A Snowy Morning in Wildwood

With camera in hand, I walked to Wildwood this morning. As I arrived, I saw that I would have the entire park to myself. There were only a few footprints at the park entrance and by the time I reached the upper trail on the west slope, I was making new footprints in the snow. There were a few birds chittering in the trees so I could hear the crunch of my boots while I let the beauty surround me.

Heading to a tree beside the trail, I saw the mottled green leaves of round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana) among the brown leaves and white snow.

   

Yes! It will soon be time to see lavender flowers there again!

Moving along the trail, seeing the creek flowing coldly below, I soon came to wild hydrangea (Hyrangea arborescens).  The snow on its dried bloom looked very similar to its summer one.

  

Further up the trail I came to a tangle of dried vines. One of my favorites - Virgin's Bower!

The seeds of Clematis virginiana have a feathery delicate look that was enhanced  by the white crystals.

It may be late July or August before we see those vines covered with white flowers.

For now we can enjoy walking through the black and white world of nature's winter.

Cucumber Prickles

While wandering in Wildwood one day in September, I headed down to the small meadow beside the creek under the North Bridge. There were tangles of plants still green from their summer growth. I had gone down there fairly regularly throughout the season so I was surprised when I saw a very large vine covering many of the brambles. How had it gotten so big so quickly? As I got closer with my camera, I could see that the large leaves (They were lobed and at first glance reminded me of maple leaves.) and stems were very hairy. They felt furry to the touch. They held onto the other plants with tightly curling, springy tendrils.

                                   There were clusters of lovely small flowers all along the vine.

 

The fruit that was also on the vine had long clear spikes sticking out. I had never seen such a plant, and I was eager to find out its name. After looking in Newcomb’s Wild Flower Guide, I knew that it had to be One-seeded Bur Cucumber (Sicyos anglatus) – what a funny name!  I wondered why that name was chosen.

                               I checked on the plant weekly and by the end of October, I saw 

                                       that the green spiky fruit had turned brown and brittle.

                                    In fact, when I touched a clump, it fell apart into several bulbs.
                                               Inside each dry prickle there was a single seed.

At last I understood, and the name made sense - one seed in each bur or prickle and a vine sort of like cucumbers. Actually, garden cucumbers that make tasty pickles and one-seeded bur cucumbers that make dry prickles are both in the Gourd family.