Michigan Maples

Posted on August 14, 2019 by admin

Seven native species and one commonly escaped species of maple occur in Michigan. Maples have opposite leaves. Trees in Michigan with opposite leaves are Maples, Ashes, Dogwood, Horse-chestnut, and Ohio Buckeye. I remember “MAD Horse” to know the opposite leaved trees.

Horse-chestnut and Ohio Buckeye have palmately compound leaves (the leaflets radiate from a single point similarly to your fingers on your palm). Dogwoods have simple leaves with entire margins (no teeth along the edges of the leaves). Ashes are pinnately compound with 7 to 13 leaflets. Box-elder is our only maple with compound leaves and it rarely has more than 5 leaflets. Once you know you have a maple this is how you identify the maples to species:

Aesculus glabra — Ohio Buckeye L Horse-chestnut R

Box-elder or Ash-leaved Maple or Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo) has compound leaves, course teeth on the leaflets, and a whitish bloom on the twig. Clusters of paired seeds hang on the tree in the summer and fall giving another method to distinguish this from the ashes.

Silver, Red, Mountain and Striped Maples all have the main leaf sinuses acutely angled at the base. The other simple leaved species have leaf sinuses that are rounded. This takes a little practice to discern but the photos should help.

Acer rubrum — Red Maple L Silver Maple R

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) leaves are whitish-silver beneath with coarse toothed leaf margins. It has five main lobes with the edges of the middle lobe diverging. It is coarser toothed than the Red and Mountain Maples and lacks teeth in the sinuses. The sinuses extend 2/3 of the way to the midrib. It is one of our earliest flowering trees: flowering before the leaves develop. Silver Maple flowers lack sepals and petals and have a hairy ovary. Chew a twig if you are not sure it is Silver Maple. To me they have a foul taste.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) leaves are whitish-silver beneath with finely toothed leaf margins. It has three main leaf lobes with the edges of the middle lobe converging. The sinuses extend 1/2 way to the midrib and are finely toothed. The first-year twigs are normally red. It flowers when Silver Maple flowers, also before the leaves develop. Red Maple flowers have sepals and petals and a smooth ovary.

Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum) leaves are covered with whitish downy hairs beneath. It is a small tree more common in northern Michigan but I know one Oakland Co. stand. Its leaves resemble Red Maple but are more finely toothed and not as deeply lobed. It flowers in the early summer when its leaves are fully developed. The upright racemes of flowers or fruits help to identify this maple.

Striped Maple or Goosefoot Maple or Moosewood (Acer pensylvanicum) is similar to Mountain Maple. Striped Maple has finer, doubly serrate leaves, lacking hairs on the lower surface. Doubly serrate means that the teeth have smaller teeth. The lobes have tapering tips. Second year twigs have distinctive white stripes. It flowers in the early summer when its leaves are fully developed. The drooping racemes of flowers or fruits help to identify this maple.

Norway, Sugar, and Black Maples all have leaf sinuses that are rounded at their base.

Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) is native to Europe but is now spreading from cultivation into wild areas in southern Michigan. Dark-green leaves with narrow almost awl-like tips distinguish this from Sugar Maple. Leaves are paler underneath than above with hairy tufts in the leaf axils. In the summer its petiole emits a sticky, milky juice when broken. Fruits are paired samaras that diverge 170 degrees. The seeds are flat, barely thicker than the wings. Terminal buds are rounded not sharp as in Sugar Maple. Norway Maple leaves stay green later in the season than Sugar Maples.

Sugar Maple or Hard Maple (Acer saccharum) is similar to Norway Maple but with lighter green, five-lobed leaves. Its leaves are more or less smooth underneath but sometimes it has hairs at the leaf base where the veins join. In the summer its petiole emits a non-milky, clear juice when broken. I often look for the sharp terminal bud to distinguish Sugar from Norway Maple.

Black Maple (Acer nigrum) is a pragmatic species that intergrades into Sugar Maple. Barnes and Wagner in their Michigan Trees accept this species, Voss in his Michigan Flora treats it as a variety of the Sugar Maple, and Reznicek on the Michigan Flora website accepts it with reservations. The extreme forms are distinct. Black Maple has three-lobed leaves with drooping leaf tips. They are pubescent underneath and on the petioles. Leaf stipules are normally present. Twigs are straw-colored. Black Maple is a tree of wet soil growing in river bottoms. However, intermediates exist that resemble Sugar Maple but with pubescent veins. They could be hybrids between Black and Sugar. It might be better to treat them as one variable species. I’m content to know that I cannot name every individual and call them Sugar / Black Maple.

Here is a link to my blog post on identifying maples using their seeds.

The Michigan Flora Website has further information and more photographs.

There is a citizen scientist project headed up by Steve Gougherty. Steve is a graduate student at the Finzi Lab at Boston University. He is studying Red Maples and needs volunteers to collect samples for him. He started the TASpeR (Traits Across Species’ Ranges) website. This site provides information on his study and a link to sign up if you want to participate. He asks for two collections: one of green leaves and one after the leaves have fallen. He is studying foliar nutrient resorption. His website explains what this means. Sign up if you want to collect for him.

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Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria)

Posted on July 24, 2019 by admin

Xylatia sp. — Dead Man’s Fingers same clump right 12 days later than left

Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria sp.) is an interesting fungus that, at stages during its life-cycle, does resemble a dead man’s fingers reaching out of the ground. I found it in my yard devoloping in my butterfly garden on woodchips placed to smother the grass. Dead Man’s Fingers grow for several months and take on several forms during their life-cycle.

Xylatia — Dead Man’s Fingers asexual phase

Early in its development , Dead Man’s Fingers produce a powdery bluish bloom of asexual spores. Later they develop tiny crack-like pockets on their surface that the sexual spores disperse through. These sexual spores provide the microscopic characters needed to identify the species. I think my species is in the Xylatia polymorpha complex. Polymorpha is aptly named because it means “many forms.” See Michael Kuo’s excellent MushroomExpert.com website for more information.

My main challenge with identifying fungi is the different forms the same fungus takes on during its lifetime. I am glad that Nature allowed me the opportunity to observe this fascinating fungus right outside my door.

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A Canada Goose fostered by Sandhill Cranes

Posted on July 9, 2019 by admin

At Kensington Metropark near Milford Michigan a Sandhill Crane family has adopted a Canada Goose gosling. This extended family is the most photographed bird group in the state. A Canada Goose probably laid an egg in a Sandhill Crane nest. When it hatched the cranes adopted it as their own; feeding the downy gosling along with their own colt. Currently the gosling is feeding itself while foraging with its family. It seems to be developing normally and appears healthy.

This is the first documentation of a Sandhill Crane raising a Canada Goose but it might have occurred before. Sandhill Cranes are typically secretive nesters so a mixed family would be unobserved. There is an article from Alaska Public Radio by Nina Faust titled “The Goose that Thought He was a Sandhill Crane” that could document another mixed family. It documents a Canada Goose that is traveling around Homer with a Sandhill Crane family. No one witnessed a gosling with the cranes. I often see mixed flocks of cranes and geese in fields during the fall as they congregate before migration. An extended family would be unnoticeable.

I doubt we will ever know what happens to this family once the young fledge. All the birds are unbanded and they will be untrackable once they leave the area. I hope the gosling’s instincts allows her (or him) to be a normal Canada Goose despite its incredible upbringing.

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Is it Black Swallow-wort or Pale Swallow-wort?

Posted on July 1, 2019 by admin

I am assembling a talk on Michigan Invasive Species and needed photographs of Black Swallow-wort. I asked several friends for locations. I was surprised to discover that the first three stations I visited were Pale Swallow-wort.

Black Swallow-wort (Vincetoxicum nigrum or Cynanchum louiseae) and Pale Swallow-wort (Vincetoxicum rossicum or Cynanchum rossicum) are two similar invasive vines. Black Swallow-wort is also called Louise’s Swallow-wort or Black Dog-strangling Vine. Other names for Pale Swallow-wort include: Dog-strangling Vine or European Swallow-wort.

Most people attempt to distinguish the two species based on flower color. However, it is difficult, without some field experience, to separate these two species using the flower color. Dr. Anton Reznicek on the Michigan Flora website writes, “The corollas in both our species are dark purplish, but they run toward black in V. nigrum [Black Swallow-wort] and tend to be somewhat paler in V. rossicum [Pale Swallow-wort], which also has longer corolla lobes (at least twice as long as broad) and only half as many chromosomes.” In Black Swallow-wort the corollas (petals) are about as long as they are wide and are covered with fine hairs. In Pale Swallow-wort the corollas are about twice as long as wide and are hairless. Peduncles (flower cluster stalks) are shorter in Black Swallow-wort than Pale Swallow-wort.

My wife commented that the tips of the flower buds on Black Swallow-wort are rounded and on Pale Swallow-wort they are bluntly pointed. I do not know if this is constant, but it held true for our limited sample.

Swallow-worts are in the family Apocynaceae which includes the Milkweeds and Dogbanes.

Swallow-worts are poisonous to Monarch larva. If a Monarch butterfly lays her eggs on the similar Swallow-wort instead of Milkweed (Asclepius spp.) then the larva die. An additional problem is that Swallow-worts are toxic to livestock and deer. In northern Oakland Co. Pale Swallow-wort is moving into pastures and causing problems for livestock.

Black Swallow-wort has been in Michigan since the 1880s. Its distribution is poorly known and should be reported wherever it is seen. Collected specimens are from the southern four tiers of counties and then at the tip of the Lower Peninsula. It must be found at other sites in northern Michigan. There are reports from the Traverse City Area. Pale Swallow-wort was first reported in 1968 and we have records from four counties in the southern three tiers. As the Michigan Flora website says, “It should be stamped out wherever observed.” Reports of both Swallow-worts should be made through the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network (MISIN). They have an online reporting tool and also a downloadable smart phone app.

I thank John DeLisle of Natural Community Services, Donna Kuchapski, and Debbie Jackson for helping me locate Swallow-wort stations.

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Twinleaf: A Local Spring Wildflower

Posted on May 13, 2019 by admin

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) grows in rich deciduous woods and floodplains. Its distribution is local, meaning it does not grow in every suitable habitat but where it grows it can occur in large numbers. In Michigan it ranges northward to a line passing through Saginaw.

William Bartram named the genus in honor of Thomas Jefferson. One other species occurs in the genus, Asian Twinleaf (J. dubia), growing in eastern Asia. Several other genera occur in Eastern North America and then skip to eastern Asia including: Ginseng (Panax), Lopseed (Phryma), Mayapple (Podophyllum), Lizard’s-tail (Saururus), and Skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus).

Twinleaf is an appropriate common name because the two leaf lobes form practically identical segments. Flowering in southern Michigan happens in April. The multi-parted, white flowers resemble Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) but the two species are not closely related.

Jeffersonia — Native Twinleaf L Asian Twinleaf R

The seeds are myrmecochorous which means distributed by ants. A sweet, fatty blob, called an elaiosome, adheres to the seeds attracting the ants. Ants gather the seeds, take them into their nests, and later eat the elaiosome. Conventional “wisdom” states that the ants gain food and plant’s seeds are moved to a protected and nutritionally richer site for growth. Charles Kwit at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is studying this. One of his students, Mariah Patton, has provided a summary citing research that questions both the benefits to ants and the advantages to the plant. Further research is called for.

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A Color Variant in Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

Posted on May 2, 2019 by admin

Yellow Trout Lily with reddish-brown at base of tepals

Recently I was shown a small patch of Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) with the base of the tepals reddish-brown on the inner surface. The two-toned plants are striking. Trout Lilies can reproduce vegetatively through stolons. See my blog from 2017. This patch might be a single clone spreading via stolons.

I checked the Michigan Flora Website and it said, “Rarely the perianth is reddish brown basally. Flora of North America says “Flowers: tepals yellow, sometimes tinged light to dark purple-red abaxially, sometimes with reddish dots adaxially,” So this variation is known. I just never saw it before.

Lyman Smith named this color form as forma castaneum. The condition of the colony he found agrees with my colony except his had smaller flowers. He writes, “I found a large patch of Erythronium americanum much of which was the typical plant. However, many of the plants had flowers rather smaller than the average and with the inner part of the perianth a deep chestnut-brown” (Rhodora, Vol.31, page 36, February 1929). Forma castaneum is used in the Flora of North America to designate the reddish anther form with no mention of flower color. Perhaps this form as named also had reddish anthers and the name was used instead of creating another name for a minor form.

I addressed the anther color variations in another blog post.

All of our two-toned Yellow Trout Lilies had reddish anthers. Emily Austen, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at the University of Ottawa is studying the color variations and her blog provides additional information.

My patch was found in Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. It will be interesting to hear of other colonies and their anther color. My thanks to Mushroom Mary for pointing this patch out.

Glossary
Abaxially means on the front side.
Adaxially means on the back side.
Tepels are colored sepals. Sepals are the bud coverings with the petals found inside. Trout Lilies lack petals; the yellow flowers parts are tepals.
Perianth is the outer part of a flower, made up of the calyx (sepals) and corolla (petals).

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What are these lumps on Goldenrod?

Posted on March 18, 2019 by admin

Eurosta solidaginis — Goldenrod Spherical Gall

The Goldenrod Spherical Gall is caused by the Tephritid Fly also called the Goldenrod Spherical Gall Fly (Eurosta solidagunis). In late spring the Tephritid Fly lays eggs on the surface of the stem of a Goldenrod (Solidago spp.). When the egg hatches the larva burrows into the stem and its saliva causes the goldenrod to grow a spherical mass of tissue that protects the larva and provides it with food. The larva passes through three stages until it reaches full size. In the fall it chews a tunnel that the adult fly will use to exit the gall in late spring. This tunnel is just short of the outer skin of the gall. The debris from this tunnel is not eaten and if you cut open a gall you will often find this “sawdust.” When the weather warms, the larva pupates and the adult flies emerge in late spring.

Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers feed on the larva in the winter. Chickadees peck the gall and attempt to locate the exit tunnel. They break through the skin and grab the larva. Downy Woodpeckers will peck through the gall if the Goldenrod’s stem is heavy enough or enlarge the exit tunnel if they can find it.

In the Royal Oak Arboretum the galls are found on mostly on Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) and occasionally on Canada Goldenrod (S. canadensis) but this fly will use other large goldenrods.

Spindle Gall (Gnorimoschema gallaesolidaginis) is a similar. It is an elongated gall also found on Goldenrod. The Goldenrod Elliptical-Gall Moth forms this gall. It overwinters as eggs on dried leaves. The larva hatch in the spring, chew into the Goldenrod’s stem, and the moths emerge in the fall. This gall is reported only on Late Goldenrod and Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima). Some studies indicate that the moth might actually be two species that look identical but feed on different goldenrod species.

My naturalist friend Mary Kleiss, asked me about this gall. As a girl she went ice fishing with her dad using the larva from the Goldenrod Spherical Gall as bait. Mary died recently and I miss her. She had a keen eye and an unending curiosity. She knew the uses of wild plants: whether it was edible, a dye plant, or had other uses. I enjoyed touring her garden and several blog posts are a result of these trips or conversations with her. I dedicate this blog to her and to her sense of wonder.

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Hop-tree: A Michigan Citrus

Posted on January 16, 2019 by admin

I was asked to identify a fruiting elm shrub. It was actually a Hop-tree or Wafer-ash (Ptelea trifoliate). Ptelea is the ancient Greek word for elms. The fruit resembles a large elm fruit (1.9 to 2.5 cm [3/4 to 1 inch] in diameter) but the veins of the wings are more pronounced than an elm and are continuous, not notched as an elm is. They have been used as substitutes for hops in beer brewing.

The leaves are compound with three leaflets and are entire or sometimes with fine teeth. They are alternate which helps to distinguish it from the opposite-leaved Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia) if one only has the leaves.

The greenish-white flowers appear with the leaves. They are small for a flower that is insect pollinated but their aroma attracts insects. I do not care for the aroma but some people think it resembles lime.

The slender twigs have short, stubby hairs. Buds are hidden under a membrane but expand and break through it in late winter. The leaf scar almost surrounds the bud and has three vascular bundle scars. The terminal bud is absent.

Hop-tree is a member of the Citrus Family (Rutaceae). Our other native citrus is prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum americanum). Hop-tree is found in southern Michigan. Keep an eye out for it this winter. It holds its seeds so it can easily be identified. Look for it in southern Michigan on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, or in open sandy fields, and also along rivers.

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Michigan Holly

Posted on December 28, 2018 by admin

Michigan Holly habit

Recently a friend showed me a photo of a red-berried shrub she did not know. It was Michigan Holly (Ilex verticilata). If you are not from Michigan, you probably call this Winterberry or Black-alder. It can be showy this time of year with bright red berries (drupes) on dark bare branches. It grows in wet areas but not standing water. It likes to have its roots dry out a little each year.

Michigan Holly flowers male L female R

Michigan Holly flowers when the leaves are fully developed. Male and female flowers occur on different shrubs. They are insect pollinated. Flowers are whitish with a tinge of yellow or green. Although small, I find them attractive.

Michigan Holly leaves with fruit L winter twig -R

The leaves are stalked, coarsely toothed, broadest at the middle, two or three times longer than wide, and have a pointed tip. Their upper surface is dark green, darker than most other species.

Michigan Holly fruit

The bright red fruit is technically called a drupe. Drupes have stony pits surrounded by soft flesh. Cherries are drupes. It is short stalked and persists into winter. Wildlife feed on them. I have seen wintering robins strip a shrub in an hour.

Mountain Holly

Mountain Holly (Ilex mucronata) is our other native holly. It has leaves that are entire (toothless), bright pink or purple fruit on long stalks, and normally grows as a single trunk. This has been called Nemopanthus mucronatus.

American Holly

American Holly (Ilex opaca) is our typical Christmas holly. It is native south of Michigan but is now escaping into forests in southern Michigan. Unlike our native holly species this one is evergreen, but its leaves sometimes dry out in the winter.

You can find Michigan Holly by driving rural roads. The bright red fruit is evident from a distance, especially on a sunny day. Get out and look for it.

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A Winter Mushroom

Posted on November 25, 2018 by admin

Winter Mushroom growing from dead tree trunk

Winter Mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) is aptly named. I was shown a nice colony of them by my friends John, and Mushroom Mary. When I photographed them it was below freezing. They were growing out of the trunk of a dead, standing, Ash (Fraxicus sp.). The tops of the orange-brown caps were sticky and the stems were velvety. The gills were barely attached and on some specimens appeared to be free. There were no rings on the stems. The spore print was white.

Clusters of Winter Mushrooms showing sticky tops

Winter Mushroom spore print and gills

The scientific name Flammulina comes from flammeus which means small flame and refers to the orange-brown caps. Velutipes combines velutinus which means covered with fine hairs (think velvet) and pes meaning “foot” both refer to velvety stems. This species is also called velvet foot.

Deadly Galerina (Galerina autumnalis) is a similar mushroom but it has a brown spore print and most specimens have an annulus (stem ring). According to Tom Volk’s website the two species often occur together. According to Volk: “You must check every mushroom you pick for brown spore color and annulus. If either characteristic is present do not eat it.” If you are eating anything from the wild do not relay on the Internet for your identifications. Find someone who is an expert and also eats from the wild. Get a good guidebook and learn to use it. Learn the edible species and also the poisonous ones. I’m terrified at the number of people who forage from the wild without any real knowledge. Galerina poisoning is painful and can be deadly. If you are not absolutely certain what a plant is don’t eat it.

References

Kuo, M. (2013, February). Flammulina velutipes. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/flammulina_velutipes.html

Volk, T. (1997, March). Tom Volk’s Fungus of the Month for March 1997. Retrieved from the Virtual Foliage Homepage: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/march97.html (Flammulina velutipes)

Volk, T. (2003, May). Tom Volk’s Fungus of the Month for May 2003. Retrieved from the Virtual Foliage Homepage: https://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/may2003.html (Galerina autumnalis)

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The Michigan Nature Guy’s Blog

To get people looking at, enjoying, and understanding the natural world around them.

Michigan Maples

Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria)

A Canada Goose fostered by Sandhill Cranes

Is it Black Swallow-wort or Pale Swallow-wort?

Twinleaf: A Local Spring Wildflower

A Color Variant in Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

What are these lumps on Goldenrod?

Hop-tree: A Michigan Citrus

Michigan Holly

A Winter Mushroom