American highbush cranberry fruit. Photo: Trish Murphy
On September 9, SONSI member Trish Murphy led a hike in the Dickson Wilderness Area to look for fruiting plants and anything else interesting.
It was fabulous weather and there was a lot to see.
Berry-wise, we saw American highbush cranberry, common buckthorn, grey dogwood, silky dogwood, running euonymus, wild coffee, highbush blueberries, jack-in-the-pulpit, Solomon’s seal, false Solomon’s seal, starry false Solomon’s seal, poison ivy, bittersweet nightshade, red baneberry, autumn olive, carrion flower, and more.
Joseph, Trish & Kathryn inspect a monarch caterpillar. Photo: Emily Damstra
We also saw the fruits of skunk cabbage, two different species of tussock moth caterpillar, walnut caterpillars, a garter snake, a locust borer beetle, a praying mantis, lots of ambush bugs, monarchs, and some friendly chickadees. The goldenrod and asters were in their full beauty, attracting lots of pollinators.
A huge thanks go out to Trish for sharing her expertise on our native (and invasive) plant species.
-Emily