Home to frogs and turtles, this perennial pond is part of Sapsucker Woods of Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York
Click Me for “Finger Lakes Memories” my online gallery.
Habitat
Category: wild flower
Thermogenic
Plant Identification
Can you spot the Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)? Hint: the plant emits heat, melting surrounding snow.
I cannot remember, don’t recall (?), the identification of those long stalks. Dear readers: can you identify?
Eastern skunk cabbage belongs to a select group of thermogenic plants for its capacity to create temperatures of up to 15–35 °C (59–95 °F) above air temperature through cyanide–resistant cellular respiration (via alternative oxidase) in order to melt its way through frozen ground.
One mechanism behind maintaining heat around the plant is the thermogenic oscillation of the spadix: Independent of light, a precise thermal regulator is produced by an oscillatory temperature-sensing model in the spadix under dynamic external temperature variations. An equilibrium between heat production and loss, due to heat radiation, evaporation, conduction and convention is maintained in the spadix. Additionally, the airflow around the spathe effectively maintains heat generated by the spadix.
Click Me for “Finger Lakes Memories” my online gallery.
Reference on the thermogenic features: Wikipedia, “Skunk Cabbage.”
Copyright 2018 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Autumn Ithaca
Cass Park
Pam and I arrived early to Cass Park for our grandson’s October afternoon soccer match, in time for a 2 mile walk on the generous footpaths. This is my impression of that time, from the IPhone 7’s camera.
This completes our Sunday afternoon walk around Cass Park, Ithaca, New York.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Black Mountain
Million Dollar View
After a respite among the cool spring waters, we headed up Peters Trail for the top of Peter’s mesa where, for all we knew, there was no water.
In this photograph I face northwest, looking down on Dutchman Trail. The peak, upper center left, is Black Mountain. The cleft of Charlebois Canyon is lower middle right. Stag Horn Cholla cactus is lower right with Prickly Pear cactus scattered in the brush. Poles of young saguaro cactus are scattered around the lower slopes. Look carefully and you can make out the pooled water of our rest stop.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Around the Mountain
The beetling cliffs of Bluff Spring Mountain
Here is a recap of the last few Superstition Wilderness posts. The expedition route, in red, starts on the right where Dutchman and Terrapin trails meet. The total distance is 2.6 miles. Photograph timestamps tell me about 2 hours passed — 1.3 miles per hour in this rough country.
I came upon the wildflowers of “Desert Color” a few minutes after starting.
“Ominous Splendor” photograph was taken just before Bluff Spring Mountain Canyon (green text).
“Marked Saguaro” was encountered a few minutes before the Cottonwood tree of “Riparian,” marked with a pushpin.
“Spring Flow” is the endpoint on left.
Here is a gallery of photographs from this portion of our expedition.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Spring Flow
Rest Before A Climb
The expedition party rested where Dutchman Trail intersected the creek, full of flow from Charlebois Canyon, Music Canyon and LaBarge springs. We filled the water reservoirs in preparation for the climb up to the night’s camping spot on Peter’s Mesa, a 1,300 foot climb over 1.2 miles.
Behind Colorado and “Ed’s Horse” (don’t recall the name) is Bluff Spring Mountain.
Click Me for the first post in this series, “Bluff Spring Mountain.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Riperian
Blessings of Water
A view to west on Dutchman Trail between Bluff Spring Mountain and Peter’s Mesa. The creek flowing from Charlebois, Music Mountain and LaBarge springs nourishes this Fremont’s Cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and other riparian flora. The tree is flanked by volcanic rock from an ancient eruption.
Click Me for the next Superstition Wilderness post, “Spring Flow.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Gorge Exploration
Fillmore Glen State Park, Moravia, New York
Late August last I captured these photographs and videos on the fly using an Iphone7 while Pam and I walked Fillmore Glen State Park, Moravia, New York. Click me for “The Space Station and the Waterfall,” another glen exploration.
Metal Intrusion
Spring thaw washed away the gorge wall, this functional metal bridge will outlast all but the most catastrophic gorge wall disruptions.
Flora
All parts of all Baneberry varieties (red and white) are highly poisonous, the bane of Baneberry. The berries are deadly. Ingestion of as few as two berries by children will cause death from cardiac arrest. Six for an adult.
Landscape Features
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Marked Saguaro
Signpost to Gold?
Lost gold mine legends tell of Saguaros bearing secret markings leading to the hidden location of rich gold mines. This specimen, perched on an ancient volcanic boulder, lives in LaBarge Canyon along the Dutchman trail.
Click Me for the next Superstition Wildness post, “Riparian.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Desert Color
Wildflowers on Dutchman Trail
Those cliffs above the Dutchman Trail (in red from the push pin “Dutchman Terrapin Trail Junction”) climb 670 feet in 0.2 mile. Fifteen minutes after starting I stopped to photograph a group of wildflowers.
The bright yellow flowers on right are a member of the pea (Fabaceae) family named Wright’s Deervetch (Acmispon wrightii) I am able to pick it out from many similar flowers due to the characteristic narrow leaves with small hairs. These start out yellow, turning to red with age eventually forming brown seed pods. Mexican Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica) to the right.
The small white flowers are Chickweed (Minuartia macrantha) of the family Carnation (Caryophyllaceae).
Click Me for the next Superstition Wilderness post, “Ominous Splendor.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
