Ontario Field Biology: Work Avoidance at Sudden Bog

Despite some pretty gusty winds today was a pretty nice day to be outside. I had to make a run down to Hamilton mid-day to pick up a tree order. With an order of Butternut saplings in the bed of the truck I opted for the scenic drive back past to Waterloo making my way past Valens Conservation Area, to the west of Cambridge.

It was about 3:30pm and I made the decision to do some late season botany at Sudden Bog just outside Cambridge. I've posted about this spot before, by far one of my favourites with the variety of habitats. My favourite areas to explore are the dry upland ridge forests some of which take on the feel of woodland or savannah habitats in places.

Staying within view of the truck (don't want those Butternuts getting nabbed!), I ascended a rocky slope to an area dominated by a canopy of Red Oak (Quercus rubra) and White Oak (Q. alba). Shrubs included Round-leaved Dogwood (Cornus rugosa), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and a fair amount of New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americana). The groundcover was what I was most interested in, you never know what could pop up here given the high quality habitat. Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale) was common alongside Bastard Toadflax (Comandra umbellata), Heart-leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) is just finishing bloom. I spotted the plant below which I first thought looked like Toadflax, but the leaves were too narrow and sharp and some stems had underdeveloped flowering parts that kind of resembled mini asparagus.

After a few minutes the wheels started turning and I realized it was a Milkwort species (Polygala spp.). It doesn't help that Michigan Flora (and a few other references I've checked) differentiate Racemed Milkwort (P. polygama) from Seneca Snakeroot (P. senega) by the size and colour of flowers. Both are listed as rare in Waterloo Region. The species in the photo is Seneca Snakeroot.

Not much to go on for flowers.

The roots are tough little corms shallow in the soil.

Bastard Toadflax for comparison, you can see the leaves are more rounded, more of them, and the flowering parts (if there were any) are easily differentiated from the Milkworts.

I was also curious to see if I could find Goldie's Fern (Dryopteris goldiana) deep in the forest at the base of slopes but nothing popped up during my short search, just a tonne of Marginal Fern (Dryopteris marginalis).