A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

CANADA MAYFLOWER

STAR FLOWER

DWARF CORNEL

BLUE BEAD LILY...

BLUE BEAD LILY  FLOWER SPIKE

MOCCASIN FLOWER ORCHID

Sunday, 7:30 AM.  54 degrees F at both the ferry dock and on the back porch, which seldom happens.  Wind E, mostly calm with some gusts.  The sky has a high overcast and it is quite foggy, the fog horns sounding repeatedly.  The humidity is 97% and the barometer is again falling, now standing at 29.92".  The weather changed yesterday afternoon and it looks like it will stay damp and perhaps rainy until at least tomorrow morning,

   I often hesitate to tell the exact location of special wildflower finds, but the Almanac is a pretty safe venue for such information, so here goes.  I have been running Buddy down the dead end Bay View Beach Road, off Hwy. 13, and in doing so have found it a treasure trove of Northern Wisconsin wildflowers.  None are rare but many are seldom seen, and there they are, all growing together in one easy-to-access location.  This is a town road, so it gets local traffic, is graded, plowed, etc., and yet here these tough native spring flowering plants are, not only surviving but thriving.

   Canada May flower, Maianthemum canadense, is common in our woods but many folks do not know it.The same can be said for star flower, Trientalis borealis, although it is not as common; dwarf cornel, AKA bunch berry, Cornus canadensis, is a welcome sight.  I have written about all these plants before and more detailed information can be obtained by using the blog search engine.

  More immediately exciting for me are two lesser known northern spring flowers; the blue bead lily, and the moccasin flower orchid.

  Blue bead lily, Clintonia borealis, in the lily family, is named for DeWitt Clinton, an early 19th Century American naturalist and distinguished politician who served as a U S Senator from New York and also as NY governor.  He was influential in the building of the Erie Canal and early American steam railroads and ships (he is also proof-positive that flower geeks can excel at other things as well).  The species name reflects the plant's habitat as being the far northern North American continent, from Hudson Bay and Labrador to the Lake States, New England and south in the eastern mountains.  The common name refers to the plant's blue, bead-like berries, which were used in 19th Century medicine. 

   The moccasin flower, Cyprepedium acaule, in the Lily Family, is an orchid native to much of Canada and most of the eastern half of the U S.  Its habitat is boreal and deciduous forest floors and edges.  It is not truly rare or endangered, but it  is a real treat to see in bloom.   The greatest threat to this orchid is gardeners digging it up to transplant in their gardens, a process the plants seldom survive.  Unless their habitat is in immediate danger of being completely destroyed, they and other wild plants should be left alone and in place.  The plant has two stemless basal leaves (acaule, Latin, without a stem), with strong parallel venation.  It is pollinated by bees which are attracted by its fragrance.  Like other orchids, Cyprepedium relies on a symbiosis with a fungus to germinate seeds and  complete its life cycle. 

   Bay View Beach Road is indeed a walk on the wild side.