No Cohosh, No Coltsfoot
April 10, 2019 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions

I’d been almost everywhere I knew of where coltsfoot plants (Tussilago farfara) grow and hadn’t seen a single one, so last Sunday I decided to visit the last place I knew of to find them; the deep cut rail trail up in Westmoreland. I don’t like going there at this time of year because this is when all the ice that has accumulated through winter starts melting, and when it starts melting it starts falling, and this can be a dangerous place to be when tree size pieces of ice come crashing down.

There was a lot more ice than I expected and it was rotten, which means it has probably released its hold on the stone and could come down at any time.

Melt water ran off the stone walls in gushing streams.

I decided to get out of the deepest, northern part of the canyon and head south where the coltsfoot plants grow.

This rail trail includes the ledges where the wild columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) and blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) grow, so I thought I’d see what was happening there as well. I saw lots of columbine seedlings but still no blue cohosh shoots.

I also got to see some red elderberry buds (Sambucus racemosa) opening. They always open with tiny purple fingers like those seen here. It won’t be long before this plant is covered with bright red berries. The birds love them so much and eat them so fast it’s almost impossible to get a photo of them. I think I’ve gotten just one photo of red elderberry fruit in the 8 years I’ve done this blog.

I saw a turkey tail fungus (Trametes versicolor) wearing colors that I don’t often see. I’ve been seeing a lot of blue ones this year so this one was a pleasant surprise.

I also found this chunk of blue something. It’s light and feels like plastic but it also crumbles so I doubt it is. I don’t know what it is or where it came from but I love its color; almost the same as the blue of cohosh fruit.

And then I saw these strange little trumpet shaped stems. They easily pulled right out of the wet soil and had a tap root.

The stems were thin and hollow and felt like paper. I don’t know what plant they’re from but there is a huge selection of plants growing here. I’ll have to see if I can figure it out in the summer when they’re growing.

The drainage ditches had so much water in them in places it looked like they would wash up over the trail. I moved some bunches of wet leaves that were holding back the flow in a couple of places.

And this is where I had to stop. If you look closely you can see ice columns that have fallen completely across the trail. These columns are huge, easily as big as trees, and if one ever fell on you it wouldn’t be good.

This “small piece” was about two feet square. I can’t imagine what it must have weighed but I wouldn’t want to feel it falling on me.

The ice here is often colored, I think because of the various minerals in the groundwater, and there was some green ice left. It was very rotten and I didn’t get near it. Rotten ice has a matte, opaque “sick” look and the dull thud it makes when you tap it gives it away. It should sound like a sharp crack. Ice becomes rotten when air and / or dirt get in between the grains of ice and it becomes honeycombed and loses its strength.

The beautiful great scented liverworts (Conocephalum conicum) made it through the winter just fine despite many of them being completely encased in ice. They like to grow in places where they are constantly splashed by or dripped on by very clean ground water but of course in winter that means ice. They show that the groundwater here is very clean and most likely drinkable.

This is the only place I’ve ever seen this beautiful plant and they are one of the things that make this place so very special. Their amazing scent is where their common name comes from; if you squeeze a piece and smell it you smell something so clean and fresh scented you’ll wish it came in a spray bottle. I didn’t have my rubber boots with me to walk through the drainage ditches so I had to take this shot from about 6 feet away, but at least you can see the pores and air chambers outlined on the many leaf surfaces. It makes them look very reptilian and leads to the name snakeskin liverwort.

The green algae called Trentepohlia aurea looks to be spreading some. Though it is called green algae the same pigment that colors carrots orange makes it orange as well. It’s also very hairy, but I couldn’t get close enough to show you. Algae produce millions of spores and colored rain has fallen all over the world because of the wind taking the spores up into the sky. If you ever hear of red rain chances are it’s algae spores coloring it.

It was so nice to see so much green for a change. It was also nice and warm here, which was a surprise with all the ice.

I was surprised to find the fertile frond of an ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) because I’ve never seen one growing here. Now I want to come back to get photos of the fiddleheads, which are pretty and very hard to find in this area. There are thousands of ostrich ferns growing along the Connecticut River but most of the land along it is privately owned.

Well, in the end I never did find coltsfoot plants in bloom but I certainly found lots of mysteries along the trail on this day. Here’s another one that maybe one of you can solve. I know I’ve seen this plant and I should know its name, but I can’t think of it. The leaves are large at about an inch and a half across, and I think the bronze color is just what they do in winter. They sprawl on the ground in all directions from a central crown like a violet, but the leaves are too big to be a violet. It’s a pretty thing but without flowers it’s hard to identify.
A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life. ~Lewis Mumford
Thanks for coming by.
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Posted in Nature, Scenery / Landscapes | Tagged Blue Cohosh, Canon SX40 HS, Cheshire Rail Trail, Coltsfoot, Early Spring Plants, Great Scented Liverwort, Green Algae, Ice Formations, Mushrooms, Native Plants, Nature, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Ostrich fern, Red Elderberry, Spring, Turkey Tails, Westmoreland Rail Trail, Wild Columbine, Wild Mushrooms | 40 Comments
A lovely walk with much beauty and wonder to be seen. And all without leaving my chair! 🙂 Thank you kindly.
You’re wlcome Ben, but I hope you do leave that chair occasionally! There’s just so much to see.
Every day! 🙂
The Liverworts need a more appealing common name. Of course, I like chopped liver, so maybe chopped liverworts? Your wild columbine flowers look a little different from ours.
You’ll have to take that up with the botanists.
That’s a columbine seedling, not a flower.
I’m sorry you didn’t find the coltsfoot but you discovered many other things of great interest.
Thank you Clare. Coltsfoot should be along shortly!
It looks like some kind of avens to me.
You could right. A lot of them grow there.
I saw coltsfoot blooming in a drainage ditch at the Hooksett Public Library last Saturday.
Thank you Jane, you’re way ahead of us. I just checked on the way home from work and didn’t see a sign of them.
I would have turned back too. That ice is dangerous!
Yes, and just about impossible to avoid if it falls when you’re near it.
Scary ice, glad you didn’t go further!
I’m pretty sure the papery stems are Jewelweed. We have lots around here and they dry like that, breaking off at the joints.
The mystery leaf looks familiar, but the name escapes me!
Thanks for that Eliza. You make perfect sense because jewelweed grows all along the drainage ditches. I’ve never paid attention to the dry stems.
The name of that leaf is still up for grabs, I think.
Now that I’ve walked around, I’ve seen this mystery plant, too. Perhaps it is a form of Avens (Geum macrophyllum perhaps)?
Thank you Eliza. The leaf shape certainly is a fit and I know that it grows there, so you’re probably right. I’ll go back once the ice is gone and look a little closer.
The ice looks very beautiful but I can appreciate that it must be dangerous at this time of year. I like the new text format that you are using. It is very clear to read.
Thank you. Yes, it is very dangerous and most people stay away until it melts.
The new text was a mistake. I’m still getting used to the wordprocessor on this new computer and so far it hasn’t gone well. I might keep it though, since you like it.
Smart move, turning around before the falling ice! We just saw that mystery leaf, and we said “We know that.” But sorry, we couldn’t come up with a name either. Some things I have to learn all over in the spring.
We found hepatica, Harbinger-of-Spring, Bloodroot, and Marsh Marigold blooming in southwest Michigan on Monday!
And even though you didn’t find coltsfoot blooming, this post was just as interesting as always. Thanks.
Thanks Chris! I wouldn’t want several thousand pounds of ice to do me in. I can think of better ways to go.
I though the leaf might be heuchera but it’s not quite right. If you remember I hope you’ll let me know!
You’re lucky to have seen so many flowers. Thanks for reminding me to check on the one marsh marigold I know of!
Coltsfoot should be along any day now, but it has been a cool week so far.
I think your mystery leaf is from a foam flower plant. Thanks for your beautiful blog!
On Wed, Apr 10, 2019 at 4:10 AM New Hampshire Garden Solutions wrote:
> New Hampshire Garden Solutions posted: ” I’d been almost everywhere I > knew of where coltsfoot plants (Tussilago farfara) grow and hadn’t seen a > single one, so last Sunday I decided to visit the last place I knew of to > find them; the deep cut rail trail up in Westmoreland. I don’t like ” >
Thanks very much Mary, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog.
Foam flower leaves are more maple leaf shaped. At least the native ones I see are but this could easily be a hybrid that escaped from someone’s garden so you could be right. They certainly lay on the ground like a foamflower would. I thought heuchera, but that isn’t quite right either.
I hope to find great scented liverwort someday so I can experience its scent! I’m going to check back to learn about your mystery plant! Some good suggestions already posted here, so I’m eager to see where this trail leads! I found a very similar mystery leaf on a recent hike – the underside of the leaf was almost completely purple. Any ideas on the chunk of blue substance? Does it seem to be natural/organic? As a Mom and former kindergarten teacher, it looks suspiciously a LOT like semi-dried blue play-dough to me! 🙂 You’ve piqued my curiosity again!
Thank you Cheri. The scent is really amazing. You’d never expect it to come from a liverwort!
I hope you’ll let me know if you sleuth out the identity of your mystery leaf.
The blue stuff doesn’t smell like play dough but that’s a great guess. I thought maybe dried paint but it’s soft and I think paint would also have an odor. This has no scent at all. It does have some give to it almost like rubber but it’s also granular. It’s just weird stuff!
Your leaves remind me of Tiarella cordifolia.
Thank you Sara. Our native Tiarella have leaves that are more maple leaf shaped. I thought heuchera might be closer, but if it’s that it must be a garden escapee. That wouldn’t surprise me. We have many!
Living on the razor’s edge!
Not by choice!
😉
Tiarella or heuchera? And was the trumpet-shaped puzzle plant a fungus or a papery sheath? Spring emerging trumpet mushroom?
I am amazed at your photos, writings, and knowledge-sharing every time you post.
Thank you Ginger, I’ve had a lot of practice and I’ve had to look up thousands of plants over the years. I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned; it shouldn’t be a secret.
I think heuchera is closer than Tiarella. Our native foamflower has leaves that are more maple leaf like. They do grow here though.
The trumpet shaped things were last year’s stems I think. They were very dry and papery, definitely not living. It looked like a pea would have fit nicely in the trumpet.
Glad you got in and out safely!
Thank you Susan. I don’t go near those ice columns at this time of year!
Stay safe because it looks like winter is not ready to release us quite yet. 🙂
Thank you Judy. No, it’s been cold and cloudy here all week so far. Spring has to come eventually though!
I always learn interesting new things from your posts, like red rain and it’s cause. Amazing, as is all of our natural world. Those leaves sort of remind me of alum root.
Thank you Ginny. There are other color rains as well, including black! When it happens many people often think it’s a bad omen but it’s really just algae spores.
Alum root was my thought too but our native plant doesn’t match. It could be a garden escapee though.
It’s amazing you can go to a place dozens of times and still see new things! As well as many old friends. I’ll have to come back and see if there are any thoughts by readers on your two mystery plants. 😁 Thanks!
Thank you Cindy, that’s very true. I see something new every time I visit this place.
Many thing the round leaved plant is a foamflower but I’m not sure of that.