What to See This Week

We have some new blooms at the Red Barn Reserve this week. Walk along the boardwalk and you will find swamp candles, a glowing yellow wildflower. Some plants, like swamp candles, are considered obligate wetland plants meaning that it almost always naturally occurs in wetland habitats and prefers wet soil or standing water.

Common yarrow is a plant you are likely to run into in any area of The Arboretum. In the natural areas look for white to slightly pink-tinted inflorescences and beautiful feathery leaves. Aside from the yarrow you will find growing along trails in natural areas, you can also see many cultivated varieties of yarrow in many gardens around The Arboretum that come in a range of colors.

Rattlesnake master is a beautiful unique wildflower that thrives in prairie habitat at The Arboretum. It is officially listed as “potentially threatened” in Ohio by The Ohio Department of Natural Resources. It won’t bloom for at least another month, however, this is a great time to get familiar with its interesting foliage. Its scientific name is Eryngium yuccifolium with its specific epithet yuccifolium referring to the yucca-like leaves that make it easy to distinguish even when not in bloom!

The crevice garden is coming to life with tons of blooms, but none quite as striking as those of the eastern prickly pear cactus. Believe it or not, the eastern prickly pear is a native species of cactus growing in only a select few areas of Ohio with sandy or rocky soils. The prickly pear has only just begun to bloom so check out the garden over the next few weeks to see these beautiful flowers!

Splitgill mushrooms are incredibly common growing on wood year-round. They are fairly unnoticeable from above, but the gills are beautiful from below. These little mushrooms are actually considered to be the most widespread mushroom, being found on nearly every continent. Interestingly enough, while plenty of species of fungi can cause human illness, splitgill is one of the only mushroom-forming fungi that can colonize the human respiratory tract! This is not a common occurrence but it’s probably best to avoid accidental spore inhalation!

Dead man’s fingers are an appropriately named common species of fungus. Often appearing at the base of trees or on buried wood in the month of May, the fruiting body lasts several months after they first appear. When fresh they have a whitish or pale gray coating before eventually maturing to the black, rough texture pictured here. 

After several years of looking for pipevine swallowtail caterpillars on the dutchman’s pipe plant near the Woodland Garden, I was incredibly excited to see large chunks of the leaves missing. After flipping over the leaves, my suspicions were confirmed that the pipevine swallowtails have found our dutchman’s pipe! The caterpillars are still quite young at only about 1-2cm now, but will grow to be up to 5-7cm before pupating. This is great to see as pipevine swallowtails are uncommon in Ohio due to their host plants being uncommon as well.

Some of The Arboretum’s most popular inhabitants are well on their way to growing up! Look carefully from the boardwalk in the Bald-Cypress Swamp and you may be able to spot some larval salamanders, especially against the backdrop of algae. Unlike tadpoles who have internal gills, larval salamanders have external frilly gills around their heads. Larval salamanders are often compared to axolotls, and for good reason! Axolotls are a species of mole salamander, just like our salamanders in the Bald-Cypress Swamp, but axolotls are neotenic which means the adults retain larval characteristics and remain fully aquatic with external gills.