This year winter seems determined to overstay its welcome and has brought record low temperatures and record high snowfall amounts. Even though we’ve had mini thaws where the temperature rose to 40 degrees for a day or two, most of the time we have been well below freezing during the day and below zero at night. Because of that the snow that has fallen is melting very slowly.
The snow in the woods is knee deep, which makes going rough. I recently bought some gaiters to keep my pant legs dry and make life a little easier, but another good storm will mean snowshoes for sure. One way to make it easier to get around is to look for south facing spots like that in the photo above where the snow has pulled back some. These are great places to look for mosses and other plants that stay green throughout winter.
Ferns might look fragile but evergreen ferns like this intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia) aren’t. This one was growing in the midst of an ice sheet. There aren’t many ferns that are evergreen in New England so winter is a good time to hone one’s identification skills by getting to know them. This one is very similar to the marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis). Both the words “intermediate” and “marginal” in the fern’s common names refer to the placement of the spore bearing structures (sori) found on the undersides of the leaves.
Another fern commonly seen in winter is the evergreen Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides). This one is easy to identify by its leaflets that resemble little Christmas stockings. The narrow fine teeth that line the edges of the leaflets and the short leaf stalks can also be seen in this photo. When seen at this time of year it is obvious that evergreen Christmas fern has had its branches flattened by the weight of the snow because they splay out all over the ground. Once new fronds emerge these will brown and die off.
Winter is also a good time to learn how to identify trees by their bark since there is no foliage in the way. A tree with light to dark, mottled gray bark with diamond shaped marks in it is a young white poplar (Populus alba). The diamond shapes are the tree’s lenticels, which are air pores. The bark on white poplars can be very white at times like a birch, but it is usually light gray when young. Older trees have darker gray, furrowed bark at their bases. White poplar was introduced from central Europe and Asia in 1748. It can now be found in every state except Alaska, Arizona, and Hawaii.
Mosses are easy to find in winter if you look at logs and stones where the snow has retreated. This Hedwigia ciliata moss with its white leaf tips is usually found growing on boulders and is very easy to identify. Common names include Hedwig’s fringeleaf Moss, Hedwig’s rock moss, and Fringed Hoar-moss. Johann Hedwig was a German botanist who studied mosses in the eighteenth century. He is called the father of bryology and lends his name to this and many other mosses.
This moss has never appeared on this blog in this dry state before. Long-leaved tail moss (Anomodon attenuates) is also called tree apron moss because it is quite common on the lower part of tree trunks. When wet its leaves stand out from the stem and it takes on a more feathery appearance and looks completely different than it does in the photo. This is a good example of why serious moss hunters do so after it rains.
This is another first appearance on this blog. Curly thatch moss (Dicranoweissia cirrata) grows on rotting logs and stumps and is very small, with leaves that curl when dry. After a rain its leaves will straighten out and this moss will look very different than it does in this photo, which is why I’ve found it so hard to identify. Tiny growths on the leaves called gemmae are intended to break off to perpetuate the species.
White cushion moss (Leucobryum glaucum) can appear silvery, white, bluish green or grayish green but it always forms a thick cushion and stands out from the mosses that might surround it. It likes plenty of water and shade and grows on rotting logs or on stone when there is enough soil. It is probably the easiest of all the mosses to identify.
March is a month known for its wind and anyone who studies nature can take advantage of that fact, because there are all kinds of things falling from the trees at this time of year. This beard lichen (Usnea) was lying on top of the snow and at 4 1/2 inches long is the longest I’ve ever seen. It is said that if you take a single strand of this lichen and gently pull it apart lengthwise you’ll find a white cord inside, but it must take extreme magnification to see it because I’ve never been able to.
Another bracket fungus that mimics the common turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) is the multicolor gill polypore (Lenzites betulina). Since turkey tails have pores and these have gills they are hard to confuse. Multicolor gill polypores start life very white but turn gray as they age. They have some zoning like turkey tails and are often covered with green algae.
This is an extreme close-up of the underside of the multicolor gill polypore in the previous photo. These are clearly not pores.
NOTE: Thanks to help from a knowledgeable reader and more experience identifying fungi I now know this to be the Thin-maze flat polypore (Daedaleopsis confragosa). The photo does actually show pores but they’re elongated and can resemble gills. I’m sorry if my incorrect identification caused any confusion.
In my last post I talked about bud how scales enclose and protect buds throughout winter. Not all plants use bud scales for protection though; some like the hobblebush in this photo have naked buds. Instead of using bud scales plants with naked buds often use fine hairs like those that can be seen on the fuzzy leaves and stems of the hobblebush. If there isn’t a flower bud between them the tiny naked leaves almost look like hands clasped in prayer. I like to imagine that they’re praying for spring like the rest of us, but I don’t know for sure.
Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. ~Willa Cather
Thanks for stopping in. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour tonight!
I believe that the fungus that you call the multicolored gilled polypore (Lenzites betulina) is actually the Thin-maze flat polypore (Daedaleopsis confragosa). The gills on L. betulina look like mushroom gills; these are elongated pores. This is a more ‘exotic’ fungus, a nice find!
http://www.messiah.edu/oakes/fungi_on_wood/poroid%20fungi/species%20pages/Daedaleopsis%20confragosa.htm
Thanks very much Joan. I think you’re right. As the years pass I become more used to identifying fungi and I just had that one in a different post, identified correctly. I’ll have to go back and add a correction note to that post.
Thank you for the help!
Newe Hampshire Gardener, I am not sure I can even comment; you have such a multitude of new words to me that I think I may need to take an hour and search the dictionary for all the words I don’t know.
As with the commenter who asked if you were a prof of botony, I was sure you were. You have certainly amassed a fountain of information that just never seems to quit. Wonderful! MCS.
Thank you Mary. The scientific names of plants are here for those who are interested in such things. I don’t expect every reader to understand them or to even care about them.
I thought the question about me being a professor was kind of funny, because I’ve never really wanted to be one. I’ve been interested in nature my entire life and spent quite a lot of time studying plants and botany when I was younger only because I was interested in it.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog. If you don’t care anything about knowing the scientific names of plants, just ignore them.
Love the pictures of the mosses. Do marginal wood fern and intermediate wood fern make good garden plants?
Thanks! I know that people do grow these ferns in fern gardens but I’ve never tried, so I’m not sure how difficult it would be. I worked for a lady once who had me plant a lot of ferns she had ordered and only half of them came up, so I think they can be kind of fussy.
Very interesting about the spread of the white poplar. Will now know to look for the diamonds to identify. Fine post keep up the good work.
Thanks Grampy!
Here’s hoping the thaw starts soon for you. A friend of mine in the USA was saying there was nothing to see on walks in winter except snow. I think I may have to direct her to your blog!
We finally had a real spring day today and it was great. We even had a warm breeze, which I haven’t felt for a while now.
It’s a shame how many people think that nature runs and hides as soon as it snows. I hope you will tell your friend to take a peek. It’s sure to be an eye opener!
I’ve sent her a link. Glad to hear things are looking warmer
Elegantly delivered education as ever. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Can I be your agent? :>)
I’m not sure that I need an agent, but if I ever do you’re in.
Contract is in the mail
I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Great post with very good information and photos
Thank you Amanda, I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
While hiking in northern Michigan in late August and September one can find large areas with ferns that are turning or have turned brown. With that in mind it amazes me to see that some maintain there green color even in the winter. A much more diverse group than one would think at first glance.
Yes, you don’t really expect to see ferns in the winter so when you do it’s always surprising. We have 4 or 5 that are evergreen, but I don’t know if they grow in your area or not.
I admire the hardiness of the ferns and mosses surviving in the continuous cold you have been having. Our weather is as strange – no real winter but lots of rain and now it is going up to 20 degrees in the daytime – not at all typical.
Mosses are tough plants and can stand just about any weather we can imagine. Evergreen ferns are also tough, but not like the mosses.
We had a winter like the one you’re experiencing a couple of years ago and it was very strange. Almost like spring from October through May. It didn’t seem to bother the plants much but many of them bloomed a lot earlier than they normally would have. It was also a poor year for maple syrup producers.
Same here–long winter, but now is seems we have moved from the snow stage to the ice stage, so I’ll have to look out for some of those ice waterfalls you so wonderfully captured.
We’ve got a beautiful day here today for a change, but they say we might be in for more snow this week.
Interesting … I’d never heard of naked buds. Will pay more attention now.
There are more buds that aren’t naked than are, but it’s fun to give them a look to see.
I agree with the previous commenters. the photo of the ice is a wall hanger for sure, and the amount of information in your posts never ceases to amaze me.
It’s my turn to say hang in there, spring is on its way, it won’t be long now until we’ll be seeing and photographing the first flowers of the year!
Thanks Jerry. I for one, can’t wait to see some flowers. Though not really any different than most winters, for some reason this one seems extra long.
I’m reading this via WP’s mobile app which means it isn’t easy to bounce through the rest of your blog to find answers so I’ll ask you instead: are you a professor in one of the plant sciences?
There is such a wealth of info in this post. I bookmark much of what you share and place your posts in specific folders I’ve organized to help educate myself in horticulture. You’ve provided such great info, I’m really curious about your background!
Thank you, I’m glad to hear that you’re getting so much from these posts.
No, I’m not a professor. My grandmother began teaching me about plants when I was quite young and I’ve learned the rest by reading books like Gray’s Manual of Botany. I think I’ve actually learned more just from being outside than I have any other way. Nature is a great teacher, but it takes time and patience.
Allan, I sincerely hope that you have that first photo printed, framed and hung on your wall. Great image.
Thanks Jim. That shot took some wading through deep snow to get but it was worth it. I’ve never seen ice do quite what that ice was doing, with the long curtains.
Great shots. I really like the white cushion moss and the curly thatch moss. Better go out while you can, more snow next week. 😦
I hope they’re wrong about that Laura, but I’ll be out there all weekend just in case. I’m hoping to find some old style sap buckets, but I’m not having much luck.
Wonderful picture of the stream ice, I have never seen anything like it.
Thank you Susan. That stream ice was pretty impressive. It was about 2 feet thick and hung down like curtains in places.
Your knowledge never fails to impress, Allen. And I’m with you on the gaiters front. Wouldn’t be without them. Dave
Thank you Dave. I can see gaiters coming in handy for a lot of different tasks. I think they might even be useful for keeping ticks off your clothing.