Notice the arc of the sun across the sky each day. You’ll find that it’s shifting toward the north. Responding to the change in daylight, birds and butterflies are migrating back northward, too, along with the path of the sun.
If you will be visiting some of our local nature preserves, parks, and trails, I hope you will consider downloading my wildflower field guides for those destinations. I have recently updated my wildflower field guide for Veterans Memorial Park; you can view or download it here. I hope it helps you learn about wildflowers that you may encounter during your future visits.
Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) – typically begins blooming in MarchEmerging leaves of False Hellebore (Veratrum viride)Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) – typically begins blooming in mid-AprilCommon Shadbush (Amelanchier arborea) begins blooming in mid- to late April, before its own leaves unfurl.
Consider these activities as part of your adventures this spring –
The Great North American Total Eclipse: The Science, the History, and Why You Should Get Your Butt to Totality (If Possible) (3/23/2024 @ 11:30am; Registration required: Call 518-872-0800)
In recognition of National Candy Day, I wanted to invite you to enjoy your favorite candy today, but also to encourage you to plan to celebrate next National Candy Day by serving your own foraged, homemade candies to your family and friends. How? Read on!
What follows is a candy-making calendar for foraged wild edibles along with information about where to find the referenced targeted species and how to forage them. Of course, there’s also a bevy of recipes on how to prepare a variety of truly unique confectionary treats to be enjoyed next year at this time, or perhaps to enjoy throughout a nearly year-long celebration leading up to next National Candy Day. Either way, a sweet endeavor!
Medium to large deciduous tree with a domed crown and spreading branches, often pendulous
Leaves alternately arranged, ovate, asymmetrical, unequal at the base (the side nearest the branch the largest), 4–6 inches long and broad, and coarsely serrated margin
Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) = ripened fruit; good source of vitamins A, C, and E, contain high levels of flavonoids and essential fatty acids, a rich source of lycopene, and it has strong antioxidant activity
Autumn-olive ripened fruit
Where found: Open areas: successional fields, pastures, hedge rows, utility rights-of-way, thickets
Tall shrub (generally 10-20 feet) that branches frequently; it is usually a little taller than wide
Young branches are silvery green to brown and covered with small scales
Alternate leaves are up to 3″ long and 1¼” across, and are elliptical, oblong or ovate with smooth margins, blunt tips, and wedge-shaped to rounded bottoms
Lower surface of leaf is whitish green to white and densely covered with small silvery scales
Drupe-like fleshy fruits are silvery bright red (when fully ripened), about 1/3″ long, and ovoid in shape – View Foraging for Wild Edibles: Autumnberries for info about foraging for ripened fruit
Canes are green where there is new growth at the tips, otherwise they are brown or reddish brown and have visible ridges and stout thorns
Alternate leaves are usually trifoliate or palmately compound with long petioles
Berries are ready for picking when they are dark black in color and look quite plump – View Foraging for Wild Edibles: Blackberries for info about foraging for ripened fruit.
Blue Ridge Blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), Early Low Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), and Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) = ripened fruit; Fully ripened when dark blue or blue-black in color; excellent source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese and other trace minerals, iron, and a number of antioxidants (antioxidants are highly concentrated in the deep-blue pigments of wild blueberries)
ripe Highbush Blueberry fruit
Blue Ridge Blueberry:
Where found: Hardwood forests and edges of forests
Erect shrub with alternate branching that generally grows up to 20” tall
Twigs typically green or greenish brown
Early Low Blueberry:
Where found: Dry fields and clearings
Low spreading shrub with alternate branching that generally grows up to 12” tall
Twigs are green or with reddish tinge
In best habitat, may become practically the only species covering large areas
NOTE: Plant is covered with spines, so pick carefully.
Viper’s Bugloss flowers
Where found: Roadsides, successional fields, disturbed soils, and waste places
Herbaceous plant with erect grayish green central stem 1–3 feet tall that is densely covered with stiff bristly hairs that have swollen purplish bases
Oblong basal leaves are 3-9″ long and ½–1¾” across
Atop each stem are groups of spike-like flower clusters that are incurled like a scorpion’s tail; as each cluster opens, it reveals up to 20 deep blue or blue-violet bell-shaped flowers (about ¾” across and 1″ long) that are arranged along only one side of each cluster
Where Found: Edges of streams, floodplain forests, alluvial thickets, and old home sites
Basal leaves are linear with parallel venation, tapering gradually to a sword-like point; they have a tendency to bend down and outward around the middle, and are somewhat floppy in appearance
One or more stout leafless flowering stalks emerge from center of leaves and are usually much taller than the leaves; each stalk has 10-20 flowers with individual flowers opening successively and each lasting only one day
Common Elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis) = individual flowers removed from flowerhead
Common Elderberry
Where Found: Marshes, thickets, and stream banks
Deciduous shrub about 4-12′ tall that is usually multistemmed and arching, creating a relatively loose broad crown
On larger and older woody stems, the bark is light grayish brown and warty in appearance from scattered short lenticels (air pores)
Pairs of opposite compound leaves are about 6-12″ long and a little less across comprised of 5-9 leaflets (2-4 pairs of opposite leaflets and one terminal leaflet) whose upper surface is medium to dark green and smooth, while the lower leaflet surface is light green and smooth or either slightly hairy along the major veins or short-haired throughout
Upper stems terminate in umbel-like panicles of flowers that span 3-10″ across with each individual white flower up to ¼” across
CAUTION:Do not collect leaves of Moonseed (Menispermum canadense) – poisonous! NOTE: All Grapes have tendrils; Moonseed lacks tendrils.
Fruit of Summer Grape
Fox Grape:
Where Found: Thickets, forest edges, and young forests or forests with a history of disturbance
Widely spaced alternate leaves are 4-8″ long and a little less across, usually have 3 palmate lobes that are broad and shallow
Upper leaf surface is dull green and hairless, while lower surface is brownish white from woolly hairs
Presence of forked tendrils emerge on nearly every node along the vine
Riverbank Grape:
Where Found: Hardwood forests, forest edges and openings, thickets, disturbed sites, and rocky open slopes
Alternate leaves up to 6″ long and 4″ across, palmately lobed usually with sinuses between the major lobes being broad and shallow
Lower leaf surface is pale green with white hairs along the major veins; upper leaf surface is dark green and smooth
Presence of tendrils emerge on opposite from leaves, except every third one, along the vine
Summer Grape:
Where Found: Hardwood forests, forest edges and openings, thickets, and disturbed sites
Leaves usually a little broader than long and variable in shape, from unlobed to deeply three- or five-lobed
Upper leaf surface is dull medium green and hairless to slightly hairy, while the lower leaf surface is pale green and moderately covered with white to light brown woolly hairs
Presence of branched tendrils emerge on nodes except for every third leaf along the vine
Shrubs or small trees, most of which grow 15 to 50 feet tall, with alternate branches often with thorns typically ~1-2” long and whose most common type of bark is smooth grey in young individuals, developing shallow longitudinal fissures with narrow ridges in older trees
Leaves grow spirally arranged on long shoots, and in clusters on spur shoots on the branches or twigs; most species have lobed or serrated margins and are somewhat variable in shape
Fruit is smooth and round (up to 1” diameter) resembling an apple with the color ranging from yellow to red (most common) to dark purple; texture and flavor of fruit also highly variable
American Hazelnut (Corylus americana) and Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) = nuts; Fully ripened when shell (not outside husk) is brown in color; each hazelnut kernel is 50-75% oil and a rich source of mono- and polyunsaturated fats that contain a good amount of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, such as oleic acid – View Foraging for Wild Edibles: Hazelnuts for info about foraging for these nuts.
Hazelnut harvest (American on left, Beaked on right)
American Hazelnut:
Where Found: Woods borders and thickets
Deciduous, rounded, multi-stemmed, thicket-forming shrub that typically grows 6-16′ tall
Tips of twigs are hairy and leaves have double-toothed margins
Nut enclosed in a pair of hairy leaf-like bracts (involucres) with ragged edges
Beaked Hazelnut:
Where Found: Woods borders and thickets
Deciduous, rounded, multi-stemmed, thicket-forming shrub that typically grows 6-16′ tall
Tips of twigs are hairless or few hairs and leaves have double-toothed margins
Nut enclosed in a pair of hairy bracts (involucres) that join together to form a long narrow beak
Fully ripened when shell is brown in color – do not wait for husk to turn brown; Excellent source of dietary fiber, protein, manganese, copper, magnesium, zinc, and Thiamin; nutmeat is a high-energy food because it contains 66% oil that is rich source of mono- and polyunsaturated fats and contains good amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids – View Foraging for Wild Edibles: Hickory Nuts for info about foraging for these nuts.
First harvest of 2022 – mix of Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) and Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) nuts
Pignut Hickory:
Where Found: Dry woods
60-80′ tall tree with single long straight trunk
Ascending to spreading alternate branches with pinnately compound leaves
Trunk bark is gray to gray-brown and somewhat rough with elongated ridges that have flattened tops and shallow furrows
Husks are thin, smooth and hairless and comprised of four segments; tan shell of the nut is ovoid and slightly flattened in shape
Shagbark Hickory:
Where Found: Mature woods and fencerows
60-80′ tall tree with single long straight trunk
Upper branches ascending, middle branches widely spreading, and lower branches descending with pinnately compound leaves
Trunk bark is light to medium gray, rough textured, fissured, and shaggy from narrow plates that peel away from the trunk at their tips and/or bottoms
Husk divided into 4 segments that are indented at their margins, providing the fruit with a ribbed appearance; nut of each fruit is light tan and slightly 4-angled
Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) = young shoots (without leaves) up to 6” tall; Excellent source of vitamins A and C, iodine, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, and resveratrol (same substance as that found in the skin of red grapes and which is part of a group of compounds called polyphenols that are thought to help reduce inflammation, lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol)
Japanese Knotweed young shoots
Where Found: Waste places and roadsides
Hollow stems with distinct raised nodes that make it resemble bamboo
Shoots may be harvested up to 12” tall, but must remove fibrous outer shell before cooking or eating – View How to Harvest and Eat Japanese Knotweed (beginning @ 0:34) for info about foraging.
Where Found: Cultivated ground, disturbed ground, waste places including urban settings, roadsides, and various habitats with exposed soils
Herbaceous plant grows 1-6′ tall, branching occasionally and whose stem is stout, angular, and variably colored, ranging from light blue-green to striped with purple and green; large mature specimens have a bushy appearance, tapering gradually toward the apex
Alternate leaves are up to 5″ long and 3″ across being broadly lanceolate or ovate with irregular margins that are sometimes reddish purple along the edge and with teeth that are large, widely spaced, and blunt; upper surface of the lower leaves is usually green or bluish green, while the lower surface is more or less white mealy with tiny white hairs
Upper stems and some of the side stems terminate in panicles of flowering spikes usually ~4” long with inconspicuous yellowish green flowers each about 1/10″ across
Flowers mature into a single horizontal seed that is black, flattened, and nearly round – View Lamb’s Quarter for info about harvesting these seeds.
Where Found: Moist bottomland woodlands, upland woodlands, and savannas
Tree grows 80-120′ tall at maturity, forming an ovoid to globoid crown whose branches are ascending to widely spreading and somewhat crooked, and a tall stout trunk (up to 5′ across) whose thick trunk bark is gray to gray-brown with flat corky ridges and deep irregular furrows
Alternate obovate or broadly elliptic leaves about 4-10″ long and 2½–5″ across with rounded lobes that extend moderately to deeply into the leaf blade and the deepest lobes usually occur along the lower one-half of the blade; upper leaf surface is dark green and smooth, while lower surface is pale gray-green and covered with dense short fine hairs
Nuts are either solitary or occur in pairs on short stalks up to 1″ long and 1½–2½” long and similarly across, becoming brown to grayish brown when ripe; distinctive cups extend at least one-half the length of the nuts, sometimes nearly enclosing them and they are rather knobby in appearance with soft awns up to 1/3″ (8 mm.) in length along the rim of each cup, forming a conspicuous fringe around the nut
Where Found: Swamps (often on ridges and hill tops therein), wet depressions, and thickets
Tree grows 60-80′ tall at maturity, forming ovoid to obovoid crown, and a straight trunk about 2-3½’ across whose trunk bark is brown, gray-brown, or gray, rough-textured, and developing either irregular furrows with flat ridges or large flaky scales
Alternate leathery and stiff leaves about 4-7″ long and 2½-4½” are usually obovate with 4-8 pairs of shallow to moderately deep lobes along their margins that are either rounded or taper to blunt tips; upper leaf surface is medium to dark green and smooth, while the lower surface is whitish green to white and densely covered with short white fine hairs
Nuts are either solitary or occur in pairs on long stalks that are are ¾-1″ long and ½-¾” across, becoming brown when ripe; tan-colored or light gray cup extends to about one-third of the length of an acorn whose scales are somewhat recurved and pointed
Tree grows 60-100′ tall at maturity, forming a globoid to subgloboid crown with widely spreading lower branches and ascending upper branches and a straight trunk whose bark is light gray, shallowly furrowed, and divided into flat narrow plates
Alternate leaves are 4-7″ long and 2-4½” across and broadly elliptic or obovate with 3-5 pairs of deep to medium lobes that have round tips and round sinuses; upper leaf surface is medium green and smooth, while the lower surface is dull light green or gray-green and hairless (or nearly so)
Mature acorns are ½-1″ long, ovoid, greenish brown to light brown; light tan or light gray shallow cap with warty scales extends downward to about one-fourth the length of the acorn
American Plantain seeds Photo Credit: Bruce Ackley, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org Creative Commons License licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
American Plantain:
Where Found: Disturbed ground
Rosette of oval or round ribbed basal leaves with reddish color along base of leaf stem
Flowering stalk is up to 10” tall, unbranched and narrowly cylindrical consisting of a rather dense spike of tiny green flowers and their bracts
Flowers rapidly turn brown and replaced by elongated seed capsules that are shaped like a tiny narrow acorn; each splits open to release 2-9 seeds, which are black, oval and slightly angular, with a tiny indentation in the middle of one side
Rosette of oval or round ribbed basal leaves with no reddish color along base of leaf stem
Flowering stalk is 4-20″ tall, unbranched, and narrowly cylindrical consisting of a dense spike of greenish flowers (only 1/8” long) along the upper two-thirds of each stalk
Flowers replaced by purple or brown ovoid seed capsules; each splits open to release 6-15 seeds, which are light to dark brown, and somewhat flattened
Slender flowering stalk is 6-18″ tall, unbranched, often slightly furrowed or angular, and terminates in an oblong spike of flowers about ½–2″ long
Flower is replaced by a small oblong seed capsules; each splits open to release 2 small seeds, which are oblong, dark brown or black, and strongly indented on one side
Where Found: Roadsides, shores of ponds and lakes, and disturbed soils
Herb that grows to be 1 – 2 feet tall with smooth square stem
Aromatic leaves are 1-1⁄2 to 3-1⁄2 inches long and 1⁄2 to 1-1⁄2 inches broad, dark green with reddish veins, slightly fuzzy, with an acute tip and coarsely toothed margins
Flowers are purple, 1⁄4 to 5⁄16 inch long, with four lobes about 5 mm <1⁄4 inch in diameter and they are produced in whorls around the stem forming thick, blunt spikes
Eastern White Pine male pollen cones Photo Credit: Josh Fecteau, joshfecteau.com
Eastern White Pine:
Where Found: Wide variety of wet to dry habitats including forests, successional fields and shrublands, lake edges, and hummocks or rises in swamps and bogs
Coniferous tree typically 80-120′ at maturity with unbranched central trunk up to 4′ in diameter and whorls of lateral branches that are more or less horizontal forming a conical crown that becomes more flat-topped and irregular with age
Trunk bark is dark gray and rough, fissured into irregular square plates
Two types of needles that are arranged in clusters of five: new growth on the tips of twigs have green needles up to 1″ long and green to blue-green needles 3-5″ long on mature twigs
Male pollen cones occur in spike-like clusters up to 2″ long and are located behind the new growth on the tips of twigs; each pollen cone is yellow, short-ovoid in shape, and about ½” long
Where Found: Deep sandy soils or in pine barrens, often in plantations
Coniferous tree up to 100 feet high with straight trunk of 30 to 40 inches in diameter and an open rounded crown on older trees after the lower branches fall away (young trees have pyramidal shape) and whose upper branches usually ascending while lower branches may be descending
Trunk bark divided into cross-checked reddish-brown plates with resinous pitch frequently encountered on the bark
Needles found at outer tips of branches (interior section of branches often devoid of needles) in clusters of two about 4 to 6 inches long
Where Found: Common in pine barrens on deep sandy soils and also on dry rocky soils or thin soils over bedrock on hilltops, bluffs, crests, and steep south and west facing slopes
Coniferous tree of an irregular shape typically 20-100′ at maturity whose trunk usually straight with a slight curve and covered in large, thick, irregular plates of bark and whose branches are usually twisted
Needles are clusters of three about 2-1⁄4 to 5 inches in length, stout, and often slightly twisted
Male pollen cones are cylindrical, yellow in color, and measure ~3/4 inch long
Where Found: Generally dry soils at edges of forests, woodlands, edges of paths and dirt roads through forests, successional fields, and forests openings
Shrub grows about ½-3′ tall, branching occasionally; usually erect, but taller plants sometimes sprawl
Prickles on the woody stems are slender and straight, and pairs of prickles often occur on opposite sides of the stems
Alternate compound leaves usually consist of 5-7 leaflets (oddly pinnate) with each ovate leaflet about 2″ long and 1″ across with strongly serrated margins and two prominent stipules at the base of each compound leaf that terminate in a single pointed tip; underside of each leaflet is smooth or only sparsely hairy
Bright red fruits often slightly flattened when compared to other wild roses, although not always
Rugosa Rose hips Photo Credit: W.carter, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rugosa Rose:
Where Found: Maritime dunes and thickets, successional fields, and disturbed soils
Shrub grows about 2-6′ tall
Branches covered with straight prickles of varying lengths
Alternate compound leaves are widely spreading, thick-textured, and consist of 5-9 leaflets (oddly pinnate) with each oblong-ovate leaflet about 1-2½” long and about one-half as much across with rounded teeth along their margins; upper surfaces of the leaflets are dark green, hairless, shiny, and conspicuously wrinkled along their veins, while their lower surfaces are more whitish green from dense hairs
Bright orange-red or red subgloboid fruits about ¾-1¼” across that have persistent sepals
Where Found: Swamps, edges of streams and lakes, and marshes
Shrub grows about 3-8′ tall with branching woody stems that may be erect, ascending, or arching, and they are often crooked
Prickles are about ¼” long, curved, and rather enlarged at the base and are widely spaced, occurring individually or in pairs, with paired prickles occuring either on opposite sides of the stems, or they form a 90º angle from each other
Alternate compound leaves consist of 5-9 leaflets (usually 7; oddly pinnate) with each broadly elliptic or ovate leaflets about 1¼-2½” long and ½-1″ across and with serrated margins; upper surfaces of the leaflets are medium to dark green and smooth, while the lower surface is pale green and either smooth or short-haired
Red globoid fruits about 1/3″ across whose surface is glandular-hairy, although it may become smooth with age
Common Shadbush (AKA Serviceberry) (Amelanchier arborea) = ripened fruit
Common Shadbush (AKA Serviceberry) fruit Photo Credit: Jim Robbins CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Where Found: Wide variety of hardwood forests, forest edges, hedge rows, bluffs, ledges, roadsides, and occasionally hummocks in swamps
Multi-stemmed shrub or small tree grows 10-30′ tall, forming an irregular crown that is usually more tall than wide, and trunk bark is gray, developing shallow furrows and flat ridges on older shrubs or trees
Alternate leaves up to 4″ long and 2″ across and more or less ovate in shape with finely serrated margins and usually rounded bases
Small globoid fruit about ¼-½” across becoming reddish purple when fully ripened
Where Found: Meadows, open woodlands, woodland borders, and wooded slopes along rivers or lakes; in more developed areas, sometimes found in city parks, lawns, and along hedges or buildings
Short-stemmed herbaceous perennial plant that grows 6″ across and 4″ high
Leaves up to 3″ long and 3″ across, smooth to slightly hairy, vary in color from medium to dark green, and oval to orbicular shaped with typically rounded teeth
Flowers are ¾” across and consist of 5 rounded petals that are mottled combination of blue-violet with white with dark blue-violet lines radiating outward from its throat (particularly on the lower petal)
Homemade Fruit Leather (best for fruits naturally high in pectin, such as: blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, pears, and plums)
With sunny skies, warmer temperatures, and no snow(!) this weekend, I felt it was a good time to stroll along the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail in the City of Cohoes and Town of Colonie to continue my wildflower inventory of ~8-mile segment of that trail system. Kevin Kenny has created an iNaturalist project named Flowers of the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail that is aggregating our contributions. He is inventorying a similar distance immediately west of my segment.
Despite last week’s snow and some rather roller-coaster temperatures over the past couple of weeks, many species of wildflowers seem to be progressing largely on schedule. Hope you can find an opportunity to similarly stretch your legs and view the blooming beauties now on display!
Here is a sampling of what I encountered:
Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia)Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)Common Shadbush (Amelanchier arborea)A closeup view of Common Shadbush (Amelanchier arborea)Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)Common Whitlow Grass (Draba verna)Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana)Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica) – no doubt a garden escapee!Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda)Dog Violet (Viola labradorica)Small-flowered Crowfoot (Ranunculus abortivus)
Curious By Nature 