#striped maple

[greycatbird]

SPRING COMES AT YOU FAST

[vandaliatraveler]

Spring in the Cheat River Canyon.

From top: lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum); the pendulous green flowers of striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum); sweet white violet (Viola blanda), which loves cool, moist forests; wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), which has been hybridized with a South American species to produce commercial strawberries; marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata), an elegant, gregarious violet found growing in seeps and along streambanks; smooth Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum); great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum); a West Virginia white (Pieris virginiensis) sipping nectar from a sweet white violet; and broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), the larval host plant for the West Virginia white.

Note: this hauntingly beautiful butterfly, a flitting ghost in Appalachia's April forests, is in serious decline because it confuses invasive garlic mustard for its host plant, Cardamine. Garlic mustard is toxic to its larvae. Another example of how an invasive species can wreak havoc on the vital lifecycles of our native ecosystems.

[deer-knight]

one of our forest school shelters looks so mysterious among the newly leafing striped maples and beneath the bitternut hickories, hemlocks, and yellow birch.

i think the new little musclewood and striped maple leaves look like little fairies dotting the forest this time of year ^_^

[image description: the first photo shows a close up of some new musclewood tree leaves. the second photo shows a dirt path winding through a forest. the third photo shows a shelter covered with a brown tarp mostly obscured by trees, with a fallen log in the foreground. end image description.]

[rabbitinthemeadow]

Oh, to dream a dream of Meadowsweet // Part 8

[dendroica]

Striped Maple, Acer pensylvanicum (by me)

[vandaliatraveler]

The dreary weather persisted today, so I blew off a planned trip to Ohiopyle and hiked several trails along Clay Run in Coopers Rock State Forest instead. The pink lady’s slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule) are now coming into bloom, reminding me that May is just around the corner.  From top: flowering dogwood (Cornus florida); the plummeting green-yellow flowers of striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum); broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla); Canada violet (Viola canadensis); two-leaf miterwort (Mitella diphylla); Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum); and pink lady’s slipper orchid.

[vandaliatraveler]

Anyone who’s grown up or spent any time in Appalachia’s mountain forests knows this small understory tree by heart. Striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) has one of the most recognizable leaves of any deciduous tree in the local woods; broad and cushiony with three shallow, sharply-pointed lobes. In autumn, the leaves turn a lovely, glowing shade of yellow. Striped maple gets its common name from the distinctive green and white or brown striping on its trunk. It’s also known as goosefoot maple due to the leaf’s resemblance to a goose’s foot. Farther north, in New England, striped maple is referred to as moosewood, because moose consume its bark. In early May, this shade-tolerant tree blooms profusely, producing long, drooping garlands of greenish-yellow flowers. The spring bloom is quiet beautiful, if brief.

[rabbitinthemeadow]

The wavering between dreams // Part 5