Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Kent County Michigan Park

May 8, 2014        A visit to a Kent County park!

We finally saw Miterwort (Mitella diphylla).  Here's a close-up of the snowflake-like flower. 
 
                     Miterwort
                           Miterwort
 
       Also for the first time this year, Goldthread!
                                Goldthread (Coptis trifolia)

          Some other interesting things we noticed.
 
 
            Great Scented Liverwort
        and I think this may be another type of liverwort. 
        Possibly Three-lobed Bazzania (Bazzania trilobata)?
 
                                   Golden Saxifrage
 
 
              Marsh Marigold
It was a beautiful day, definitely warmer and more humid this time, but nice.  We talked with a County park employee about the park.  It is always good to get info from people who know about the place you are visiting.  We saw many of the spring wildflowers blooming, Large-flowered Trillium, buttercups, Spring Beauty, hepatica, toothwort, and violets.
It is a very busy time of year. 
This week Marie and I went out for two full days of wildflowering.  Mike and I have been working on a massive amount of firewood, cutting, splitting, and stacking.  Not much time indoors on the computer for blogging or to do much research but I'm not complaining, because I would really rather be outside. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As much as we see, we still miss tons of cool stuff! But it would take ten hours of research for every hour we spend in the great outdoors. Which would you rather do? In
Neltje Blanchan's book, the yellow cups on the Goldthread are for nectar! Wow. M :)

New Hampshire Gardener said...

Hi Chris (and Marie),
I think that liverwort is Bazzania trilobata. I saw one recently that looked much the same. They seem to change color at this time of year when they're putting out new growth.
I keep hoping to see miterwort but so far I haven't had any luck. Your photos of it are absolutely amazing!
I'm sorry I haven't been commenting for a while. Blogspot seems determined to make leaving a simple comment almost impossible and I often have to try 3 or 4 times. We'll see how this try goes. If it gets through it'll be a miracle.

Plants Amaze Me said...

No more research! We are going to go an explore new places and old favorites. We can do research and make lists in the dead of winter. Also I have a note here to myself from myself to take Benjamin fishing/ kayaking soon! Maybe Ludington, or some where north tomorrow, Mike took the day off...want to come with? We will pick you up? Just got back from splitting more wood, that was fun. Goldthread is amazing, those golden-yellow paddles!
:-)

Plants Amaze Me said...

Allen sorry blogspot is having issue, I did just take off the word verification, maybe that will help.
I have a book from the library titled, "The Elfin World of Mosses and Liverworts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale" by Janice M. Glime. I saw a picture of the liverwort in that book, then recognized it in the swamp! So I'm glad you confirm that it is Bazzania trilobata! Usually I don't research mosses, liverworts, and such just because it takes so much time, but they are so interesting too. They are like a whole little elfin world on their own! But they are also more confusing, to me, than wildflowers.
:-)