aclay232's Journal

Daily Account: Cowen Park
Monday, 4/23/12
12:00-1:30pm
Temperature: 70s, approx. 73, Sunny, blue skies

Today we went to Cowen/Ravenna Park in the Ravenna neighborhood north of the University. Cowen and Ravenna park, actually have a pretty interesting history I’m discovering only now after having been there hundreds of times before. Apparently, the parks (connected by a trail leading through the middle) were formed by the melt-off from the Vashon glacial sheet was retreating north. It first left a lake called Lake Russel which disappeared in the glacial retreat, however, after this the Green lake basin, left over from all the melting emptied through the Ravenna ravine into lake Washington. I’m wondering first of all how closely the Greenlake basin is related to the man-made lake millions of people visit we now call green lake, and whether the basin was in the same general area. Also, is the trail through the center of the park the remnants of the ravine? There are creeks on both sides of the trail, and large, almost canyon like sides (banks?) running up until one again reaches the road and civilization. There are also two bridges built over the park. I don’t know how old these bridges are, but I’m wondering whether they were initially built simply to fill the gap, or how recently there was water running through the ravine they call the Ravenna ravine. If the ravine emptied the basin into lake Washington, which way did the water flow? Southeast? And how long ago did all this happen? It must have been a few hundred years, because there are some redwoods in the middle of the park that look pretty darn old. According to what I’m reading, the “deeper pockets of the basin become Bitter, Haller and Greenlakes.” Again what is the correlation with Green Lake? I know we’ve named community centers after Bitter and Green lakes, so it would be interesting to know how long ago all this happened. Apparently, the ravine deepened, becoming what it is today? From what I’ve seen, it is still a relatively wet habitat with lots of water loving plants.* (*After I say water loving, however, I think back to the Greenhouse at the UW and the fact that those desert plants did like water, they just couldn’t compete with the other adapted plants, from what I understood.) Here we go; another park history says the basin continued to drain through 1911. There is a lot more information on it on the Seattle Parks’ website, however, I think I can conclude that what I saw today is probably a fair amount different than it was back a hundred years ago. Though now I wonder how the plant life has changed or remained the same over the years. I wonder whether the same species were there in the same places then or if not where and how did they get to where they are today?
Anyway, today was beautiful and there were lots birds singing and bees buzzing. Now, I’ve been to this park hundreds of times because I went to nature camp for the lengths of a few summers when I was little. I probably learned a lot then, but a lot of it I’ve also forgotten and I didn’t realize how many different species of plants inhabit the park. There was a lot to see, many things in bloom, and many things I recognized but had to re-identify. First, the park was abundant with Horsetail (Equisetum arvens), with erect stems about a foot tall, especially in the wetter places near the creeks that run on either side of the trail. There was also some Tall Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) scattered at the beginning of the trail, though I didn’t see it much through the rest of the walk. Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), found itself underneath the bridge about 30-50ft away from the creek, the only place I noticed it, which makes sense because the floor there is more disturbed than other parts of the park. There was a stretch of 3-4 plants I didn’t recognize such as one tree/shrub 5’-20’ tall with opposite leaves looking like sets of four from above. Another plant had purple flowers and sedge-like leaves (perhaps Spanish Bluebells?), followed by what I think might have been a Western Yew, growing with Salal, Sword Fern, Horsetail, and neighboring a Beaked Hazelnut Tree (Corylus cornuta), the latter which had very soft leaves, but no hazelnuts yet. Under a second Hazelnut we found to my surprise some Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa), actually a pretty large patch occupied the side of the trail next to a young red cedar, maybe 60’ away from the creek. Closer to the creek we found Money plant (Lunaria annua) though I’m still not convinced of this identification as there was no money on it. There was also what I think was Trailing Black Currant (Ribes laxiflorum) growing next to the cedar nearby. Another plant, that which I didn’t know at the time, had very shiny, translucent, rubbery leaves and was covering the ground near a section of the park where the creek gets wider. Intuitively I guessed Wild Ginger, with the feeling that this wasn’t right, and now know this was False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum dilatatum). Finally, nearby the False Lily was a tree-like plant, one which looked very alive, but was growing horizontally and I still can’t figure out what it was, but it had “bushels” or bunches of needles coming outward, and the center of the needle bunch began as yellow but graduated into green on the ends, looking to me like new needles, unless the tree had fallen or was recently cut down.
This was as far as we got today, a question I might have would be: what kinds of animals live in Cowen/Ravenna park? I’m trying to remember whether the Northern Flicker or Woodpeckers inhabit the park but I can’t remember and would like to spend some time one day checking into this.

Species List:
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Tall Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Beaked Hazelnut Tree (Corylus cornuta)
Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa)
Money plant (Lunaria annua)
Trailing Black Currant (Ribes laxiflorum)
False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum dilatatum)

Daily Account: Burke Museum day 2
Thursday April 26, 2012
1:30-3:30pm

Today we went to the Burke museum for the second time to talk about birds. Through three different rotations we talked about reproduction, sexual selection, and the different factors that can change populations over time. Some of the conversations reminded me of what I’d learned and considered in an animal behavior class last year. We first talked about populations and the need for museums to keep records of the past for determining how a population is changing, for example whether there are many more young being born than there are older, or whether the population is currently stable, etc. We can use specimens to figure out which birds are in which locations and if and how they’re migrating over time. Susan talked about how in some migratory birds (I think we were talking about Townsend’s warblers), the adult males have to fly back before the females to claim nesting grounds, from which the females choose a few weeks later. What I didn’t realize was that the older males can fly back sooner because they have more body fat sooner, and therefore find the better nests lower on the mountain as opposed to the so-so nests of the younger birds, who are less likely to mate for this reason. Thus we can get a ratio of the ages of birds on the mountain. This is something we can only tell by keeping a record and history of the birds. In this way, we can take a snapshot in time to learn more about behavior patterns and ecology of a place over time.
Next we looked at Marbled Murlets (Brachyramphus marmoratus), and differentiated between the Juvenile and adult birds by the differences in their plumage. A question that came up was why are there two different colored males? The answer once known, seems obvious: it is because the birds were taken from different seasons. There were two different patterns, one of a light underside and a darker back, and the other of a male who was dark all over. The first was taken outside of mating season, whereas they acquired the second specimen during mating season. The reason for this is that during mating season the males spend time nesting in trees where they camouflage better if dark. In the off season, they spend much of their time on the water, where from the underside a light belly blends in with the surface, just as a dark back blends from above. I think this is the reasoning for penguin coloring as well.
Apparently, another bird, the robin is found all over the world, yet drastically different in size and other details. Someone noticed that Robins further North might have redder breasts, a hypothesis, still undetermined. We do know however, that they don’t all lay blue eggs.
Following this discussion, we talked to Seever (sp?) about Reproduction and Sexual selection. First things first: there are some downright beautiful birds, albeit also extremely conspicuous, such as peasants, and the majority of them are male. Yes, this conspicuousness is bad for survival, Seever says, but in terms of reproductive success, more matings = more offspring which weighs more on the scale of importance when it comes to getting your genes into the future if you’re a bird. Females on the other hand, are typically less conspicuous, because they are usually the ones in charge of parental care and need to stay out of sight to protect their young. Apparently, in most species the males don’t even come near the nest. In this structure of life, males also tend to be bigger, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that males need to fight of other males for females (sexual dimorpism).
In one particular species however, the Jesus Christ birds/Hassanas, the females tend to be bigger. As is the case for many shorebirds hawks, eagles, etc. These marsh-dwelling Hassanas are polyandrous, meaning the female has a harem of males she lays clutches for. In this species the females actually fight for territory, with very sharp carpel spines which I never would have known of had Seever not shown us an example. There are also high rates of predation in the tropics. Is this because there are land animals that have access to the nests too? I thought this was the same for seagulls, with fox predation. Is this a similar situation? Also in this species, the male incubates the eggs, and a clutch is limited to four eggs at a time, a quantity which we don’t seem to know the exact reason for at the moment.
According to Seever, there is also a lot of cuckolding going on in the Hassanas. This is because if a male has to wait in line for a clutch, he might defect to another female’s nest. However, the female he’s with wants his genes and to keep him for herself, so she gets the best genes possible, therefore to avoid defection, she offers the second in line male EPC. The consequences of this are ironic. The second-in-line male actually gets a better deal, because after the EPC, the clutch she lays for the first in line is partly genetically the second guys genes. Then, she’ll lay a whole new clutch for the second male to have all to himself. But the question is, is he really better off if there’s always another guy second in line? Is there always someone in line?
Next, we talked to Josh about eggs. Upon observation of several different clutches of eggs, we concluded a lot about the birds responsible for them. The first observation that came up was that none of the eggs in the case were completely round. I actually find this quite interesting, and I’m wondering if there’s an adaptive benefit to having non-rounded eggs. Are there any birds that lay round eggs? This may seem like a silly question, but I am curious. Anyway, the conversation quickly turned to birds called Weavers, most likely named this due to the round hanging nests they weave in the trees in Africa. Weavers are colonial nesters, unlike many other species. Another observation was that the eggs were different colors even though they were all from the same bird. Apparently, there is a selection for having a “signature” on your eggs because of the egg dumping phenomenon of females from the same species go into others’ nests and dump eggs, because it is a lot less energetically costly if you can have someone else raise your kids. On the other hand the babysitters aren’t too keen on the idea as far as natural selection goes, so having your own egg color means it’s easier to distinguish impostor eggs. Another species to use this clever behavior is the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater).
Brown headed cowbirds apparently do not nest at all, using the nests of other species of birds to raise their young. They lay 40-50 eggs in one season, finding all kinds of hosts. Later when the young cowbirds have hatched and received all their nurture from the host, the cowbird parent returns to retrieve her nestling. The question is why do the hosts go with it? Even if the egg looks so different, and they have to feed a monster of a cowbird along with their young, why don’t they just chuck the egg out of the nest while they can? Well, sometimes they do, and most of the time they do notice the difference in the cowbird’s egg, however, some birds cannot tell or cannot manage to rid the nest of the egg. One reason they don’t get rid of the egg is that there’s a potential for it to be costly. If they destroy the wrong egg, or loose one of their own while pecking at it, it might make more sense adaptively to raise the extra young bird. While they can tell a difference, the males apparently have a harder time telling the eggs apart, and they are the ones spending a lot of time in the nest feeding the babies. Something else I found interesting was the red color of the inside of the baby cowbirds’ mouths. Ironically, it may act as a super stimulus for the hurrying host bird to feed it faster, along with the fact that the cowbird infants are usually larger and this usually corresponds to reproducing more and without parasitism this is the bird to devote time and energy to. Some birds beaks can’t puncture a cowbird egg, so the size of the host and its beak matters as well. Josh showed us one video of a bird using her talons to get rid of the egg, but this is not a common occurrence. There is definitely an “evolutionary lag” going on for the hosts, and they may catch up eventually and find a way to better adapt, though it is quite complex what the cowbirds have going on. They even keep track of where they’ve laid eggs, thus can check in on them and throw out hosts young if theirs isn’t there (the mafia phenomenon). According to Josh, these birds have lost the ability to nest. My question was about evolutionary lag, and will the other birds will eventually develop a way to evolutionarily “outsmart” the Brown-headed Cowbird? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Species List:
Marbled Murlets (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater).

Daily Account: The Bug Lab
May 3, 2012

Today we went to the Entomology lab in Johnson Hall to talk to Evan Sugden about the study of insects and how they connect to natural history. I learned a lot from this class and now am beginning to understand why some people find insects so interesting.

He began by pointing out that if an alien were looking at earth from afar, he wouldn’t say this is the planet of the apes, or anything else, he would call it the “planet of the insects,” due to the fact that in terms of population insects dominate our planet and are the most diverse body of species living here. They are also immensely important, and we couldn’t really get along without them. Although I knew insects were everywhere, I didn’t realize what the numbers actually look like, and how they contribute directly and indirectly to our lives and function. Evan grouped their activities into those that affect the natural world and the human world. In the natural world, the things insects do are neither good nor bad, they just are, something I’ve heard before in my animal behavior class via natural selection and evolution, which is what may be happening, but whether or not it should be happening is a human perspective apart from the raw course of behavior. In the natural world, bugs provide food for other organisms like salmon, which makes sense, but what surprised me is that without insects, we probably wouldn’t have salmon, which would be terrible for many other reasons as well. We would also be buried under layers of waste if it weren’t for insects like flies, termites, and dung beetles; those who commit acts such as chewing holes in rotten wood so bacteria can do its part and finish the decomposition process. They are also a part of soil formation, something I’d like to understand more since he only touched on it in class. Insects also play a part of vegetation control and keeping plant life in check, while at the other end of the scale, helping some plants reproduce through pollination.

In the human world, we tend to view insects as pests, something I already knew, but apparently we also use them for other things such as medicinal purposes. While insects do create competition for food in the occupation of crops and sometimes in our homes, and they can also be disease vectors of deadly things like malaria, insects do have positive impacts on the human world, ones we tend to overlook, and some slightly shocking as well. Apparently, we use insects to control other invasive pests who become problems in cases such as the loss of a natural predator in an area. Insects are also nutritious, although for me the jury’s still out on whether they actually taste good. I have heard of other cultures eating them though. On a side note, what makes them so nutritious? Are all insects okay to eat or are they like plants in the nature of edibility? We also use things like maggots (completely surprising to me) to treat wounds and their extract to make allantoin, a type of medicine.

On the subject of beetles, they have wings that conserve water, called Elitra (sp?), they are nocturnal, and apparently make up 1/5 of all animal species diversity. This is kind of funny as I hardly ever notice beetles, but I suppose it makes sense looking at the times they are more active. He also mentioned another reason we don’t see them as much is because they do most of their interaction with the environment in the immature stage (grubs), and their adult life is short, kind of like the life of a caterpillar. This makes sense, since they become more conspicuous as adults and if all they need to do is reproduce in this time they should spend as little time above ground as possible.

I also didn’t know that butterflies are actually moths adapted to day flight, and the ancestors of bees are wasps. We discussed how unlike wasps, bees are fuzzy because they pollinate partially by getting pollen all over them and then grooming it off. They have also evolved tightly with plants due to the reciprocal need of the plant and pollinator. Someone asked how the queen bee gets chosen in a hive, a question I’d been puzzled about as well. Apparently, certain eggs get a supercharged diet that helps develop their sexual organs, and these bees become queens. But how do the other bees know who she is? And is the egg chosen at random? We later got to look at the cross section of a hive and distinguish all the drones, workers and the queen, very interesting, and it amazes me that the bees can still live under these conditions. He did point out, however, that the native bees are going extinct, partly because they are so sensitive to toxins in the air called neonicotinoids, and also due to the introduction of a similar European honeybee. In fact, these smaller, “Africanized” wild bees are now essentially dependent on their keepers for survival, thought they are the most efficient pollinators for many crops.

On the subject of the queen, she apparently lays about 1egg/minute and apprx. ½ million eggs before she dies. This is crazy! Then again I suppose it makes sense in terms of furthering one’s genes. If you can stay in the hive and lay eggs and be fully protected all your life, there is a good chance your genes will be projected into the future. Perhaps there is another reason for their structure of life, but I’m not sure yet. Also, the queen bee only has one mating episode in her whole life, a 2-3 day period of flight where she goes and mates with males from other colonies. Incredibly, this provides her with enough sperm to lay those ½ million eggs. Further, I asked who she mates with. According to the bee guy, she can detect the odor of her own drones, though he wasn’t completely sure.

He also said that bee stings can be used to alleviate symptoms of arthritis, because they activate the immune system. To me this sounded similar to acupuncture, but he said something different is actually happening.

Also, the honeybees we were looking at manage to keep the hive at a temperature of 93-96 degrees Fahrenheit which is extremely warm for all those little guys. This temperature, in combination with the fact that they can take sugar droplets in mandibles and fan them with their wings to cause evaporation, allows them to produce honey. The temperature also means these bees don’t have to migrate in the winter, unlike solitary bees who do not have this capability of keeping the hive warm enough to survive. Are bumblebees solitary bees? I would think so, but they build their nests in pre-existing rodent holes, and I’m wondering if this changes the need to worry about temperature, or whether bumblebees are similar to honeybees in the way they nest.

Evan also pointed out that male bees never sting, because the stinger is a reproductive device of the female related to egg laying and defense of her nest. If a nest gets too crowded, the bees will swarm, and the hive undergoes a fission in which you get two colonies out of one.

Daily Account: Skykomish and Beyond
May 12, 2012

Temperature Changing throughout the day, high around 76 warmer to east

Today, we traversed highway 2, from the Skykomish River to Leavenworth, looking at the changes in plant life and ecosystems over a transition from west to east. There were lots of cool things to see, the weather was beautiful (no clouds, blue sky), and it was cool to see the complete contrast with the change in climate, seeing a large variety of plants, trees, lizards, and more.

Our first stop was just out of Gold Bar (Lat: 47.8537, Long: -121.697), on the edge of the Skykomish. I should start by saying this place is an example of a Riparian habitat, one which in parts has been eroded by floods, yet has a nice array of plants and trees, some of which I’d seen, others which are new to my schema for plant life in the pacific northwest/Washington state. The first thing we noticed stepping out of the cars was a tall cottonwood tree in the middle of the parking area. The last time someone mentioned this tree, I was so overwhelmed with information and a bit confused (there may not have been noticeable leaves either), that I didn’t see which tree out of the millions there seemed to be. This time however, the Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera) was abundant along the river and surrounding area, its beautiful shiny leaves almost silvery in the sun. Another particular cottonwood we saw had roots exposed above the surface of the ground. Apparently, it uses its roots to self-propagate, sending out new roots from the trunk of the tree. The exposed roots are a result of flooding, where the bank has been in the past. Other trees we saw include: Western flowering Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) at the opening by the road (didn’t notice anywhere else, and on a side note, the leaves are quite interesting in their papery nature and in the fact that they have a sort of spiraled sheath inside that allows one to pull them apart and not fully separate the whole..I wonder what the adaptive nature of this is), a few Red Alder (Alnus rubra), a couple Big leaf Maple, a Cherry tree, and a Crabapple tree (Malus domestica). We also saw many other tall shrubs such as Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) (apparently wind pollenated tree as recognized by catkins), Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), among others.

In one area, the understory was made up of flowering/berry producing shrubs, all around the same location, which I found interesting because I’m not used to seeing them all together at once. These shrubs were Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)which someone mentioned is in the rose family, although I’m not positive this is true since according to Pojar it doesn’t seem so; Trailing Blackberry (Rubus Ursinus)/(unlike the Himilayan Blackberry seen in Seattle, this crawls low to the ground instead of arching first), which wasn’t too abundant but lay scattered alongside the road; Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), which I recently discovered interacts with Salmon in some way, I think a naturalist mentioned the salmon used to fertilize it somehow; and Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), which I have yet to see produce fruit more extensive than flowers. It surprised me that these all grew together, especially the Salmonberry, since I thought it usually prefers more moist habitats than the one in which we found it. Maybe this is why there were only a small number of patches at this site.

We also found lots of Stinky Bob (Geranium robertianum), growing low in the understory, with lots of small pink flowers scattered about, although after smelling it, I personally didn’t find it to be all that stinky. Although it’s an invasive species, we encountered lots of Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius) as well, particularly on the banks of the river, we learned that it takes a special kind of insect to pollenate it…well maybe not too special, but if you find plump bumblebees special, then this is how the plant perpetuates itself. The pollen is protected inside the yellow flowers, until something heavy enough comes and interacts with the plants “popping” mechanism. I never knew this about Scotchbroom, and I also didn’t know that it grows in Riparian habitats like this one. I know this plant is nonnative and I’m wondering where it comes from. Also it seems pretty good at adapting to different situations, but where is it most common? I’ve often seen it on roadsides, but do bumblebees fly in these areas? Would they be even more affected by the pollution because of this?
Other invasive species we found were Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica), and Sweet Vernel Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), the second characterized by the fine white hairs on its flowers and stem. The grass interestingly is moving north and came from California. I wonder why this is; is this the way the wind tends to blow? I suppose it must be if it’s wind pollenated, but it’s amazing that it’s growing up here now; I wonder how long it’s taken to reach this part of the country, it seems like it would be a slow process.

Next we transition to a much wetter place, off Index (rd), a temperate forest habitat with about two and a half times the rainfall of Seattle. This was probably my favorite, with the beautiful moss hanging on every tree and the greenness extending far into the forest. Here we saw many familiar things, and a few things in question, for example, there were two plants that both looked like fringecup such as Large-leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum), and another Geranium looking one I still can’t place. These, and Stinky Bob covered the side of the road until we walked past the edge of the forest, the first two not so surprising to me, yet Stinky Bob a bit suprising since I’ve always noticed in in slightly drier habitats, although it makes since, as apparently it is an introduced Eurasian weed. Salmonberry rinks this location as like the previous one, but farther in it gets much more interesting. Apparently a place of frequent rainfall like this is home to a lot of epiphytic plants such as licorice fern, a deciduous species, yet one that loses its leaves in the summer, the opposite the deciduous trees of the area. This is cool, as it means they will get more sunlight in the winter without the canopy of leaves blocking it out. These licorice ferns were on many of the trees in the area, growing not bigger than about a foot in length, and overwhelmingly sweet to the taste (in my opinion). We also saw lots of stumps providing stands for Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium Parviflorum), (Is this an epiphytic species?). False Lily of the Valley covered the forest floor (it seems to like the more moist shady climate everywhere I see it), along with a few stalks here and there of Hooker’s Fairybell (Disporum hookeri) with twin flowers growing beneath the leaves. Nearby a stump we found a small patch about three feet wide of Spiny Wood Fern (Dryopteris expansa), and a log about five feet away with a small black millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana) on its side. The millipede must be common in this area as I’ve seen ones alike before with the yellow stripe down the sides. Do we have many centipedes here? I think they like warmer climates, but I’m curious. Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) and Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridum) stalks popped up once or twice, the latter’s spiny stem a giveaway (although I mistook a plant by the greenhouse the other day with like stem for this and was far off).

And if I must talk about mushrooms which I am learning to avoid because I think the spores make my nose itchy, I will say we saw a few at this site, such as: Coprinellus nopsis, Polyporus Badius (with the hand lens you can see the tons of pores on the underside), and Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum), (also pretty cool because it actually acts as a tablet on its white underside, something I’ve seen in gifts but never live).

Wow, we did do a lot today. Next, we stopped at Money Creek campground (Lat: 47.72917, Long: -121.40694), and found Long-Tailed Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum)!..Among other things, this pleasant smelling plant I’ve wanted to find for a while now, and found it today growing with jug-like purple flowers, and waxy netlike veined leaves, those which were only waxy in the smaller leaves though I don’t know why. Also in the area were several other unfamiliar species. On the way into the campground, we saw lots of Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla), three leaflets per leaf and on many a bunch in the ground sprung tiny white flowers; Sweet Colts Foot (Petasites palmatus), Yellow Wood Violet (Viola glabella), with bright yellow flowers and heart shaped leaves growing low to the forest floor. There was also something from the carrot family, but I’m not sure what it is yet. At this site we also found some happy lichen, such as Genus Hypogymnia, black on its bottom and white on top, with inflated lobes that were hollow and white on the inside. It also had brown splotches in places, which I now know are called apothecia, a place where the lichen produces spores. I’m sure lichen is in fact happier here, as I recently learned they are largely sensitive to pollution, thus they are scarce around campus and in the city. Away from the pollution however you can find it in larger numbers, and we also saw Platismatia glauca, a very similar kind with a white top and black bottom, but more flat and without the hollow lobes. Down by the river, we also saw a Stonefly (order Plecoptera) at the water’s edge a (resting?) on a rock. It was larger than I imagined and I’m wondering what eats them, fish or birds or both? A rock doesn’t seem like the best place to hang out if the latter is the case. Nearby was a mayfly (Order Ephemeroptera), with claws at the ends of its feet for gripping rocks. Apparently, their adult lives a very short as their name suggests. About ten feet away from the bank was a Cherry tree, identified by its metallic leaves. Also at this stop we found Star Flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina Stellata), which looked similar to the Hooker’s Fairybells however, the flowers grew above the leaves instead of below. Lastly, there was a large stretch of Marsh Forget Me Nots (Myosotis scorpioides) along the roadside, growing a few inches off the ground and blooming in small blue flowers with white centers.

Our next and last stop of the day was right at the entrance to Leavenworth, east of Steven’s pass (Lat: 47.589, Long: -120.676), where the climate is much warmer and drier. All the new species on this side of the pass were overwhelming, in a similar way I felt about trees in the beginning of the quarter. It was hard to keep up, yet in hindsight, this is interesting and makes sense, as I haven’t spent much time in the area, although I’m amazed by how different the flora was. Upon climbing a small slope we came upon an open stand of Ponderosa Pine trees (Pinus ponderosa), probably 20-30’ tall, with three needles in clusters. As someone else mentioned, from afar these have an interesting texture to them, although I’m not sure what word best describes it (plush…), and where we began they were definitely abundant and a dominant species of the canopy. In the understory we found many plants including: Indian Consumption Plant (Lomatium nudicaule), Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitata), Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia), with some Chocolate Lilies nearby (Fritillaria lanceolata), (on the subject of chocolate lilies, it was interesting to see how they grow, one or two here and there yet producing very large flowers. Are flowers similar to animals in the different strategies in which they pass on their genes? I mean, of course they all have different techniques and adaptations, but is it more costly but somehow more advantageous to produce larger but fewer flowers or the reverse, large numbers of smaller flowers? And how does this relate to the animals pollenating it? I know it’s all part of a larger picture, and I just can’t stop asking why. Next we found Western Peony (Paeonia brownii), Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor), Twolobe larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum), with purple/blue flowers blooming, Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Eriogonum sp., whose leaves looked a little like Swiss chard, and whose plant didn’t have as many flowers as pictures of the varieties I’ve seen on the internet. We saw Mouse ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) which I learned is in the mustard family and like the white rat of plant genetics. I find this pretty interesting, and discovered the reason for this is that it’s geographically widespread, and has a relatively short life cycle/reproductive cycle (?), which makes it ideal to study. In between some other rocks we found Death-Camas (Zygadenus venenosus), with white flowers and stamen with yellow anthers on the ends. The flower of this plant is supposedly pollinated by only one insect according to some, while someone else in the group mentioned they’d seen it pollinated by at least three or four. Also it’s interesting, the flowers on this look totally different than the purple camas, but I suppose when the Native Americans were farming the crops and trying to weed out the fatal kind, they might have looked similar as far as the rest of the plant goes.

One of the coolest things we saw was the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), the males of which have sapphire/deep blue undersides due to sexual selection, that change color depending on their mood. Also, interesting about these guys is the ticks behind their (ears?), and the idea I think someone mentioned of them being immune to Lyme disease. I’m not a hundred percent sold on this and would like to know more.

Other new creatures we ran into include: the Sara Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis sara), a Snakefly (Agulla sp.) with its long ova-depositor, a butterfly in the lycaenidae family, (blue in color, apparently has tips on bottom of wings to trick predators and protect themselves. All of these were found in or around a nearby Lewis's Mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii), a deciduous shrub this one about seven feet tall.

Other things learned at the end of the trip: I learned that Douglas Fir doesn’t self pruned itself, so when a fire comes around it’s in trouble, but when there are no fires, a forest such as the one we visited will gradually be taken over by Douglas firs, as opposed to all the Ponderosa Pines there now.

We also found a Bolete mushroom (Boletus edulis), back in the wooded area of Ponderosa pines, surrounded by rose bushes and Saskatoon, and some Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida), blooming bright fiery red/orange in spots along the trail (not super abundant however). Beside one tree, I think a Ponderosa Pine, we found a colony of Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex sp.).

Overall this was a good trip, although overwhelming at times with all the new species.

Species List:
Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera)
Western flowering Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)
Red Alder (Alnus rubra)
Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Vine Maple (Acer circinatum)
Trailing Blackberry (Rubus Ursinus)
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Stinky Bob (Geranium robertianum)
Scotchbroom (Cytisus scoparius)
Sweet Vernel Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum)
Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
Large-leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum)
Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium Parviflorum)
Hooker’s Fairybell (Disporum hookeri)
Spiny Wood Fern (Dryopteris expansa),
Millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana)
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridum)
Coprinellus nopsis
Polyporus Badius
Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum)
Long-Tailed Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum)
Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla)
Sweet Colts Foot (Petasites palmatus)
Yellow Wood Violet (Viola glabella)
Genus Hypogymnia
Platismatia glauca
Stonefly (order Plecoptera)
Mayfly (Order Ephemeroptera)
Star Flowered False Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina Stellata),
Marsh Forget Me Nots (Myosotis scorpioides)
Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
Indian Consumption Plant (Lomatium nudicaule)
Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitata)
Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata)
Western Peony (Paeonia brownii)
Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor)
Twolobe larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Eriogonum sp.,
Mouse ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Death-Camas (Zygadenus venenosus)
Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Sara Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis sara)
Snakefly (Agulla sp.)
Lewis's Mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
Bolete mushroom (Boletus edulis)
Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida)
Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex sp.)

Daily Account: Seward Park Day 3: Latitude: 47.551, Longitude: -122.261
Date: May 19, 2012
Weather: Sunny, mostly blue sky, apprx. 66 degrees

Today, I spent the day at Seward Park again, doing nature/birding walks, and recording the things I saw and learned. I hadn’t been there in two weeks, so it was amazing to see the contrast from even then, but also the first time I came to the park the beginning of April this year. I noticed greener, new buds, flowers blooming from the plants which I’d learned to recognize by the leaves, and even some berries beginning to ripen.

In the morning, around 10-12am, I took two short walks near to the Audubon center, noticing the light pink flowers of the Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana), white flowers of the thimbleberry, lots and lots of daisies, and bright yellow flowers of the Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens), the plants looking much happier than when I first came. One thing in particular that struck my attention was the size of the Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) leaves. I knew they grew to be large in size, but didn’t know when, since the beginning of last month they were shorter than the length of one of my fingers. Now, however, I measured one of the larger ones relative to my field notebook, and the leaf was about 1.5 notebooks long, which I will measure in centimeters or inches if I can find a ruler. The Big Leaf trees were covered in such leaves, even when we looked at one that had been struck by lightning a long time ago. I wonder how much it takes for lightning to kill a tree, because this one had a huge section missing in its trunk, but looking up we could see all the new leaves growing from the damaged tree. Are trees adapted to live with lightning? I mean they must be somewhat, but how much? Did lightning used to be more common in the area than it is now? Regardless, as compared to the first time I was here, it was much more noticeable that this tree is an abundant species in the park. I think this is due to the fact that it was such a big park and hard for me to take in all at once in my first visit, or whether the small to no leaved trees weren’t as noticeable with the evergreen shrubs and trees eminent in the forest before. Other plants I noticed at first were Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) which interestingly looked pretty much the same as when I first saw it, and Oregon grape, both pale and tall kinds with berries beginning to ripen. Near the center, I found many different plants most native, including Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa), Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) with a Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) pollinating its flowers, Oregon Iris (Iris tenax), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) (flowers bright orange), and Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) with larger purple flowers.

After these initial observations, I went on a walk at 1pm with a naturalist named Ed from the center, one who’s especially into birding. I learned a lot from him both about plants and birds, beginning at the bird feeders behind the center. He mentioned that the male in the species Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), a type of woodpecker who makes a sound kieck kieck kieck, will try to find a tree on which his peck sounds loudest and louder than other males to attract females. I’d like to observe these birds in closer detail sometime, apparently, they nest in tree cavities, eat beetles, ants and other insects from the ground, and migrate in the winter, which would partly support my not seeing them in the colder months; then again I’m still learning to identify their call so that could be another factor. Ed also talked about the Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and the Red Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), and the fact that they can both feed on the same tree because the former goes up the tree, and the latter moves down, so both get a different perspective on the food availability. We saw both birds on our walk, but only the Brown Creeper hopping up/scaling a Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) tree. Another thing I found fascinating was the fact that the number of “dees” you hear in a Chickadee’s song indicates their mood. If they’re happy there will be more “dees”, but if there might be a predator around or another territorial bird, the song will be short with only one or two “dees.” The research on bird calls and communication seems quite interesting, but also potentially complicated, and I’d like to learn more about other findings. Black-Capped Chickadees (Parus atricapillus) are definitely one of the more common birds found in the park, but so are Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia, American Robins (Turdus migratorius), Dark Eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis), and American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), all of which we saw often today in the park. There are definitely other birds as well, but in the forested woods and grassy fields we walked through today, these were most conspicuous, probably because they are all diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Crepuscular was another word he used, which means active at dawn and dusk, which is really when these birds are most lively. We also found a Bush Tit (Psaltriparus minimus) nest hanging in a tree. The nest looked like a sock, and is apparently made of materials such as spider webs, lichen, moss, fir needles; Ed mentioned that some of their predators, owls and crows, (snakes if the nest is on the ground), go for the eggs in the nest since they are high protein, but the nest of the Bust Tit is pretty well protected because of its shape, most likely adaptive, but why don’t other birds build their nests in the same fashion? This seems like a pretty good idea considering predators, but maybe other birds are too large to build a sock nest that actually works for its young. Then again, one of the birds we talked about at the Burke Museum made nests in colonies that seemed as if they would be hard to access, but maybe not in the way of the Bush Tit.

While we were talking about birds, I noticed a few things I hadn’t before. First, similar to the Big Leaf Maple situation, the Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) was very abundant, a shrub every few yards in some places. I won’t forget what this is because of its soft leaves, strangely similar to the Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) leaves. Why is this? Is there a benefit to having soft and fuzzy leaves? Few plants in the park have this, and I’m wondering what it’s for. Another question I have is about the new sprouts of needles on the fir trees, whether they have a name, and why they only extend from the tip a couple inches. I also learned that all pine cones hang down from the tree and fall, while fir cones grow upwards, something I hadn’t noticed before. Ed also pointed out another new phenomenon when we past Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), with white flowers coming up. The thing is, although most of the flowers were white a few were slightly purple. He said this is actually a way in which a plant ensures its pollination. The change in color from a white to purple tells pollinators the pollen in that part of the flower is past its prime, and not worth pollenating. This works out for both the plant and pollinator, and apparently happens in Trillium as well. I find it amazing that this happens, especially when looking back at the purple trillium we saw last weekend on the field trip. Someone mentioned something about it being older, but didn’t make the connection with the pollen and pollinators. In changing to a purple color, what changes for it to look different to bees and butterflies? I know their vision is different than ours and wonder what effect this has.

Ed talked a bit about owls as well, and resolved my question of what is that white wash on the side of the Douglas Fir tree. There are a few different kinds of owls in Seward Park, but we talked in particular about the Barn Owl (Barn Owl (Tyto alba). Apparently owls have two stomachs, because when they catch their prey, (rodents, birds, etc.) they can’t digest the bones, feathers, or hair. After eating their meal, they act like a cat coughing up a hairball. In fact, they are very much like cats in that they don’t want to make a mess in their own home, so they go somewhere else to do their business. Therefore they pick a tall tree, such as Douglas Fir as their “vomatorium,” which is where one can collect owl pellets and see the white washed trunk of the tree. I saw two such trees today, both on the edge of a large grassy meadow, perhaps because this is closest to where the owls hunt.

Another thing he talked about is crows, and how smart they can be. I’ve seen and heard a few things about crows recently. At the zoo the other day we found a baby squirrel being attacked by a crow, and no matter how we tried to chase it away, it was determined until we took the baby squirrel away, as if it knew we’d give up eventually. Someone mentioned that in some places, crows will drop nuts in the road for the cars to run over and crack, so they don’t have to do the work. What Ed said today was just as if not more fascinating. He told us about an experiment Joe Marzluff from the UW did on crows. Apparently, he took a Dick Cheney mask and went repeatedly to a particular pair of crows’ nest, and shook them up, scaring them and then leaving. He did this until the pair laid a clutch, banding the birds and leaving for the time being. Tracking the birds later on, he went to the young of the birds in the eggs he hadn’t harassed, to see what would happen. First, he walked around the tree without the mask, and the crows ignored him. He returned again with the mask on however, and the baby crows were scared of the mask. This shows that somehow, the grandparents of these babies were able to communicate the meaning and fear of the mask across generations, an act quite sophisticated and intelligent in my opinion. This is definitely relevant and brings new light to all the crows I see in the park and elsewhere. Are crows native here? Is there intelligence indicative of their future success, or is it just another adaptation?

Wow, I guess you learn a lot when you spend a whole day somewhere. Following the discussions on birds, we went further into the woods, finding on the outskirts a Black Cottonwood tree (Populous balsamifera), with large leathery leaves that looked like ace of spades. These leaves were a fair amount larger than those we saw at Skykomish last weekend, about the length of my notebook, though I’m not sure why. Just skimming through the history of these trees, one can see they were used for a variety of purposes, for example, the rotten leaves of the tree were boiled and used for rheumatism, the cottonwood used for fuel in smoking fish, the bark used to make buckets to carry food, and the gum from the buds used to make waterproof boxes and baskets. There are many other uses of the plant but these are some I find particularly interesting, and wonder whether people still use them today, and where the materials we do use for things such as waterproofing come from. Also, on the edge of the forest was Highbush-Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), with new white flowers and a few berries (three) hanging below the leaves. I also didn’t know that the mice on the fir cone are called bracts, although apart from the fable I still don’t know the real purpose of these differences as compared to pine cones. Maybe it has something to do with the growing up or down thing I mentioned earlier.
Farther in the forest we found, as usual, lots of Scouring Rush Horsetail, with sticky stems growing to about a foot off the ground. Located in pretty much the same place as I’ve seen them the last few times, and other than maybe being a little greener, I didn’t notice any significant changes. We past the stretch of Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), which a few weeks ago had only a number of pink flowers, now covered in berries, that look almost ripe enough to be eaten. More buttercup, also didn’t notice this before without the flowers, but can now make the connection between flowers and leaves, and it is actually quite abundant, growing low to the forest floor. Apparently it’s scientific name “ranunculus” means little frog, perhaps because it grows in an area frogs tend to live. We also saw Euthanage or the Piggy Back Plant (Tolmiea menziesii), and Large-leaved Avens (Geum Macrophyllum) which means I can finally distinguish them and Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), something that’s been bugging me since the field trip. The first, the Piggy Back plant, had copper colored flowers; the Avens, yellow flowers, and the Fringecup, white flowers and all three do have a different leaf shape, although they look very similar at first. The Tolmiea was growing near thimbleberry, buttercup, and we found it for the first time going deeper towards the oldest and probably wettest part of the park/forest.

We heard a Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) in surrounding big leaf maples, and nearby there was a large ‘field’ of sword ferns. Uninterrupted, this field was interesting to see; there were hundreds of ferns probably the most I’ve seen in one place. Apparently, the mountain beaver, who likes to eat the fronds of these ferns, lives nearby underground. This is also an ideal hunting ground for larger owls who prey on the beaver. We past a Western Hemlock tree (Tsuga heterophylla), with missing needles on its lower branches closer to the ground. This is the first one I’ve seen in the park; I’m sure there are more, but they don’t seem especially common.

Moving closer to the lake again we saw Gadwall ducks (Anas strepera), and Western Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa), with orange flowers in bloom from space between leaves, the plant about 20yds from shore, the ducks, in the water, less than 10 feet from us, the female looking similar to the mallard, but the male with different markings.

Species List:
Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana)
Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii)
Oregon Iris (Iris tenax)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
Black-Capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)
Red Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis),
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Bush Tit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora)
Black Cottonwood tree (Populous balsamifera)
Highbush-Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum)
Scouring Rush Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale)
Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis),
Piggy Back Plant (Tolmiea menziesii),
Large-leaved Avens (Geum Macrophyllum)
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Western Hemlock tree (Tsuga heterophylla),
Gadwall ducks (Anas strepera)
Western Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
Western Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa)

Daily Account: Fungi and Forbes, a lesson:

Location: UBNA (Lat: 47.65381; Long: -122.293989)

Date & Time: Thursday May 24, 2012; 1:30-3:30pm

Temperature: 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit, mostly sunny

Today we went to the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA) to learn about Fungi and Forbes. While I learned a lot about both, I also got a glimpse of the other plants and animals around the area. The weather was sunny and warm, and we stayed mostly on the path that winds around next to the bay, indenting into the brush in a few spots to get a closer look at things.

First, we talked about mushrooms and fungi. It’s funny how you don’t always notice the things you aren’t looking for. The fungi group pointed out mushrooms in a few places I might have missed. On a wooden fence post near the water, we saw lots of little orange dots spotting mainly the top railing. The fungi stretched a length of about 1ft-1½ft along the railing. This fungus is called Dacrymyces stillatus, and apparently is one of the first fungi to appear when rain comes, and evidently likes moisture as you can pour water on it and see it thrive. According to something I read, it is dry, but upon being soaked in water, it becomes a bit gelatinous in texture. When we saw it, at first it did look dry and kind of crusty, maybe because of the long day in the sun. I wonder why most of it grew on the top railing of the fence; I’ve noticed this with other fungi as well, but never really thought about it. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that the rain finds its way to the top more easily than underneath, or if there is some other reason, or perhaps I just haven’t spent enough time observing fungi. Either way it’s interesting to look at other fungi and how they compare.

Nearby, about 30 feet away, low to the ground, we found Little Japanese Parasols (Parasola plicatilis), a cluster of two or three of them, with ribbed tops unlike most of the mushrooms I’ve seen. According to the leader of the discussion, these mushrooms are ribbed in order to spread spores faster. Their spores are black. They are also very flimsy, and only last about twenty-four hours, a window outside of which the leader said you’d never know they were there. But this is hard for me to believe. Couldn’t you look underneath the soil and get an idea of what was recently there because of all the hyphae? Apparently these start out bright in shading and become dull as the day goes on. What causes this, and what is the purpose for getting dull and then disappearing into the ground? And how to they even disappear anyway? Does something have to eat them, or do they disintegrate?

We also saw a mushroom within feet of the Japanese Parasols with a dark purple-ish brown spore print, called Leratiomyces percevalii, which is quite similar to the Agrocybe praecox we saw on campus. This fungi is yellowish white and loves wood chips, which makes sense, as we found it growing amongst wood chips and short green grass, which interestingly does not grow naturally in this area, and affects the types of mushrooms and fungi that inhabit the area. Also, the wood chips brought into campus come from all over, so we don’t really know what will be popping up and how it will interact with the species we already have. This is something the next leader (Austin) pointed out along with some other interesting parts of the history of fungi.

He began by saying that the soft, degradable tissues of mushrooms make it difficult to know about their history, therefore their background is somewhat “shady.” This is something I hadn’t thought about before, I suppose they don’t have skeletons that have been preserved like the fossils of mammals and other creatures we know so much about. Then how do we learn about their past? How do we know, as Austin said, that they were once as tall as trees? I’m still not sold on this but I’ve heard similar things about butterflies and insects that used to be gigantic, due to higher oxygen levels. Is this pertinent to mushrooms as well? Is it just a hypothesis?

Apparently, mushrooms/fungi began as aquatic dwellers, floating around and gathering hyphae until they became structures. I began to wonder, isn’t this related to algae, since algae is aquatic? Are fungi related to algae because of this? Or is algae considered fungi?

While these are questions I have yet to answer, Austin said they do know that fungi has been here longer than the species homo, longer than humans, and began developing when flowers began developing. (Oh...perhaps this is how they know about fungi, from the fossils of flowers?) This may be when they began evolving, but fungal research didn’t begin until 1588, somewhere around the invention of the first microscope. Today, they have discovered so much they are thinking about using fungi to reduce the amounts of oil, (I think he said from oil spills), and of course people forage many of them for food.

After this we saw a Fiber Head mushroom (genus Inocybe), which was brown spored and small, less than an inch in diameter. Apparently this mushroom is highly poisonous, because it has something in it that can mimic neurotransmitters in our brain, potentially causing blurred vision, and lots of other unpleasant effects. We also saw Laccaria laccata (The Deceiver) off the trail, back under some shrubs, and Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum), which is more common than I once thought.

Next, we talked to the Forbes group about a few of the flowers growing in the area. Many of these plants I knew of, but I learned some interesting things about the uses of certain plants. The first one we talked about was White Clover (Trifolium repens), a bee-loving plant we see all over the place, but which I have often taken for granted. Apparently, this plant is native to Europe, but not North America, and is often found in disturbed areas. It is a creeping species, and is sometimes used as a crop since it can grow in a wide variety of temperatures, and can be harvested as hay. It is also a nitrogen fixing crop, and is edible. On the other hand, you don’t want to eat the older flowers, as they can be poisonous. The white clover can be used in stir fry, as combined with rice it makes a full protein, and when put near a hive of bees, a result is clover honey. It is also used to make tea and was once purified and used to heal wounds after battle. This is similar to the Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) we saw growing behind and around it, one I’ve always called honeysuckle, though I think this name is true to something else. I used to pull the tips of the flower out and get the sweet nectar from it. I tried this again lately and it didn’t seem as sweet as it used to be. I wonder whether my perception has changed, or the plant has changed or varies by location. The latter is probably most likely. I wonder what makes the purple clover different from the white, and if they have different pollinators at all because of the color of their flowers. From what I’ve seen, and saw today, honeybees and bumblebees seem to like both, though I’d like to look more closely at this. It sounds like they both came from Europe and have the same tri-leaf characteristic.

Next, we took a closer look at Tall Buttercup (Ranunculus acris), another non-native species from Europe, and a very weedy plant although its flowers are a pretty bright yellow. These plants spread by seeds, which makes them easily invasive and on King County’s list of noxious weeds. Buttercup is toxic to grazing animals, but most avoid it because of its bitter taste if there is something else available. We also talked about the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), another common invasive plant. Apparently, these are part of the sunflower family, and their name means tooth of the lion. They are self pollinating and reproduce asexually, so they don’t really need bees to pollinate them, however, this brought up an interesting question. If they don’t need pollinators, why do they still have bright yellow flowers? I learned that there are a couple potential reasons for this. One is their evolutionary history. Since they are related to other plants that require pollination, they still produce these flowers and are not yet on the same page throughout (? Not sure how to put this, but I think this is what they meant). Another hypothesis is that pollination is still helpful to allowing them to spread their genes, and perhaps flower production and pollinator attraction is still necessary for their survival. This plant has a number of uses, including the leaves with which you can make salads and teas, and the flowers with which you can make wine. The white milky juice in the stem was also used to remove freckles, warts, etc. (although I don’t know about the freckles part). They were also used to cure kidney problems. All this makes me wonder how they figured this out. I suppose through a lot of trial and error, and probably some of it was believed and not necessarily truly effective.

Another plant we talked about was Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanum), a plant with a more interesting account than I thought. According to the leader, Skunk Cabbage generates its own body heat in order to survive the cold forest winters and melt through the snow and frost. Its leaves are waxy, and natives used them to preserve fish and other things. Its roots interestingly look at work like earthworms. They dig into the ground and contract, bringing the plant closer to the ground. Flies and beetles pollinate this plant, and the calcium oxalate in the leaves and flowers can cause skin irritation like that of stinging nettle. It’s interesting that Skunk Cabbage developed this trait, as it seems like a really good strategy to keep herbivores away. We also saw Common Vetch (Vicia sativa), a plant in the pea family that has been cultivated since roman times. I wonder how much it has changed since then. It has purple flowers and leaflets opposite each other, and I’ve seen it growing all over the Burke Gilman trail and along the edges of the path at UBNA.

A few other interesting observations today include: Hairy Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) and the realization that although this looks exactly like dandelion, its fuzzy leaves and other characteristics make it a distinct plant, one I’ve also seen at Seward Park. Also growing along the edges of the path was an abundant amount of Dovefoot Geranium/Cransebill (Geranium molle), with pink/purple flowers and five lobed leaves. I also noticed a bit of Morning Glory (Genus convolvulaceae), also growing on the paths edge near the Tall Buttercup. I also noticed some weird waxy red/sacks on the leaves of a willow tree. They were small, a tiny bit smaller than the size of a pencil tip eraser, and a bright red color, that reminded us of pimples on the leaves. There was usually only one per leaf, and it grew in a bulge on both sides of the leaf. I talked to Josh who said they might be Gall wasp larvae, which I confirmed (at least they are a type of fly) later on. We broke one open to find a tiny worm/larvae inside, and apparently these will grow larger and somehow break out of the dense shell, and become flies/gall wasps. I’m wondering if this has any impact on the trees, or whether it is a symbiotic relationship. I first thought it was a fungus on the tree, and didn’t realize something might be living inside. The red sacks are called galls, so I’m not sure if it’s actually a wasp that lives/grows inside, from what I’ve read it’s just a type of fly. We also saw a few ducklings swimming in the pond adjacent to the area we made the other observations.

Species List:

Dacrymyces stillatus
Little Japanese Parasols (Parasola plicatilis)
Leratiomyces percevalii
Agrocybe praecox
Fiber Head mushroom (genus Inocybe)
Laccaria laccata (The Deceiver)
Artist Conk (Ganoderma Applanatum)
White Clover (Trifolium repens),
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Tall Buttercup (Ranunculus acris)
Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanum
Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)
Hairy Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata)
Dovefoot Geranium/Cransebill (Geranium molle)
Morning Glory (Genus convolvulaceae)
Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)