Plant Quiz Solved! Bog Birch (Betula pumila)

Congrats to Jim, Pete, and Dennis for correcting identifying this plant as bog birch (Betula pumila).  This photograph was taken in mid-May at Cedar Bog nature preserve in Champaign Co., Ohio.  Bog birch is a northern disjunct here in Ohio and survives in a select few fens and bogs in the state.  Due to its rarity it is considered a threatened species here in Ohio.  In fact, the population at Cedar Bog is one of the most southern stations for this plant in North America.  The latest period of glaciation brought this species south into Ohio when the environment and climate was more supportive of the birch and its northern associate plants.

Bog birch is also known as swamp birch and the smallest member of the birches native to Ohio.  It rarely grows taller than 10-15' and commonly forms shrubby thickets on the margins of fens, bogs, and wooded swamps.  Apart from the leaves the maturing fruit bodies on the shrub in the photograph should have helped in narrowing this down to a member of the Betulaceae family.

Thanks to those who played along and I look forward to posting more plant quizzes in the near future!

I've been getting back into the blogging mindset and attitude recently and while I'm organizing and writing I thought I'd throw in an appetizer-like plant quiz post in the mean time.  Check out the photograph below and see what you think and comment with your guesses and/or answers.  Best of luck!

Do you recognize this plant?

Celestial Dance of Jupiter and the Moon

Few things could get your blogger out in single digit air temperatures and even crueler wind chills in the middle of a January winter night.  However, sometimes nature puts on a celestial show worth taking the time and extra layer of clothes to check out!  Tonight the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter will be exceptionally close to the moon and make for an interesting view you won't be seeing again any time soon.  Jupiter won't appear this close to the moon again until 2026 so I hope you got the chance to check it out!  Those living in South America will, weather permitting, have the unique opportunity to watch the occultation of Jupiter; meaning the large gaseous planet will pass behind the moon and re-emerge an hour or so later.

Waxing Gibbous moon at 80% full with Jupiter to the right

I decided to brave the chill and take my limited experience and equipment out into the night to see what kind of photograph I could capture.  I only had my 300mm telephoto lens to work with but in the end I think the results turned out halfway decent in the photograph above.  It's hard to fathom that little white dot on the right is hundreds of millions of miles away and substantially larger than our own precious home world.  Jupiter is over 1,300 times more voluminous than Earth and has a mass more than 300 times greater.  In fact, Jupiter's mass alone is 2.5 greater than all the other planets of our solar system combined.  I'd like to think a day will come when a human being will be able to look out their window and see this mighty planet in full view before them as their spacecraft zooms on by...

Virgin Temperate Rainforests of the PNW

I'm the first to admit my blog is titled The Natural Treasures of Ohio and for the most part that's rightfully so.  But from time to time I think it's fun and healthy to step outside her lovely borders and explore other places and regions our infinitely beautiful country and continent selflessly shares with us.  One of the most memorable and unforgettable of those experiences occurred a few summers ago when I helped one of my best friends move from Ohio to the Seattle area.  We loaded up his car in late July 2009 and took two weeks to travel over 4,500 miles and visited numerous national parks and forests including the typical classics like the Black Hills, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Olympic.  To this day we still frequently reminisce about all the lasting memories and events of that epic road trip and tentatively plan our next.

Almost fittingly the most anticipated and eagerly awaited of our destinations, at least for myself, came last: the famed virgin temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, most specifically those on the Olympic peninsula.  I had long salivated at the idea of bearing physical witness to the grandeur and impossible dimensions of its ancient forest leviathans.  Trees were my first botanical love and sank their teeth deepest on that initial bite from the botany bug.  Even to this day they still have a special place in my heart that I dare say no other vascular plants can touch.  You just can't get the same level of satisfaction from hugging an orchid or lily that you can from a tree; although I can say I've never tried hugging my smaller, herbaceous cronies.

During my down time this holiday season I've found myself delving into old photograph folders on my computer and couldn't seem to look away from pictures taken during my time spent in those unique forest ecosystems and the monstrous trees that lay within.  So I'm here to take you back with me into those primeval coniferous wonderlands and share their unrivaled beauty.  It's the second best thing to being there and I hope by the end of this post most of you will be inspired to write the Olympic peninsula down on your bucket list of places you absolutely, positively must visit!

Lake Crescent on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state

Our journey to gymnosperm paradise started from the harbor town of Port Angeles on the northern end of the Olympic peninsula where we continued on U.S. route 101 west towards the mighty Pacific.  Not far outside of town we came across the first of many scenic photo opportunities in the gorgeous views of Lake Crescent.  The lake is widely known for its crystal clear, vivid blue waters that can be attributed to the lack of nitrogen in the water, which in turn inhibits the growth of algae.  After some quick pictures it was back in the car for the drive into the Hoh rainforest, one of the finest remaining temperate rainforests left on the planet.

Your blogger and an enormous Sitka Spruce

As we drove into the depths of the Hoh River valley it was hard not to notice the increasing size of the trees the deeper our car went.  In a moment I'll never forget, my eyes met one of the largest Sitka spruces still in existence along the side of the road.  At over 200' tall and 11 feet in diameter it easily dwarfs your blogger as he stands next to it in disbelief.

Better view of the massive spruce tree

The gargantuan spruce specimen is known as the Preston Macy tree, named after the park's first super independent.  Sitka spruces are unique in that they only grow along the Pacific coast from northern California to Kodiak Island in Alaska and rarely occur any further than 25 miles inland.  These endemics of the North American temperate rainforest have incredible growth rates supported by the perfect climate conditions.  It's not uncommon for sitka spruces to attain heights of 200+ feet in just a century's time!

Hoh River flowing down from the Olympic mountains

Above is the Hoh River as it carves its way down from the precipices of the Olympics Mountains just as its glacier predecessors did thousands of years before.  The Hoh is predominately fed by the melting glacial waters from the mighty ice sheets atop Mt. Olympus and is permanently stained grey from the pulverized sediment load it carries from the mountains to the ocean.

Skyscraper trees of the Hoh rainforest

The Hoh is one of the most prized tracts of remaining old-growth temperate rainforest to be found on the Olmypic peninsula.  Impressive coniferous forests of western red cedar, sitka spruce, western hemlock, coastal douglas-fir, and Pacific silver fir skyrocket into the heavens above.  These survivors of the ax and saw stand testament to the former grandeur of the Pacific northwest's forest ecosystem.

Evergreen canopies of the temperate rainforests of the PNW

Trees well over 200' tall and six to eight feet in diameter were hardly in short supply in the fertile valley of the Hoh River.  Up to 165 inches of precipitation (almost all rain) falls annually on this section of the peninsula and is what allows these trees to attain such unfathomable proportions.  Nowhere else in the world can you find such an incredible ecosystem than the Pacific coastline from northern California to Alaska.

My friend standing in amazement at the sight of such mighty woody beings

My friend Kevin looks hobbit-sized compared to the giants that abound around him.  Despite being a climax forest, things are hardly static in this type of ecosystem.  Many great titans of the past lay dead and decaying on the forest floor while trees of varying sizes race for the light above in a fevered attempt to take their fallen brethren's place.  It's not hard to get a kink in your neck from the constant staring straight up into the canopy trying to comprehend just how big these gymnosperm wonders are.

Roosevelt Elk drinking from a cool spring-fed stream

It's not just the large flora of the Olympic peninsula that draws the crowds but the mammoth fauna too!  Above is a male Roosevelt elk drinking from one of the many spring-fed streams bubbling through the forest.  Also appropriately known as Olympic elk, these beasts are the largest of the four remaining subspecies of elk native to North America.  Believe it or not it was actually these animals more than the trees that called for the creation of Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909, the precursor to Olympic National Park.

Another shot of the Hoh River

The immense amount of rain and ever-accelerating melt of the glaciers causes the Hoh to flood annually, carving new paths to the Pacific and carrying its load of granulated rock downstream.

Moss hangs on nearly every available surface

An interesting fact about the temperate rainforests of the Pacific northwest is they can have up to four times the biomass of comparable regions in the tropics.  Due to the extreme rarity of fire, both living and decaying matter builds up in trees, shrubs, ferns, mosses, soil etc; making these the most massive ecosystems on Earth.

Your blogger and an impressive coastal Douglas-fir

Out of all the trees I had the pleasuring of laying eyes on in the Hoh rainforest, I don't think any had the same effect on me as this one.  This is a coastal Douglas-fir reminiscent of its forefathers at over eight feet in diameter and 300'+ tall!  Don't believe me on the height, check out the next picture.

300'+ tall coastal Douglas-fir

I wish this photograph could do even half the justice this perfect tree deserves.  Before the logger's saws sank their teeth into these then-virgin forests it wasn't uncommon to see Douglas-firs like this growing by the thousands in nearly pure stands.  In fact, did you know that the redwood didn't always have the distinction of being the tallest tree species on the planet?  The Douglas-fir is the former height champion with some specimens being measured post-cut at over 400 feet tall! Wow!  What I wouldn't do to time travel back to see those behemoths with my own eyes!

Moss-covered big-leaf Maples under the mighty conifers

While the conifers clearly rule the forests of the temperate rainforests there are some angiosperms that call it home as well.  My favorites were the bigleaf maples, gnarled with age and adorned with carpets of hanging moss.  It wasn't unusual to see some of the maples over six feet in diameter with equally impressive spreading canopies.

Looking up into the gnarled bigleaf maples

Another shot of the moss-covered cathedrals of bigleaf maples.  Looking up into the twisted and ancient trunks and limbs made me feel like I was walking through Fangorn Forest of Middle-earth lore.

Kevin sitting under the flared buttress of a Sitka spruce

The flared buttress and stilt-like roots of this sitka spruce have a pretty neat explanation.  It's a pretty common practice for seedlings to sprout on the decaying logs of fallen trees called 'nurse logs'.  As time passes and the seedling grows, the nurse logs gradually decompose and eventually become mulch on the ground, in turn leaving the seedling (now a fully mature tree) with a gap in its roots as the only evidence of its former nursery.

Massive driftwood logs on the shores of the Pacific

Ah, on to the Pacific!  There's no other ocean shoreline on Earth like those of the Pacific northwest.  Don't be fooled by the picture above, those are the largest pieces of driftwood on the planet!

Shoreline of the Pacific along the Olympic peninsula

This was one of my favorite photographs I took during my time in Washington state.  I think it represents what the Olympic peninsula is known for quite perfectly.  The evergreen coniferous forests overlook the majestic waters of the Pacific as the ghostly skeletons of former trees abound on the sandy shores.

Your blogger and arguably the largest Sitka spruce in the world!

I decided to save the best pictures for last to really drive home the point of just how BIG some of the trees are out here!  I promise there is no photoshop tomfoolery in this photograph.  That's really myself standing with the world champion sitka spruce; at least according to the American Foresters point system.  It measures 191 feet tall, nearly 19 feet in diameter, with a circumference of 58'.  That is nothing short of incredible if you ask me!  I don't think I've ever felt so small in my entire life, at least at that moment.  It's believed to be over 1,000 years old and is still alive and kicking.  I certainly hope to repay this tree a visit at least once more in my lifetime.

World champion western red cedar

Ready for another world champion?  If you thought that sitka spruce above was large, how about this record western red cedar!  While it only measures 174 feet tall (hard to believe I'm using the word 'only'), this goliath is just shy of 20 FEET in diameter and nearly completely hollow at its base!  Outside of California and its redwoods/sequoias, this is THE largest tree on the face of the Earth by volume!

World record western red cedar

Unfortunately, this tree is barely clinging to life with just a few top sprouts and side branches keeping it alive.  Then again at 2,000 years old you'd be lucky to look that good too!  This cedar will still be standing long after its demise as this species is well known for its resistance to rot and decay.  The western red cedar is the only other species of Thuja native to North America and is a close relative to Ohio's native white cedar (T. occidentalis).

Your blogger and the champion western red cedar

This champion lives in the world-famous Enchanted Valley, otherwise known as the Valley of the Giants, near Lake Quinault on the western side of the Olympic peninsula.  Sheltered from the most severe of the elements in the valley and a ways inland from the ocean, this tree is a testament to what Mother Nature can do when given the time and opportunity.  About a dozen or so 'super cedars' as I like to call them still exist in select areas of the Olympic peninsula and coastal forests of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in Canada.

Second-growth Sitka spruces

All the moss, ferns, and dampened air/soil gave the air a very raw and earthy smell.  Mixed with the spice of the surrounding conifers it really was one of the most refreshing aromas to ever grace my olfactories.

Pair of lovely Sitka spruces

The few days I spent in the magical wonderland of massive trees and beautiful coastline only whetted my appetite for more and I really hope to comeback to this wonderful place for even more exploration and neck-kinks sooner than later!

Sunset over the still waters of Lake Quinault 

I'll leave you with a final picture of the sun setting across the still waters of Lake Quinault from the shoreline of our campsite.  While I never got a good picture of it, just behind me was a massive red cedar tree that split into three trunks about ten feet up, leaving a nice-sized flat area in-between that was the perfect place to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sunsets as I basked in the experience of a lifetime...

A Forgotten Old-Growth Woodlot

The indigenous peoples of primeval west-central Ohio would hardly know what to think of their homeland by the look of the landscape today.  What was once a sprawling, open forest marked with numerous prairie, fen, and thicket openings is now a never-ending sea of agriculture with a sprinkle of leftover, disregarded wooded islands.  These ignored woodlots are all that remains of the formerly forested landscape and barely look anything like their predecessors of yesteryear.  Small, scattered and heavily overgrown with the incredibly invasive Asian bush honeysuckle monocultures and tangles of grapevines, it's a sad sight to see when one pictures what the land must have been like a few centuries prior.  Luckily there are still a few hidden gems out there in-between the corn and soybeans, waiting for someone to take notice and dare to break through the impenetrable honeysuckle exterior and on into its forgotten beauty.

Old-growth woodlot in a sea of corn fields in west-central Ohio

The particular old-growth lot I'd like to share in this post is located in the west-central county of Clark, not too far from where your blogger grew up.  I'd driven past the woods countless times before and always peered in with the unquenchable curiosity of what, if any, big trees could be found within.  A couple falls ago I decided to slip into its depths with my camera and father in tow to have a look-see at what we could find.

Clear cut through the edge of the forest

As we approached the eastern edge of the woodlot it became quite noticeable that someone had clear cut a swath of forest out some time ago.  Unfortunately, this parcel of land is owned by a real estate developer and the clear cut strip and old logging marks spray painted on many of the wood's finest trees pay reminder to its probable fate as a subdivision.  Whether this is near or far in the future I can't say but each time I drive by and see it unchanged I breath a small sigh of relief.  If this slowed economy has had any positive effects, keeping this forest from being logged and developed is one of them.

An enormous white ash (Fraxinus americana) with blogger's father for comparison

After battling through the thick honeysuckle and osage orange perimeter our eyes met the first of this woodlot's ancient leviathans.  I've seen many white ash trees in my day but none have come even close to this forest grown monster.  The single trunk shot straight up over our heads and reached a height approaching 100' tall.  Most of the crown had long ago succumb to decay and wind/storm damage but a few forking branches still allowed it to scrape the heavens at such an impressive height.

Better view of the enormous, single trunk

I wish I had my measuring tape and clinometer with me because this ash certainly deserved to have its dimensions precisely measured.  The diameter was easily over four feet wide, perhaps even approaching five feet from certain angles!  I can't begin to imagine how old this tree may be and hope it continues to hang on for years to come.  Soon enough seeing ash of this size will be as rare American elms of similar proportions due to the emerald ash borer.

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) leaves

The diversity of canopy tree species was quite impressive with a mixture of red and bur oak; shagbark and bitternut hickory; black walnut; basswood; sugar maple; white and blue ash; and beech all mixing together.  I labeled it a mixed oak/hickory forest with shagbark hickory being the most dominant species, as about one of every four trees was one.  

Large shagbark hickory rocketing into the canopy

My father told me stories about him and his dad coming to this very woods in the fall to squirrel hunt decades and decades ago when they knew the neighboring farmer who owned the plot.  The massive amounts of seasonal hickory nuts drew in crowds of red and grey squirrels looking to fatten up for the approaching winter months.  They rarely walked out unsuccessful in their hunt.  He mentioned the forest then was pure and free of any invading honeysuckle and the under story was considerably more open, but that was 40+ years ago and times had unfortunately changed.

A 'straight as an arrow' bur oak topping out at nearly 100' tall

The other most common canopy species outside the shagbark hickories was another heavy nut producer and squirrel favorite: bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa).  Their furrowed and dark barked trunks stood out against the lighter shades of grey from the beech, sugar maple, and ash.  Most of the specimens like the one pictured above had faint markings from a previous timber cruising crew that had undoubtedly found them as impressive as us, albeit for the 'wrong' reasons.

Old-growth bur oak climbing high into the canopy

Straight trunks with a slow taper and branches only beginning to appear at 40-50 feet up made for some very beautiful trees.  Each time I see a time-tested tree that has withstood decades, even centuries of harsh weather and climate conditions makes me thank mother nature for her gift and say a silent prayer to the wind that long may they avoid man's chainsaw and greedy wallets.  Trees like this aren't grown overnight and take a long, long time to replace.

Cluster of nice sized bur oaks

The deep, rich mesic soil with centuries of decomposed leaf litter made for excellent growing conditions and allowed these trees to attain such girth and lofty heights.  I plan to revisit this winter for a better, less restricted look at the forest now that all the leaves are off the trees.  I'll be sure to bring my measuring tools this time around as I'm curious just how tall some of these oaks and hickories top out at.  Even a spring visit should be in store to see if any display of wildflower ephemerals coincides with the new growing season.

A beauty of a black walnut (Juglans nigra) and something you rarely see today

Now this is something you just don't see in today's forests anymore.  This black walnut was one of a dozen or so scattered throughout the lot with straight, slightly tapering trunks that would have any logger drooling in envy.  Black walnut specimens like this all met their sawmill fates decades ago for their very valuable wood.  The one pictured here topped out at 80-90' tall with its first blemish being a fork nearly 50' up.

Massive red oak (Quercus rubra) with an equally big bur oak to the back right

The bur oaks weren't the only impressive members of the Quercus genus to grace the ever-yellowing canopy.  Red oak (Q. rubra) trees exceeding three feet in diameter weren't too uncommon but none could challenge this particular behemoth.  I love the gradual widening of the root flare in these forest-grown oaks, it really adds some character to their mighty stature.  The large tree to the back right is another example of the forest's impressive bur oaks.

The massive red oak hardly tapering as it shoots into the canopy

This is one of those trees whose height I'd really like to measure; I have a hunch it tops 100'.  The slow taper of its central column has a huge volume of wood packed into the sky and would provide quite a bit of lumber in the event of its human-caused felling.  I'm jealous of the birds and squirrels who can enjoy the views from the canopy of such a mighty being.  

Large musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana) in the under story

It wasn't just the canopy tree's dimensions that consistently impressed me; some of the under story species did as well.  Your blogger's father stands next to one of the grand examples of musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana) to be found within the woods.  Other frequent under story species included Ohio buckeye, ironwood, pawpaw, hawthorn spp., blackhaw, redbud, and spicebush.  Now, I know you're wondering about that massive tree in the background and no worries, I've saved the best for last.

An truly monstrous bur oak and the largest tree found in the forest.

Near the margins of the field lies the champion of the forest; the largest and most impressive of all its denizens.  What makes this bur oak so impressive is the clear signs of being an open-growth tree instead of forest-grown like the rest of the trees featured.  The low-hanging branches and rounded crown all point to this specimen spending a majority of its time growing in the open and stretching out its branches to catch all the sunlight it could.  

Zoomed in shot of my father and the behemoth bur oak

I have no idea how old this bur oak truly is but I wouldn't hesitate to guess at least 200-250 years old, if not more.  I suspect it was already of decent size when the land was cleared a couple centuries ago; which allowed it to relish in the endless sunshine for decades to come.  Looking at Ohio's champion bur oak measurements I already know this one doesn't compare but would still someday like to take precise measurements of its circumference, height, and spread to see how well it does stack up to our state's champs.

Walking through the corn after an excellent time in the old woods

As we walked back to the road through the corn field I glanced back at the wood lot a number of times and thought this shot really captured the stature of the monarch bur oak.  You can see its still green-leaved canopy rising up above the yellow and oranges of the shorter, but still impressive surrounding trees.  I'm sure there are more exciting big trees and discoveries to be made in this old-growth wood lot and I hope to return in the near future to see what else I can uncover.  People think they have to go far and wide to find appreciable beauty in the flat and boring west-central portion of the state but sometimes all you have to do is find a unsuspecting woodlot and step on inside its living cathedral of trees...

Plant Quiz Solved: Canby's Mountain Lover (Paxistima canbyi)

Way to go, John!  This is indeed Canby's mountain lover or cliff-green (Paxistima canbyi).  This rarity is endangered here in Ohio and can only be found on a few limestone bluffs in the Ohio Brush Creek watershed in Highland and Adams counties.  Famous botanist and ecologist E. Lucy Braun theorized that both populations are clones of great age that migrated up the ancient Teays River valley eons ago.

Canby's mountain lover is quite rare throughout the entirety of its range and is currently under consideration for federal listing.  Other than Ohio, it grows in select areas of south-central Kentucky and along the southern Appalachians from Pennsylvania down through the Virginia's and into Tennessee.  The small, linear leaves are evergreen and the overall growth pattern is a low, branching shrub.  Plants flower in March-April and sometimes again in the fall.  Fruit has never been observed on Ohio's plants due to their clone origin.

Thanks to all who gave it a whirl and another congrats to John for identifying this fascinating rarity!

While I am certainly not short on topics to share, I am short on the necessary free time it takes to do so.  I figured in the mean time I could keep things from stagnating further with a quick and fun plant quiz!  Just take a look at the photograph below and leave a comment with your best guess!  Thanks to all who decide to play along and best of luck!

What vascular plant am I?