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Tag: Treman State Park
Treman Early Autumn Walk XIV
The post discusses the Hepatica acutiloba plant, highlighting its characteristics, growth, historical medicinal use, and its natural habitat in central eastern North America. It also includes an observation made in Robert H. Treman Park.
These characteristic leaves are Hepatica plants growing on the sun dappled southern rim of Robert H. Treman Park captured on a bright late September morning.
“Hepatica acutiloba, the sharp-lobed hepatica, is a herbaceous flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is sometimes considered part of the genus Anemone, as Anemone acutiloba, A. hepatica, or A. nobilis. Also generally known as Liverleaf and Liverwort.”
“The word hepatica derives from the Greek ἡπατικός hēpatikós, from ἧπαρ hêpar ‘liver’, because its three-lobed leaf was thought to resemble the human liver.”
“Each clump-forming plant grows 5 to 19 cm (2.0 to 7.5 in) tall, flowering in the early to mid spring. The flowers are greenish-white, white, purple or pinkish in color, with a rounded shape. After flowering the fruits are produced in small, rounded columned heads, on pedicels 1 to 4 mm long. When the fruits, called achenes, are ripe they are ovoid in shape, 3.5–4.7 mm long and 1.3–1.9 mm wide, slightly winged and tend to lack a beak.”
“Hepatica acutiloba is native to central eastern North America where it can be found growing in deciduous open woods, most often in calcareous soils. Butterflies, moths, bees, flies and beetles are known pollinators. The leaves are basal, leathery, and usually three-lobed, remaining over winter.”
“Hepatica was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was once thought to be an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, as a demulcent for slow-healing injuries, and as a diuretic.”
Click Me another post featuring Hepatica flowers
References
–text in italics and quotes is from Wikipedia, “Hepatica” and “Hepatica acutiloba.”
–“The Botanical Garden Vol II Perennials and Annuals,” Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, 2002.
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk XIII
The Red Pine, Minnesota’s state tree, is a tall, conical, long-lived evergreen with distinctive orange-red bark.
Returning from a Rim Trail walk one April my boots were yellow from a prolific release of pollen from flowers of these tall trees that develop into the woody cones.
Pinus, the pine, is the largest genus in the family Pinaceae, with around 100 species throughout the northern hemisphere.
Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) is Minnesota’s state tree, known there as the Norway Pine. The use of the name “Norway” may stem from early Scandinavian immigrants who likened the American red pines to the Scots pines back home.
“Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from 20–35 meters (66–115 feet) in height and 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in trunk diameter, exceptionally reaching 43.77 m (143+1⁄2 ft) tall. The crown is conical, becoming a narrow, rounded dome with age. The bark is thick and gray brown at the base of the tree, but thin, flaky and bright orange red in the upper crown; the tree’s name derives from this distinctive character. Some red color may be seen in the fissures of the bark. The species is self-pruning; there tend not to be dead branches on the trees, and older trees may have very long lengths of branchless trunk below the canopy.”
“It is a long-lived tree, reaching a maximum age of about 500 years. Another member of Pinus, Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey, the intermountain bristlecone pine, is the longest-lived tree in the world; one in the White Mountains of Nevada is estimated to be 5,000 years old, and by matching rhe rings with even older dead trees, a sequence going back 8,500 years has been established.”
“Red pine is notable for its very constant morphology and low genetic variation throughout its range, suggesting it has been through a near extinction in its recent evolutionary history. A genetic study of nuclear microsatellite polymorphisms among populations distributed throughout its natural range found that red pine populations from Newfoundland are genetically distinct from most mainland populations, consistent with dispersal from different glacial refugia in this highly self-pollinating species.”
Click Me for the first post in this series.
References
–text in italics and quotes is from Wikipedia, “Pinus resinosa.”
–“The Botanical Garden Vol I Trees and Shrubs,” Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, 2002.
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk XII
Assistance sought for identification of a plant discovered in Robert H. Treman park, Enfield Gorge.
Can anyone identify this plant found growing on the south rim of Enfield Gorge within the Robert H. Treman park?
Click Me for the first post in this series.
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk XI
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford innovatively used goldenrod to produce rubber, potentially counteracting rubber shortages.
Where the Rim Trail descends to an ending on the Enfield Gorge floor a perennial patch of sunlight promotes an extravagant woodland growth of Zigzag goldenrod.
“Inventor Thomas Edison experimented with goldenrod to produce rubber, which it contains naturally. Edison created a fertilization and cultivation process to maximize the rubber content in each plant. His experiments produced a 12 ft-tall (3.7 m) plant that yielded as much as 12% rubber. The tires on the Model T given to him by his friend Henry Ford were made from goldenrod. Like George Washington Carver, Henry Ford was deeply interested in the regenerative properties of soil and the potential of alternative crops such as peanuts and soybeans to produce plastics, paint, fuel and other products. Ford had long believed that the world would eventually need a substitute for gasoline and supported the production of ethanol (or grain alcohol) as an alternative fuel. In 1942, he would showcase a car with a lightweight plastic body made from soybeans. Ford and Carver began corresponding via letter in 1934, and their mutual admiration deepened after George Washington Carver made a visit to Michigan in 1937.”
“By the time World War II began, Ford had made repeated journeys to Tuskegee to convince George Washington Carver to come to Dearborn and help him develop a synthetic rubber to help compensate for wartime rubber shortages. Carver arrived on July 19, 1942, and set up a laboratory in an old water works building in Dearborn. He and Ford experimented with different crops, including sweet potatoes and dandelions, eventually devising a way to make the rubber substitute from goldenrod, a plant weed commercially viable. Carver died in January 1943, Ford in April 1947, but the relationship between their two institutions continued to flourish: As recently as the late 1990s, Ford awarded grants of $4 million over two years to the George Washington Carver School at Tuskegee.”
“Extensive process development was conducted during World War II to commercialize goldenrod as a source of rubber. The rubber is only contained in the leaves, not the stems or blooms. Typical rubber content of the leaves is 7%. The resulting rubber is of low molecular weight, resulting in an excessively tacky compound with poor tensile properties.”
References: text in italics and quotes is from the Wikipedia, “Solidago.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk X
The zigzag goldenrod is a crucial plant to North American pollinator biodiversity, hosting diverse insects.
After crossing the bridge at Swan Road I turned back down the gorge on the Rim Trail, climbing above the gorge where these interesting woodland goldenrod thrive.
“Solidago flexicaulis, the broadleaved goldenrod, or zigzag goldenrod,is a North American species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the eastern and central parts of the United States and Canada, from Nova Scotia west to Ontario and the Dakotas, and south as far as Alabama and Louisiana. It grows in a variety of habitats including mesic upland forests, well drained floodplain forests, seepage swamp hummocks, and rocky woodlands.”
“The plant is called the “zigzag goldenrod” because the thin, wiry stem zigs and zags back and forth, changing direction at each node (leaf attachment point). The plant bears sometimes as many as 250 small yellow flower heads, some at the end of the stem, others in the axils of the leaves. The leaves are very broad, almost round, but with an elongated tip at the end and large teeth along the edges.”
“Goldenrod is considered a keystone species and has been called the single most important plant for North American pollinator biodiversity. Goldenrod species are used as a food source by the larvae of many Lepidoptera species. As many as 104 species of butterflies and moths use it as a host plant for their larvae, and 42 species of bees are goldenrod specialists, visiting only goldenrod for food. Some lepidopteran larvae bore into plant tissues and form a bulbous tissue mass called a gall around it, upon which the larva then feeds. Various parasitoid wasps find these galls and lay eggs in the larvae, penetrating the bulb with their ovipositors. Woodpeckers are known to peck open the galls and eat the insects in the center.”
“Solidago flexicaulis is host to the following insect induced galls: Asteromyia modesta, a species of gall midges in the family Cecidomyiidae. Gnorimoschema gallaesolidaginis also called the solidago gall moth, goldenrod gall moth or goldenrod gallmaker, is a moth in the family Gelechiidae.”
References: text in italics and quotes is from the Wikipedia, “Solidago flexicaulis,” “Solidago,” “Asteromyia modesta,” and “Gnorimoschema gallaesolidaginis.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk IX
The post discusses various unique kennings, their meanings, and reflects on the term “Swan-Road” symbolizing a serene river.
Below Lucifer Falls this quiet water flows beneath a bridge linking Gorge and Rim trails. The reflection of blue sky between river trees brings to mind the kenning “Swan-Road.” To me it is more fitting than the established meaning: “The Sea,” also associated more appropriately with Whale-Road.
The seldom used English verb “ken.” The Oxford English dictionary proposed the word was borrowed from Norse based on a confluence of meaning, i.e. to know. When it is turned into a noun with the -ing ending, it is a phrase that brings to mind and object described.
Other kennings from : “Whale road = sea (e.g., a place where whales travel); Treasure seat = throne (e.g., the source of treasure or reward, or the role of the king in rewarding his men); Ring giver, ring breaker = king (e.g., the person who bestows rings, or breaks off a piece of his golden bracelet as a reward); Sword sleep = death (e.g., a “sleep” caused by a sword wound); Rapture of heaven = sun (e.g., the sun, brightest of heavenly objects, the joy of heaven); Weaver of peace = wife (e.g., a person whose grace and mildness instills peace, or one who creates domestic tranquility); Earl’s defense = Beowulf (e.g., the one who defends Hrothgar); Mead seats = benches in Heorot (e.g., the places where people sit and drink).”
Click Me for a master work of English poetry that employs kenning forms, “The Porcupine” by Galway Kinnell.
References:
–text in italics and quotes is from the eNotes.com, “Beowulf.”
–Kinnell, Galway. “The Porcupine.” The Hudson Review 20, no. 2 (1967): 219–22.
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk VIII
Park staff evaluate and dislodge dangerous rocks on trails before springtime opening.
Overhangs such as this worry me, always forcing a faster pace. Over the years during early springtime walks, sometime before the gorge trail is opened officially, the path is littered with huge blocks fallen during the winter, possibly even that same day.
A task the park staff undertakes before opening is an evaluation of sequences such as this, with cliffs and overhangs, for portions ready to fall. Rock climbers are engaged to dislodge these rocks. At times, larger segments of the cliff are blasted resulting in landslides.
On a gentler note, these asters grace Finger Lakes trails this time of year.
Click Me for another Fall Aster post.
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk VII
Unnamed though memorable
An unnamed waterfall along the Gorge Trail is memorable for the steps alongside.
I have captured it in all seasons from the beginning of my photography interest. Here it is at midday, early autumn, 2023, taken with the Apple Iphone 14 proMax. Bright sunlight ruins the shot.
Here, evening, early summer 2003, the foreground shaded, late day sunlight on trees beyond. The Sony dsc F828 camera, on a tripod, was used.
Here, bright sunlight at midday is handled by framing the brightly lit waterfall, April, 2002. A handheld Sony Mavica was used.
Daring visitors jump from the wall at right into a plunge pool, seen here as the quiet water at base of wall. It is a doubly dangerous activity as the force of water can hold a swimmer under indefinitely, missing the narrow pool results in striking the rocks. Robert H. Treman New York State Park, Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York.
“Plunge pools are formed by the natural force of falling water, such as at a waterfall or cascade; they also result from man-made structures such as some spillway designs. Plunge pools are often very deep, generally related to the height of fall, the volume of water, the resistance of the rock below the pool and other factors.[4] The impacting and swirling water, sometimes carrying rocks within it, abrades the riverbed into a basin, which often features rough and irregular sides. Plunge pools can remain long after the waterfall has ceased flow or the stream has been diverted. Several examples of former plunge pools exist at Dry Falls in the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington. They can also be found underwater in areas that were formerly above sea level, for example Perth Canyon off the coast of Western Australia.”
“Plunge pools are fluvial features of erosion which occur in the youthful stage of river development, characterized by steeper gradients and faster water flows. Where softer or fractured rock has been eroded back to a knickpoint, water continues to bombard its base. Because this rock is often less resistant than overlying strata, the water from the higher elevation continues eroding downward until an equilibrium is achieved.”
Reference: text in italics and quotes is from the Wikipedia, “Plunge Pool.”
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Treman Early Autumn Walk VI
Fairy Forest
Over a period of 11,000 years this former stream bed, abandoned when a melting tongue of the Laurentide Ice Sheet deposited drift across Enfield Creek, transformed to this sun dappled glade, one of two along the Gorge Trail of Treman Park.
Pam calls this the Fairy Forest for the feeling of peaceful expectation she feels here. Another reason is the small flowers of this native myrtle after which the periwinkle is named.
Fallen trees are left be to return to the soil.
“Vinca minor (common names lesser periwinkle, dwarf periwinkle is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, native to central and southern Europe, from Portugal and France north to the Netherlands and the Baltic States, east to the Caucasus, and also southwestern Asia in Turkey. Other vernacular names used in cultivation include small periwinkle, common periwinkle, and sometimes in the United States, myrtle or creeping myrtle.”
“Vinca minor is a trailing subshrub, spreading along the ground and rooting along the stems to form large clonal colonies and occasionally scrambling up to 40 centimeters (16 in) high but never twining or climbing. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 2–4.5 centimeters (0.79–1.77 in) long and 1–2.5 centimeters (0.39–0.98 in) broad, glossy dark green with a leathery texture and an entire margin.“
“The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils and are produced mainly from early spring to mid-summer but with a few flowers still produced into the autumn; they are violet-purple (pale purple or white in some cultivated selections), 2–3 centimeters (0.79–1.18 in) diameter, with a five-lobed corolla. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2.5 centimeters (0.98 in) long, containing numerous seeds.”
“The species is commonly grown as a groundcover in temperate gardens for its evergreen foliage, spring and summer flowers, ease of culture, and dense habit that smothers most weeds.”
“Vinca minor contains more than 50 alkaloids, including vincamine. Other alkaloids include reserpine, rescinnamine, akuammicine, majdine, vinerine, ervine, vineridine, tombozine, vincamajine, vincanine, vincanidine, vinburnine, apovincamine, vincaminol, desoxyvincaminol, vincorine[ and perivincine. Vinpocetine (brand names: Cavinton, Intelectol; chemical name: ethyl apovincaminate) is a semisynthetic derivative alkaloid of vincamine.”
It is possible this is a cemetery as myrtle was once commonly planted in cemeteries in parts of the United States and naturalized periwinkle may indicate the presence of graves whose other markers have disappeared.
Reference: text in italics and quotes is from the Wikipedia, “Vinca Minor.”
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 