Spring Ephemerals

Trout lilies in Crothers' Woods

Spring this year has been cool, rainy and cloudy. When are the warm sunny spring days going to get here? However one beneficiary of this kind of spring are a group of forest herbaceous plants called spring ephemerals. These plants flower early, taking advantage of the sun before trees leaf out and shade the forest floor. With the cool spring it means that trees have been slow to produce leaves and this has resulted in a bumper year for spring ephemerals.

These types of plants are usually seen in more rural forests but there are some remnants of quality forest habitat remaining in the Don valley and other ravines in Toronto. If you know where to look you can find some stunningly beautiful flowers. However trees are finally starting to produce leaves so the time left to view spring ephemerals is growing short. I predict that many of these plants will be past their prime by mid May.



Jack-in-the-pulpit


Early meadow rue


Bloodroot


White trillium


Blue cohosh

Spring Wildflowers

Here's a few pictures of wildflowers I have seen in the Don Valley this spring. All of the pictures except the Spring Beauties are from the Lower Don and neighbouring tributary ravines.


Canada Mayflower


Wild Sarsaparilla


Virginia Waterleaf
\

May Apple


Toothwort



Spring Beauties


Trout Lily


Wild Geranium


White and Purple Violet


False Solomon's Seal


Wild Coffee

Invasive Species of the Don: Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) showing flowers, seeds and leaves

A few years ago I wrote a blog post called the Top 5 Threats to the Don. At the time I thought that each of these would make a good post but I soon realized that they all were much larger and complex than could be fit into a single post. The second item, non-native invasive species is one of these complex items. I thought that this year I would try to tackle this item as a photo essay about individual species. This is the first of these posts.

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a non-native invasive plant species that is one of the problem species in the Don Valley. Actually it is causing problems throughout southern Ontario but it grows especially well in disturbed conditions of which the Don has more than enough such places.

Introduced from Europe as an edible herb, it has escaped cultivation and has invaded our natural areas. It grows in a variety of light conditions from full sun to shady forest understory. It is found in all types of soil except for very wet conditions. Garlic mustard is a biennial meaning that it lives for two years. In the first year a low basal rosette of leaves grows and it remains green throughout the fall and winter. In the following spring the plant grows a stem and flowers. Plants can range from a few centimetres to about a metre in height. It produces small four petaled white flowers which is a characteristic of the mustard family. Soon after flowering, seed pods emerge which first appears as thin green sticks standing upright around the flower stalks. Each seed pod can contain up to 20 seeds. A large plant can produce hundreds of seeds.

In addition to producing plentiful seed, the seeds that it does produce can remain viable for up to 11 years in the soil so that makes it very hard to get rid of it. Animals like deer who naturally feed on forest plants are not used to Garlic Mustard and avoid it, eating other native plants. This creates a positive feedback loop which allows Garlic Mustard to spread even faster.


First year Garlic Mustard rosette in early spring

If all this isn't bad enough, it turns out that garlic mustard is allelopathic. In other words, the roots produce a toxin which kills soil fungi. Many native plants have formed symbiotic relationships with a group of fungi called mycorrhizae. These organisms wrap tiny tethers called hyphae around the roots of plants. The hyphae gather water and nutrients from the soil and transfer it to the plant. In exchange the plant trades sugars and starches gained through photosynthesis for water and nutrients that the fungi collects. When these soil fungi are removed, this inhibits the growth of native plants in our ecosystem.

Another problem that has been noticed is that in areas of abundant garlic mustard tree seedlings are not as successful as they should be. Garlic mustard seems to inhibit their growth. This combination of hardiness, plentiful seed production, allelopathy, and ecosystem effects means that Garlic Mustard can soon overwhelm a natural site and become the dominant species. In some cases the only species growing is Garlic Mustard.


Forest understory in the lower Don Valley. 99% of the plants on the ground are Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard is not just limited to parks and ravines. It is also making its way into gardens. What can be done about this nasty invader? Hand pulling is the recommended method. To remove it grasp it tightly as close to the ground as possible and gently pull. Try to get as much of the root as possible because some root fragments have been known to resprout. The roots are not that deep and should be easy to pull out intact.

If you want to help protect our natural areas from this plant and others like it you can join one of the the city's Community Stewardship teams. This volunteer program runs during the spring and summer and helps to protect some of the Don's more important natural areas. Teams meet once per week and remove Garlic Mustard and other non-native invaders.


Roots of a typical plant

Discard the plant into the regular garbage or the kitchen green bin. Don't put it into your garden composter because it will only become contaminated with Garlic Mustard seeds. For large amounts you can put them into a yard waste bag for city pickup.

Read more >> Options >>

First Sign of Spring

Two Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) sprouts poking their way through the snow

I visited Todmorden Mills today and noticed that Skunk Cabbage was starting to push through the thin layer of snow. This is one of the harbingers of spring!

Wetland Watching

It was such a nice day on Sunday I decided to go on a bicycle trip in the ravines. An unintended consequence of the civic worker's strike is that the fields of grass are no longer mowed. As soon as I entered the ravine, I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrant fields of clover that now cover the grass. Maybe once the strike is over we can get Parks to mow less often. It will be cheaper and produce more flowers. The parks will smell better and the bees will be very happy!

One of the places I stopped at was the Goulding wetland. At the pond, the water level was lower but that was to be expected. The water source for this pond is solely from ground water so as it fluctuates, so does the pond. This is normal for a wetland of this type and many of the plant species that are found along the shoreline are adapted to these conditions.

Along with the plants I spotted a couple of mallard ducks as well as the usual coterie of butterflies, dragonflies, water striders and other assorted insects.



Goulding Wetland


Another view of the wetland

A pair of Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) forage for food along the pond edge.

I also visited my old stomping grounds at the Beechwood Wetland. I saw some frogs and turtles there which is a good sign of a healthy pond.


Beechwood wetland

A Green Frog (Rana clamitans) at the water's edge resting in a pile of what looks like raccoon crap. Scatologists: eat your heart out!

I noticed a turtle lurking just below this lily pad. This is the first turtle I've ever seen at Beechwood. I couldn't tell the species but I think it's a Painted Turtle (Chrymemus picta picta).

A single Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) was growing at the water's edge.


Not far from the pond a cluster of Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) was growing. This plant shares the name with the purple flowering plant but is in fact in a different family. Also this one is native while Purple Loosestrife is a non-native exotic.

Trilliums: Another Spring Wildflower

White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), in Moccasin Trail Park

I took this photo this past weekend. These specimens are slightly worse for wear, possibly having been browsed by deer. According to Wikipedia, which has quite a good article on this particular species, the seeds are spread by both deer and ants. Seed dispersal by ants is fairly common with other spring wildflowers such as Bloodroot but trilliums are also the favourite food of deer. Deer may eat the plants but spread the seeds after travelling through their gut and being excreted. Ant dispersal may be up to 10m away but deer dispersal could be up to 1 km away.

The trillium is Ontario's provincial flower and an oft-quoted myth is that it is illegal to pick them. While untrue it does in some small way protect them from exploitation. However it doesn't stop some people from digging them up for their gardens such as is shown by this fellow who I caught stealing some from the nearby forest.

Fortunately trilliums are not endangered and there are still many patches throughout the Don, not only in its white form but also red and red/white. As with any native plants, my advice is to take only photos and leave the wild plants to their wild home... in the Don.


Look closely. The bag in this guy's left hand contains a couple of trilliums, plus soil. This guy gets negative karma points.

Marsh Marigold

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), seen in Taylor Creek Park

Marsh Marigold is another early spring flowering plant. It is not classified as an ephemeral, since it is found in swampy ground rather than as forest understory. It likes damp conditions and can be found on the banks of small streams and in swampy ground. The flower has no petals. The showing yellow petals are actually sepals or modified leaves.

Marsh Marigold is quite a common plant and can be found everywhere in the northern hemisphere. However, there are many varieties. Until recently it was identified as separate species before studies showed that the plant is highly adaptable to local conditions.

According to Wetland Plants of Ontario, all parts of the plant contain toxic chemicals called helleborin and protoanemonin. These can cause mild skin irritation and in some severe cases heart palpitations. So it's OK to take photos but don't try to pick it.

First Native of Spring

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Note the ubiquitous Garlic Mustard (Allaria petiolata) sprouting beside it to the lower right.

Not really true since the Skunk Cabbage have come and gone but it is one of the showiest native flowering plants to appear this spring. Bloodroot belongs to the spring ephemeral category of plants, which means they appear for a short time on the forest floor before the trees above leaf out and block the sunlight. I have found that Bloodroot has one of the shortest flowering cycles of all the ephemerals, here one week, gone the next.

Bloodroot has some interesting characteristics, not the least of which is its seed dispersal method. This is performed by the exotic sounding scientific term, myrmecochory. To the non-scientist this just means dispersed by ants. The seeds have a fleshy appendage which the ants eat after taking them into their ant warren. Later on the seeds germinate and up comes a new Bloodroot plant.

For the next couple of weeks you can get out and enjoy some of the other spring ephemerals such as Trillium, Trout Lily, Virginia Waterleaf, and Wild Geranium.

First Invasive of Spring

Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)

It's still pretty cold in the Don. Things are slowly budding but not much blooming yet, except for the non-native stuff. This was the only thing I saw in bloom on a trip to Todmorden Mills (of course I didn't do a full inspection so the Skunk Cabbage could've been flowering as well).

Scilla siberica is a hardy spring perennial that can dominate forest understorey, according to the SER handbook on invasives although according to Bootstrap Analysis it doesn't seem to affect other spring ephemerals such as Trillium and Mayapple. The Invasive Species Weblog doesn't even mention it.

It appears the jury is still out whether this is a harmless garden escapee or something to worry about.

Spring in Crothers' Wood, Part I

Went for a hike through Crothers' Woods yesterday and took some pictures. Now is the time to view spring ephemerals before the forest canopy closes in. Many of the usual suspects were present. Here are a few notables.


Red Trillium (Trillium erectum)


and White (Trillium grandiflorum). Good to see that our provincial flower can still be found in the Don.


Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) has already gone to seed


If you nip a leaf off you'll see orangy-red sap ooze out. This is how the plant got its name.


Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum). This stuff is all over the place. A couple of years ago I wrote about the ecology of this plant.


Early Meadow-rue (Thalictrum dioicum). It was difficult to get a good shot of this plant. There are many inconspicuous flowers, all hanging down.


Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata). I photographed its cousin, D. diphylla, last spring in Earl Bales Park.


In addition to spring ephemerals, other plants are in evidence as well, including some we don't care for.


Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), the glossy leaved dark brown plant. I first noticed this plant last spring in another ravine. It doesn't flower until the end of May.


Horsetail ferns (Equisetum spp.) Remnant of an ancient group of plants that dominated the Devonian Age, only a few species remain. It is listed as a weed in Ontario since it has some toxic properties that cause problems for cattle.


All that comes up green is not golden. 95% of the understory plants here are Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata). This was taken on the embankment below the Bayview Extension. This invasive plant now dominates the forest floor here and will be difficult to control. The roots of this plant have unusual toxic properties that inhibit the growth of native forest trees.

Toronto Trees are in Trouble

I've blogged about this before but Todd Irvine's article in the Toronto Star is very insightful. Reading it is an eye-opener into the plight of our urban forest.

Chicken of the Woods

Laetiporous sulphureous

I am not a mycologist by any stretch of the imagination but I do know what fungi looks like. I came across this one near the Beechwood Wetland. It is about 50 cm long and 30 cm high so it occupies a fair amount of volume. It is one of the larger ones I have seen. A couple of years ago I picked up an identification book called Mushrooms of Ontario. I figured it would make identification easier. However I am continually frustrated in my attempts to match up what I find with pictures in this book. So I just went to Google Images and typed in "Yellow bracket fungi". Eventually I found a similar one so that is how I determined this one to be Laetiporous sulphureous or Chicken of the Woods, so called because parts of it are edible.

I am not about to try it because mis-identification of fungi is a common method of killing yourself by mistakenly eating a poisonous mushroom that you thought was an edible variety. I suppose if I were lost in the woods and starving... although this is unlikely to happen in the Don Valley, not with a Tim Hortons always within walking distance.


Maybe it's called Chicken of the Woods because you can see the face of a chicken on the underside :)

A Pesticide Story

Recently, no doubt as an election ploy, the provincial Liberals announced that they would impose a province-wide ban on pesticide spraying for cosmetic purposes. This is good news, assuming of course that they get re-elected (which is not the subject of this post).

It brought to mind an incident that happened to me earlier this summer. On June 29th (coincidentally the day before the long weekend) I was cycling through Mt. Pleasant Cemetery and came across a sign announcing a pesticide spraying. It said the spraying company was Weed Man, and they were using a chemical called Par III (Killex) to treat "weeds". This is a pretty toxic compound according to the literature. There were additional signs throughout the eastern portion of the cemetery (east of Mt. Pleasant Road).

Being a concerned citizen, I noted down the details and called up the listed phone number. This led me to the city's Dept. of Public Health. I talked to Heather Richards, who is employed as an environmental health inspector. She said that cemeteries are allowed to spray once they reach a threshold of 20%. I checked the pesticide bylaw (page 4) and sure enough there is an exemption. It says that cemeteries are allowed to "spot spray" when weed cover reaches 10-15%.

I then asked Heather who makes the determination on whether weeds exceed the 10-15% range. Is it a city inspector? Is it cemetery staff? Neither, it is the spraying company that makes the call! I then asked her doesn't this constitute a conflict of interest? She refused to comment. She directed me to contact the Board of Health which deals with policy matters vis a vis the pesticide bylaw which apparently is a different department than Dept. of Public Health. I got no further than this call.

To me it makes sense that a city inspector needs to be involved to make the determination rather than the spraying company. They will no doubt always say the threshold has been reached since they don't get paid if they don't spray. Also, there needs to be some oversight on the pesticide application because it would be pretty difficult to spot spray half the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. I don't trust the lawn care companies to police themselves in this regard.

This fall I will ask the Task Force to have city staff review this clause of the bylaw and its implementation. I'll keep you posted on any updates.

New Invader for the Don?

Seed pods. They are covered with bristly hairs that stick to your clothing

Seeds line stalks that appear at opposite sides from leaf axils

Typical leaf from plant

This summer I've noticed a new plant in several places in the valley. I am not sure if it is new or maybe I am just more observant. One thing that leads me to believe it is new is that I can't find a listing for it in my Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers.

I have taken several pictures of the plant, some of them shown above. I took some pictures of the flower but none of them turned out. Here is my list of features:

• the plant grows about 40-80 cm tall
• leaves grow opposite each other and alternate in pairs up the stem
• a typical leaf is about 8-10 cm long and 4-5 cm wide
• leaves are dark green in colour and roughly toothed
  
• flower stalks grow from leaf stalks on opposite sides
• flowering period was for the month of July
  
• flowers are small (about 5 mm wide), white, with 4 petals and 3 stamens
• the seeds each about 5 mm in length appear along the flower stalks, alternately placed
• each seed is covered with fine hairs which stick to clothing or fur like velcro

If anybody has any clues as to what it might be, please let me know.

** Newsflash! **

Thanks to a tip from Michou, this plant is not an invader but is actually a native perennial called Enchanter's Nightshade (Circaea quadrisculata). It is listed in Peterson's guide. I was misled because the plant is not listed on a page with flowers of 4 petals. This plant has only 2 true petals. But it also has 2 reflexed sepals which look a lot like petals. Only a botanist could figure this one out!