complexes

Surrounding the large fen complexes were cool, mossy coniferous swamp forests comprised of white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), balsam-fir (Abies balsamea), tamarack (Larix laricina), and black spruce (Picea mariana) that allowed for even more fascinating plant life to mesh at their margins.

Showy Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium reginae)

The most exciting of those plants utilizing the forested margins of the fen meadows was easily the showy lady's slippers (Cypripedium reginae).  I was lucky enough to feel the adrenaline of coming across a flowering clump of these majestic orchids twice during my stay on the Bruce.

Showy Lady's Slippers (C. reginae)

Showy Lady's Slippers (C. reginae)

I'd seen this species many times before back home in Ohio but the chance encounters here were not taken for granted and still sit high on my list of most exciting and appreciable finds.  The contrasting pink and white of their remarkable flowers is set perfectly against the vivid greens of the cedars and surrounding vegetation; it's hard to think they could ever really hide from anyone with such a loud display.

Sage-leaved Willow (Salix candida)

Shining Willow (Salix lucida)

It's not only the fen's herbaceous plant life that is endlessly diverse and intriguing but its woody plant compositions and associations as well.  While walking through a shrubbier section of the Dorcas Bay complex I came across many species of willow (Salix spp.) either already in fruit or just breaking bud.  One of the most noticeable was the accurately named sage-leaved willow (S. candida) with its silver-green foliage reminiscent of the western state's sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) plant.  Another shrubby willow in the fen's thickets and borders was the shining willow (S. lucida) just coming into flower.  The above photo on the right exhibits the shining willow's golden staminate flowers.

Wet area of the sedge meadow full of bladderwort (Utricularia spp.) flowers

In the soupier, more saturated parts of the fens grew a host of weird and unusual plants, including another of the Bruce's numerous carnivorous species.  The speckling of yellow flowers in the water-logged area above belong to the flat-leaved bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia).  The bladderwort's "roots" have a series of bladders that pull in water and its accompanying tiny invertebrates to digest and break down in a similar fashion to the aforementioned sundews and pitcher plants.

Tall White Bog Orchid (Platanthera dilatata)

Just beginning to break bud among the bladderworts was a species of orchid I had never laid eyes on before and was pleasantly surprised to find in flower.  Tall white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata) has been found and recorded in Ohio's northern surrounding states but never Ohio itself, despite some habitat existing during pre-settlement times.

Tall White Bog Orchid (P. dilatata)

Tall White Bog Orchid (P. dilatata)

Also known as white bog candles, this orchid ranges clear across the continent in its northern boreal habitat and additionally in the higher elevations of the mountain west.  Throughout its range taxonomists have separated it into three varieties depending on the size comparisons between the inflorescence's spur and lip.  Here on the Bruce and the rest of the eastern half of the continent only the typical variety (P. dilatata var. dilatata) occurs.

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in fruit

Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)

Not all is fair in botany though; the success of a find is often followed by the sting of defeat.  I had hopes of seeing a major lifer, the buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in flower but as it turned out the sole time I came across some the flowers were long gone and the fruits swelling with maturity.  I'll just have to return earlier in the season to catch their sensational flowers scattered throughout the wet meadows.  Certainly something you wouldn't have to pull my hair to get me to do!  On the opposite side of the flowering spectrum the small cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) were just beginning to get going and carpeted small areas of the fens with their reddish-white, nodding blossoms.

Northern Leopard Frog

My time spent on the Bruce may be approaching two years in the past but I still often times find myself reminiscing on my experiences and discoveries with aspirations of returning sooner than later.  I've been fortunate to have done quite a bit of traveling across our continent in my life thus far and while many places are worth remembering, it's spots like the Bruce peninsula that you leave a piece of year heart behind upon your return home.  There is still plenty to share on the Bruce's wonders and I hope to get to them.  No matter how delayed they may be, their song deserves to be sung for all to hear.

Northeast Ohio (Bruce Peninsula Prequel)

Well, as promised I'm ready to start my blogging mini-series on my road trip and botanical foray up to the Bruce peninsula in Ontario, Canada.  I can say without any real hesitation that this was one of the most exciting, adventurous, soul-cleansing and amazing weeks of my life!  The wide array of varying habitats and ecosystems, plant communities, geologic wonders, flora and fauna...the list goes on indefinitely about just how diverse and fascinating that spit of limestone in Lake Huron is.  I observed nearly 100 vascular plants in bloom and got the chance to find 18 different species of orchid either in flower or bud.  From traversing the rugged, boulder-strewn shorelines to sloshing through fens and marshes, there was hardly a minute where I wasn't in complete awe of my surroundings...but we will get to all that soon enough!  First I'd like to start things off by retracing my steps back to where it all begin.  Every story has a beginning and mine was only an appetizer of things to come.
 
I awoke early Tuesday morning to sunny blue skies and loaded up my Forester for the first leg of my journey from home to the Buffalo area of New York state.  The day's itinerary included several stops throughout Northeastern Ohio's bogs, fens and an old-growth White Pine (Pinus strobus) and E. Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forest.  Each stop included a featured plant or two I had my sights on as well as the usual round of surprises along the way.  As I made my way up I-71 towards Clear Fork Gorge state nature preserve inside Mohican State Forest I decided to quiet my growling stomach with a stop at Bob Evan's.  As I settled in at my spot along the bar and began to sip the morning's first cup of coffee a large Greyhound bus rolled into the parking lot and proceeded to expel 50+ people from its doors.  I was one of maybe 7-8 other folks in the restaurant at 8 in the morning with only two waitresses working.  As the next half hour went by I don't think I've ever seen two waitresses and a cook move so fast in all my life.  I finished my meal, drained my coffee mug and got back in the car with a new found sense of excitement and gratitude that I was about to have the week of my life and wasn't one of those poor workers I left behind.

Ancient Eastern Hemlocks

A towering White Pine

A little over an hour later I found myself wandering through a rare ecosystem nearly extinguished from Ohio's fertile landscape.  Although only a small, 8 acre grove, these White Pines and E. Hemlocks were among the largest I've ever seen in Ohio.  Trees 3+ feet in diameter abounded with many reaching heights well over 100' tall.  The White Pines, while few and scattered amongst the Hemlocks, were the monarchs of the forest.  The largest one I saw (pictured above right) was approaching 4 feet wide and easily 120-130 feet above my head.  Residing on a steep slope in the gorge of Clear Fork, these escaped the ax and chainsaw to attain heights and diameters I've never seen before other than in the fleeting old-growth Pine/Hemlock forests of Northern Michigan.  I wasn't here to just gawk at the impressive conifers in this grove but also to scan the thick bed of needles for one of Ohio's most unusual and intriguing early summer wildflowers, the Round-leaved Orchid (Platanthera orbiculata).

Platanthera orbiculata

Platanthera orbiculata

The hand sized, round, green leaves are not hard to pick to out from the brownish mat of fallen needles.  Of all the native orchids to Ohio this one has the largest leaves and arguably the most unique flowers.  Upon closer inspection they look like little aliens crawling up the raceme towards their mothership.  Little did I know this neat orchid would be just the first of a long list I would see over the course of the next week.

Brown's Lake Bog

Sphagnum spp.

Onward down the road was one of the coolest places I've had the chance to explore in Ohio, Brown's Lake Bog.  As the glaciers receded, giant pieces of ice broke off and were buried by glacial outwash and debris only to melt and fill the resulting depression with water.  These naturally occurring bodies of water are known as kettle ponds or lakes.  In even more unique and special situations the waters of these kettle ponds become acidic as years of decomposing plant material accumulate and species of a moss called Sphagnum begin to grow.  As decades and centuries pass the Sphagnum form a series of layers over the water of the kettle pond, becoming essentially a floating mat of vegetation.  Taking a careful and slow walk across the mat gives the effect of walking on a firm waterbed.  Throughout the dominant Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) and Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamonea) were many rare and fascinating boreal bog species of plants.

Cinnamon Ferns

Scattering of Rose Pogonias

Immediately catching my eye was a corner of the Sphagnum mat heavily speckled with pink.  These weren't your average 'pink specks', they belonged to the state threatened and breath-taking orchid known as the Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides).  These delicate beauties are the size of a quarter and range from deep pinks and magentas to very light pink and rose colors.  An interesting note on habitat is I've seen this orchid bloom in acidic bogs such as Brown's Lake as well as in calcareous and limey fens along the shores of Lake Huron.  Strange it seems to thrive and tolerate both ends of the soil pH spectrum.

Pogonia ophioglossoides

Pogonia ophioglossoides

Being able to stand on a floating mat of vegetation over the chilled waters of a naturally made kettle pond (with permission to go off trail, of course) was one of the coolest experiences yet in my botanical endeavors.  Each step sent rippling shockwaves across the Sphagnum mat with tiny, undulating motions felt throughout my body.  Not even the clouds of deer flies buzzing around my head could penetrate my moment of zen.  It was almost impossible to take a step in any direction without nearly stepping on some species of interesting or rare plant.

Pitcher plant with an insect meal

Sarracenia purpurea

Speaking of interesting and rare plants, this one was quite common throughout the mat and easily one of my favorites.  The Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is a potentially threatened species found scattered throughout Ohio's northeastern bogs and in rare cases fens as well.  Their modified leaves form a sealed 'pitcher' which fills with rainwater and acts as a trap for visiting insects which in turn drown in the water.  Invertebrates (such as mosquito and midge larvae) living in the trapped rain water as well as bacteria then break down the insects into a nutritional base usable by the plant.  Studies have shown that new, first-year leaves do produce digestive enzymes but in the long run the plant relies on its symbiotic relationship with its invertebrate occupants for the most part.

S. purpurea flowers

S. purpurea and Drosea rotundifolia

Rising a foot or so above the pitcher-like leaves were the intriguing flowers of the N. Pitcher Plant.  The reddish-green flowers are rather large, measuring about two inches across.  The Bruce peninsula has thousands upon thousands of this species along its lake shore fens as I would come to find out.  The picture above right shows two of Brown's Lake Bog's carnivorous plants.  On the left are the fascinating leaves of the Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).  The sticky 'dew' droplets glistening on the ends of the leaves attract insects to its sweet scent. Upon landing on the leaf the unassuming insects become stuck to the gluey hairs and slowly the leaf curls in, wrapping the insect up in its sticky tomb of death.  Digestive enzymes are then secreted and used to decompose the insect into usable nutrients.

D. rotundifolia rosette closeup

Vaccinium macrocarpon flowers

Round-leaved Sundew is the more common of the two native Drosera's in Ohio.  All the sundew's are  essentially the same only differing in the size and shape of the leaves.  While not in bloom on my visit to this bog nor up on the Bruce, they are just starting to flower at Cedar Bog and I look forward to seeing their tiny, fragile but charming flowers.  Seen in its vegetative form all over the Sphagnum mat was Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon).  After some searching I was able to find a couple flowers in bloom that will mature into the delicious and edible cranberry you enjoy as a tasty and healthy snack.

This year's female Tamarack cones

Patch of Vaccinium oxycoccos

After spending a good deal of time at Brown's Lake Bog I hit the road again and continued on my route through northeastern Ohio.  Up next was Kent Bog, an Ice age relic boreal community with many rare and northerly plants.  Kent Bog's claim to fame is it's home to the largest, southernmost stand of Tamarack (Larix larcina) trees in the continental United States.  It is also home to the rare northern tree Grey Birch (Betula populifolia) as well as the state threatened Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos).
 
The next stop on my tour of northeast Ohio was Gott Fen in Portage County.  According to the ODNR, this fen complex houses the largest population of Showy Lady's slippers (Cypripedium reginae) in the state.  This was peak blooming time for these on my arrival and I was rather excited to see some in large numbers.  After finding the site it became increasingly clear to me the outer edges were so overgrown with shrubs and trees it was nearly impossible to gain access to the interior of the fen.  I tried several attempts to enter but was denied and turned back by dense vegetation each time.  "Gott Damn Fen" is a more appropriate name for this place until I get a proper tour of it!  I was able to see some Showy ladies in bloom along the outer perimeter which made for somewhat of a satisfactory visit.

Mantua Bog

Poison Sumac in flower

Last on my string of stops and certainly the most anticipated was Mantua Bog just outside the village of Mantua.  This permit only preserve is home to a great deal of rare plants with one calling my name louder than any other.  This is the last location known to have the state endangered and very rare Dragon's-mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa).  A friend who works as a botanist for the state of Ohio was kind enough to send me a map with the location of the Arethusa within the preserve.  Despite a couple hours of trudging through the nearly knee high muck, weaving my way through a sea of Narrow-leaved Cattails (Typha angustifolia) and avoiding large amounts of Poison Sumac, I never came across any evidence of the the Dragon's-mouth.  Perhaps I arrived to the party too late or I just wasn't sharp-eyed enough to spot the gorgeous orchid but either way I left empty handed.  You can't always see and get every plant on your list, there's always a few that will have to wait until next year!
 
After slipping off my boots and a quick change of clothes I made the rest of my journey along I-90 and watched a breath-taking sunset across Lake Erie end an exciting first day on the road.  I pulled into my hotel in Hamburg, New York exhausted, filthy and craving a long, hot shower with the excitement of tomorrow flowing through my veins.  It was early to bed and early to rise as the next day would take me into Canada and up to my ultimate destination of the Bruce peninsula!  Stay tuned for my next installment in this series in the next day or so!