More from Fanshawe Lake

The other day at Fanshawe Lake, in search of a better vantage point for birding, I came across a neat area of seepage slope at the north end of the lake which I had never seen before.  I'll definitely be back next spring/summer when I'm visiting the folks.   At least then I won't have to resort to picking through decaying or dessicated plants.  Until then, I'll take what I can get.  This spot just stands out as botanically unique for the area.

Watching my footing as I descended the slope down towards the lake I started seeing oak leaves on the ground that I'm more accustomed to seeing further south toward Lake Erie.  With a quick scan of the trees in the immediate area I soon found what I was looking for, a small grove of Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii).  This species of oak can be found all over Point Pelee and Pelee Island but I had never seen it this far up the Thames River before.  It's considered vulnerable in Middlesex County.  It's also known as Yellow Chestnut Oak; you can see how the leaf margins kind of resemble American Chestnut.

The upper portion of mature Chinquapin Oak tends to grow a little wonky.  You really notice this in the stands at Pelee where you have a number of trees altogether growing like a corkscrew turned to the sky.

A shot of the platy, rough bark on a mature tree.

Once I had finished Chinquapin hunting I continued further down the slope and came across an often overlooked maple species.  Black Maple (Acer nigrum) resembles Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) and apparently the two can hybridize.  I've found the leave of black tend to be less 'toothy' and have more rounded edges, the foliage of black appears droopy or wilting, and the leaves are notably pubescent (as shown in the second picture below).  Black has more of an affinity for lower slopes and floodplains where sugar prefers more upland habitat (although it can be found in some surprisingly wet soils at times).

What sparked my interest in returning next year (when herbaceous plants are a little more lively) was the canopy opening halfway down the slope where a sizable seepage area shows some potential for interesting species.

While nothing too special at this time (we are after all now officially into winter), there's no harm in a little post-winter solstice botanical inventory.  The dominant herbaceous species within the seep is Rough-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago patula).  I tried to use a cedar backdrop to show the wide-spreading inflorescence.  The latin 'patula' means spreading.

The larger leaves at the base of the plant, and part way up the stem have winged petioles and are scabrous (like sandpaper).  Check out these dead leaves!  I feed the dogs better scraps than these!

Another wet species, Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) was growing here and there within the clearing.  Lobelia is named after the Swedish botanist Mattias de L'Obel, and it was believed to be a cure for syphilis.  The alkaloid lobeline is a cure for muscle aches.  It's pretty neat actually, lobeline is very similar to nicotine but where nicotine causes blood vessels to contract, lobeline causes them to dilate.  By the way, in high doses it can lead to convulsions, a coma or death so maybe stick to the balm if your back hurts.

The basal leaves of Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum).

Dead stems of White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima).  This plant is toxic to animals, including cattle, and can be passed on to humans through milk.  Abraham Lincoln's mother died of this condition known as milk sickness.

At the right time of year this spot would be quite colourful, among the green patches of sedges, the yellow of the goldenrod, the blue of lobelia, the pink of thistle, and the white of the snakeroot and Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) shown below.  Turtlehead is the host plant for the Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) butterfly.