Turkey Point: 2011 Throwback

Laid up with a cold this weekend, I didn't get outside much.  I did, however, sort and bind a complete set of Atlas of the Rare Vascular Plants of Ontario.  It's dated, Argus and White released it in 4 parts between 1982 and 1987, but a classic no less.  It came to me as 2 empty orange binders and a messy stack of papers in a box and I soon found out that I was dealing with several loose leaf copies all mixed together like a game of 52 Card Pickup.  Anyways, a good reference to have on hand and a good task for an inside day.

I thought I'd post a few of my favourite photos from a trip to Turkey Point back in 2011.  I spent the day exploring around the Spooky Hollow, Normandale Fish Hatchery and Turkey Point Provincial Park area which always yields lots of interesting finds.

The sun was beaming through the canopy right onto the leaves of this American Chestnut (Castanea dentata).  One hundred years ago these trees were commonly occurring in many sandy forests in Southern Ontario and today, at the hand of Chestnut Blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), they have been decimated to a handful of locations where they hang on.  The MNRF website notes that in 2004 there were and estimated 120-150 mature trees in the province and about 1000 smaller suckering trees.

Many which do survive grow as suckers of 5-10m which then succumb to the fungal blight and may or may not sucker again.  I have heard that at one point 1 in 4 trees in Eastern North America was a Chestnut and you can only imagine the influence that mast-producing trees would have on wildlife populations.  There are organizations such as the American Chestnut Foundation and the Canadian Chestnut Council which support DNA analysis and propagation programs.  It would be great to see this species make a comeback but so far I don't think there has been much success in finding resistant stock.

One sandy opening in the forest contains a sizable population of Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata).  I've always admired the tiered flower structure of this plant with the chalky-looking leaves.  It's related to Wild Bergamot (M. fistulosa) and Scarlet Bee Balm (M. didyma), all of which have the distinct stems and flowers of the mint family.  I'm not much of one for tea, but in dealing with this cold I found myself sipping on a mint family tea yesterday; Blue Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) and Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum).  It was actually quite nice with a spoon of honey.

At Turkey Point PP, there are plenty of interesting plants to be found including Virginia Goat's Rue (Tephrosia virginiana).  I posted awhile back about running into this on a trip to the Mazomanie Oak Barrens in Wisconsin.  I found myself doing some hypothetical trip planning this weekend, back to Wisconsin, plenty of spots to see but the Blue River Sand Barrens and Spring Green Prairie look interesting.

Lastly, an Endangered violet that I've yet to see in flower (one of these days), the Birdsfoot Violet (Viola pedata).  With the lichen for scale, you can appreciate that a non-flowering plant could easily be overlooked. 

Off to Huron County for the start of this week, I'd love to check out Port Franks or the Pinery after work but darkness at 5:08pm kind of puts a damper on those plans.