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Botany Ramblings:
Mostly 1 Jan., to mid April, 2003
James P. Goltz
Reprinted from the N.B. Naturalist
VASCULAR PLANTS
The winter of 2002-2003 was long and old-fashioned, with a first snowfall on November 1 and snowstorms and heavy frosts continuing well into April. As of April 16, much snow still remains in the woods in the Fredericton area, and there's even more around Bathurst.
Last autumn's bumper crops of Mountain Ash and American Holly (=Winterberry) in some parts of the province provided sustenance for fruit-eating birds, such as robins and waxwings, that overwintered or attempted to overwinter here. As migrant songbirds returned and were confronted with spring snowstorms, they turned to their desperation foods, including Sumac and High-bush Cranberry, the fruits of which seem to show little deterioration in quality during winter conditions.
With spring, hopeful naturalists eagerly await the appearance of our first spring flowers, but to date, there has been little action in this regard. The first blooms of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) for 2003 were evidently seen on April 4 by Allan Gorham on the Norton Shore Road (fide Merv Cormier). On April 10, Cecil Johnston and Ethel Bosence found two plants of Coltsfoot in bloom at Cecil's secret spot near Chance Harbour, nearly a month later than the date on which he had found the first flowering plants of this species in 2002. Later that day, over a hundred plants were in flower on this south-facing roadside embankment. On April 11, Brian Dalzell found about a dozen flowers of Coltsfoot at Bancroft Point on Grand Manan Island. That same day, Ajo Wissink noticed flower buds of Coltsfoot "poking through the gravel on the bank of Turtle Creek" at Rosevale. At Fredericton, as of April 16, I have yet to see any trace of Coltsfoot at sites where this species typically blooms early in the spring.
Hundreds of Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) were seen by Nelson Poirier at the Upper Cape Road on April 9. Most of these plants were still protected within closed spathes and were found by peering down into the holes they had melted in the snow. The blooms of Skunk Cabbage are intriguing and remind Nelson of lobster claws. Skunk Cabbage is a rare plant in New Brunswick and is not to be confused with the much more widespread False Hellebore (Veratrum viride), a species commonly referred to as "skunk cabbage" by rural New Brunswickers.
Pussy Willows (Salix discolor), familiar to and loved by almost everyone, were seen on April 2 at Jemseg (Shirley Sloat), April 3 at Fredericton (James Goltz), April 6 near Sussex (Gart Bishop) and April 10 at Second North River (Bob Blake). The "pussy willow" is an early stage of flower development, but willows are not actually in bloom until their stamens (in male plants) and pistils (in female plants) have differentiated.
Trembling Aspens (Populus tremuloides) had reached the "pussy willow"-like stage of their floral development by February 21 at Taymouth (Julie Singleton) and by April 13 at Fredericton (James Goltz).
As naturalists await greener days and warmer waters, I'm reminded that Gart Bishop had discovered a new population of the extremely rare Fries' Pondweed (Potamogeton friesii), in the quiet water of a back eddy along the St. John River about 1.5 km below Hartland on August 20, 2002. This species had previously been found in only two other locations in the province.
BRYOPHYTES
Bruce Bagnell and Gart Bishop found a new location for the very rare pygmy moss, Ephemerum serratum, in a large open field in the Sussex Corner area on April 15. Growing with this moss were abundant populations of two other mosses, Pottia truncata and Campylium chrysophyllum.
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