Brooklyn
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Skunk Cabbage Again
The spathes of Symplocarpus foetidus surround a spadix, which produces first female and then male flowers.I’m afraid a fence keeps me from getting closer, but a portion of a grenade-like spadix can be seen here. It’s this that produces the heat, through rapid respiration (burning carbohydrates via oxidation), that give this plant its early spring,…
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And poppin’: Yellow Trout-lily
The Trout-lilies (Erythronium americanum) are amongst us once again. These were in Prospect Park; a friend reports them out and about in the far north of the New York Botanical Garden as well.The flower’s tepals curve back like this on bright sunny days, leaving the anthers fully exposed for pollinators. (There’s still not all that…
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Let ’em rip
Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides). And these Aesculus buds.Like lipsticks against the sky. And down in the leaf litter: Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). Amelanchier. Time for the shad to blow.
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Raptor Wednesday
The patience of a Merlin (Falco columbarius).And its knowledge of our presence.We walked the wide way around this Ginkgo biloba of a perch in Green-Wood to get this front view.
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Bloodroot
Bloodroot. What a name, eh? Sanguinaria canadensis has blood-red sap. (The “root” is actually a rhizome.) The sap has historically been used as a dye and for medicinal purposes. They emerge enveloped by the leaf, then shoot above this protective cloak before opening. Look for these on sunny days when they offer their pollen to…
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Hepatica
A single blooming Anemone in the leaf litter. But more are on the way. Some interesting taxonomic issues raised by this one: The genus name for this spring ephemeral used to be Hepatica and some still think it is. Hepatica, meanwhile, is used as the common name; it’s also called Liverleaf or Liverwort. I’m not…
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Raptor Wednesday: Red Hook Edition
A friend sent me a picture of a pair of American Kestrels hanging out in Red Hook. Later in the day, I went by and found the female on an antenna on the same building, which is probably the location of, or near, a nest cavity. Evidently, they have been around for years. Locals insist…
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Ruins
In the Henry Street Basin next to the old Port of New York Authority Grain Terminal* colossus, there were a pair or Mallards, a Gadwall, and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. And then there was this: Some kind of carp. Usually, the members of the Cyprinidae are freshwater fish. Here, next to the Gowanus Bay…
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Skunk Heaven
Hear ye, hear ye! The Skunk Cabbage is up at the Native Flora Garden at Ye Brooklyn Wedding Venue! Symplocarpus foetidus favors wetlands, as this plant demonstrates from mid-gurgle of the stream.Of course, this earliest of spring plants was up already down south weeks ago, but Brooklyn is where I am, so I celebrate it’s…
Backyard and Beyond 