Edgewood Forest
January 4, 2020 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions

In 1906 Albert Proell, manager of the Keene Forestry Association, was allowed to start a tree plantation on unused land near what is now the Keene airport. Trees, chiefly Scot pine and Norway spruce, were grown from seed to be used in reforestation projects. The spruce trees have done well but the Scot pines have not; neither the soil nor climate is right for them. Many of the spruce trees are still here and, as the above photo shows, are tall but have no real girth because they were meant to be transplanted into other areas, not allowed to reach full size. They are too close together and cast such deep shade that nothing but a few mosses and fungi will grow beneath them.

This view looking up shows how the trees are more poles than trees.

The plantation trees often die young as this one did.

But the near sterile tree plantation is only part of the story, because not all of the trees in this forest were planted. In fact most of them weren’t and some have been here for a very long time. Many old and large white pines (Pinus strobus) grow here, as well as hemlocks, larches, birches, beeches, maples, oaks and poplars.

Beech leaves glowed in the sun. I watch these leaves in winter because when they start falling from the trees spring isn’t far off. This is a tree that brings me year round pleasure, from its beautiful new leaves in spring until the last leaves fall in the following spring. I just read that beech trees were a sign of soil fertility for early settlers moving west, and when they found a good stand of beech that’s where they would start their farms. It’s also a very important tree to woodland creatures and everything from mice to black bears eat its nuts.

A large part of this land is swamp, and this is where I come to see skunk cabbage, wild azaleas and many other plants I don’t find anywhere else.

Skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) are just waiting for it to warm up a bit and at the end of February or early March they’ll start to bloom. They’re one of our earliest spring blooming plants, if not the earliest.

I was happy to see seed pods on a few of the native roseshell azaleas (Rhododendron prinophyllum.) If a plant is producing seed it is happy, and these native shrubs are hard to find. The fragrant pink flowers are among the most beautiful found in the spring forest.

The shiny evergreen leaves of pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) are quite easy to see in winter. They’re one of our native wintergreens and they like to grow in undisturbed, sandy woodland soil that is on the dry side. Pipsissewa was once used as a flavoring in candy and soft drinks, including root beer. Its common name comes from the Native American Cree tribe, who used it medicinally to treat kidney stones. It was thought to break them up into pieces. Even though pipsissewa photosynthesizes it supplements its diet by taking certain nutrients from fungi, and for that reason it is considered partially parasitic. This is one of a very few places I’ve seen it.

The pretty little seedpods of pipsissewa persist through the winter and poke up out of the snow. They are woody and split open into 5 parts to release the tiny seeds. Each capsule is about a quarter inch across. They remind me of the seedpods of the Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora,) in some ways.

Another rarity in this forest is striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata.) I’ve found 5 or 6 examples here, all growing in the same general area. Striped wintergreen has a symbiotic relationship with the mycelium of certain fungi in the soil and is partially parasitic on them through a process called myco-heterotrophy. This means that, even though they photosynthesize, they supplement their diet with nutrients taken from fungi. That explains why they will only grow in certain places, much like our native orchids. It also explains their rarity. I read recently that the plant is considered rare in both New England and Canada. I’ve also read that it won’t grow on land that has been disturbed in the last 100 years.

A yellow area on a tree had me thinking I knew what it was, but then I looked closer…

…and I realized that I had no idea what it was. But I thought that it must be a liverwort and after some digging I came up with a liverwort called flat-leaved scalewort (Radula complanate.) It is said to be relatively common on trees and rocks but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. It doesn’t like direct sunlight and it certainly wouldn’t have gotten any where I found it growing.

Another of our native evergreen’s leaves were buried under the snow but I didn’t need to see them to identify this plant. The big J shaped flower styles of shinleaf (Pyrola elliptica) are unmistakable, even on its winter seedpods. Shinleaf is quite common in this area and can form large colonies. It seems to be more successful than some other wintergreens. Shinleaf and other plants in the wintergreen family contain compounds that are similar to aspirin and shinleaf was used by Native Americans as a poultice on injured shins and other parts of the body. That’s how the plant comes by its common name. Shinleaf leaves form a rosette at the base of the single, 4-5 inch tall flower stalk.

I’ve seen a lot of holes in trees but this was more of a slit than a hole and I haven’t a clue how it came to be. It was in an old white pine that was hollow inside. There are an amazing number of hollow trees in forests but it takes a long time; a hundred years or more, for a tree to become hollow so most of them are quite large. Many birds, animals, and even frogs and snakes live in tree hollows, so they’re important to wildlife but they can also be dangerous if they’re near buildings. I saw a big old white pine that had fallen and cut a barn right in half. It was hollow inside.

Amber jelly fungi (Exidia recisa) looked like stained glass. Being in the snow meant these examples had absorbed plenty of water so they were pliable and rubbery, like your ear lobe. I see this fungus everywhere, especially on fallen oak limbs but also on alder and poplar as well.

A tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) looked older than the tree it grew on but of course that isn’t possible. These bracket fungi produce spores at all times of year but through spring and summer studies have shown that they can produce as many as 800 million spores in a single hour. Its common name comes from its usefulness as tinder for starting fires.

Turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor) are some of the most colorful in the forest. For years now I’ve wondered what determines the colors that turkey tails display. Why are some brown and others blue? Or orange? Or purple? If the question has an answer I haven’t found it, but I have found that they are full of antioxidants and contain many immune boosting properties. In fact studies have shown that they can boost the effectiveness of cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.

Lots of clubmosses grow here and fan clubmoss (Lycopodium digitatum) is one of my favorites. The plant gets its common name from the way its branches fan out in a 180 degree arc at the top of the stem. Another common name is ground cedar because of its resemblance to the cedar tree. At one time this and other clubmosses were used to make Christmas wreaths and were collected almost into oblivion, but they seem to be making a fairly good comeback. A single plant can take 20 years or more to grow from spore to maturity, so they should never be disturbed. Clubmosses aren’t mosses at all. They are vascular plants that don’t flower; they produce spores instead of seeds and are considered fern allies. Fossils have been found that show the lowly clubmosses once grew to 100 feet tall.

Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora) are white and ghostly and grow in the dark places in the forest. They can get away with doing that because they don’t photosynthesize, but they do have flowers and when the flowers are pollinated they stand straight up toward the sky. This tells me that the flower seen here either wasn’t pollinated or didn’t see any need to stand up straight like all of its cousins. The seeds are fine like dust and I think the flower standing up straight must have something to do with rain being able to splash the seeds out of the capsule. Many plants and mosses use the same strategy for seed and spore dispersal. Fresh Indian pipe plants contain a gel that Native Americans used to treat eye problems, and the common name comes from the plant’s resemblance to the pipes they smoked.
That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again. ~Ali Smith
Thanks for stopping in.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Posted in Mosses & Liverworts, Nature, Things I've Seen | Tagged American Beech, Canon EOS Rebel T6, Edgewood Forest, Fan Clubmoss, Flat Leaved Scalewort, Indian Pipe, Jelly Fungi, Native Plants, Nature, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Pipsissewa, Roseshell Azalea, Shinleaf, Skunk Cabbage, Striped Wintergreen, Swanzey New Hampshire, Tinder Fungus, Turkey Tail Fungi, Wild Mushrooms, Winter Hiking, Winter Plants, Winter Woods | 18 Comments
Wonderful post, Allen! It is amazing the plants that can be seen and identified even in the depths of winter!
Thank you Clare. Yes, identification can be done in winter but it can be a little more difficult. Luckily I know most of these plants well!
I have thoroughly enjoyed these photos of life in winter back east! I spent a lot of time in the woods as a youngster, and remember these old friends, including the skunk cabbage.
That is interesting to know that beeches are a sign of soil fertility. They must have some hefty nutrient requirements and be relatively shallow rooted.
Thank you Lavinia. It won’t be long before the skunk cabbages are blooming again. Just a couple of months!
Actually I’ve read that beeches are also a sign of deep, rich soil but a plant will often have feeder roots near the surface and deeper roots far down in less enriched soil.
As always, I have learned much by reading your post & delighted by the beauty of the photos. Beech trees are my favorites (so far), and I appreciate your facts about them. Thank you for sharing your gifts, Allen!
You’re welcome Sophie, and thank you!
Another collection bearing witness to your observation and knowledge. The amber jelly fungus was my favourite today.
Thank you, I like jelly fungi. They’re very easy to find at this time of year.
You always amaze me with how much you find on a walk, and your pictures seem better and better (maybe in part due to your new camera). What an interesting story Momcat added! Again, many thanks for bringing nature into our days
Thank you Sue, that was an interesting (and scary) story!
The secret to finding things in the woods is walking as slow as a toddler and looking closely.
To be honest I’m struggling with the new camera and am not very happy with it, so I’m glad to hear your thoughts on the photos. I only use it for landscapes, by the way.
so much knowledge so eloquently written
Thanks very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I loved the picture of the variegated wintergreen and the accompanying comments. Thank you. Boy, are you right about the hollow trees. I’ve always made it a point to stay out of the woods on windy days, but sometimes there’s no evading fate. We once lived in an old Victorian house surrounded by very large white oaks. We were sitting on our screened porch one fine summer day when a a light wind, not more than a nice breeze, soughed through the branches. There was an almighty cracking noise and the nearest big oak simply toppled onto the house. Branches smashed through the screens breaking windows on the inside of the porch, but they built houses to last in those days, and the massive tree remained leaning on the porch roof. We got out of it with nothing more than scratches from the small branches filling the porch and a broken folding chair where I fell over. The tree turned out to be as hollow as a drinking straw, although it had looked perfectly healthy with a large crown and only one small opening in the trunk between some roots. I’d seen plenty of trees come down in storms, but this was a new one to me. The forester who came called it a widow maker. timber cutters rightly fear these.
Thank you. I can only imagine what your poor house must have looked like but it sounds like you were lucky nevertheless. The barn I spoke of was a total loss. I don’t remember what the weight of that tree was estimated at but it was astounding, even hollow.
Always educational. Thanks, Allen.
On Sat, Jan 4, 2020, 6:03 AM New Hampshire Garden Solutions New Hampshire Garden Solutions posted: ” In 1906 Albert Proell, manager of > the Keene Forestry Association, was allowed to start a tree plantation on > unused land near what is now the Keene airport. Trees, chiefly Scot pine > and Norway spruce, were grown from seed to be used in reforestation proj” >
You’re welcome, Ron.
My favourite picture today – the view looking up at the spruce trees – I love patterns and you are very good at finding them.
Thank you Susan. I think that’s because I see so many of them.