Ten Percent!

Blue-eyed Mary

Fairy Bells

Wood Poppy also known as Celandine Poppy

Pawpaw

Wood Betony

On Tuesday April 27 I took the day off work (actually they owed me the day off because I had to work my normal day off) and went down to Nelsonville, Ohio.  Nelsonville is an interesting place.  It very well could be the poster community for Appalchia.  It strikes me as the type of town where everybody chews and has tattoos, regardless of age or gender!  But maybe I am wrong.

Nelsonville is also a college town.  The college is Hocking College, a small two-year school with a strong natural resources program.  Many college towns seem to adopt the role of cultural hub, and Nelsonville has slowly begun to embrace this role, featuring summer country music concerts, a scenic railroad, and other activities.

Once upon a time I taught at Hocking College as a quarterly instructor and enjoyed it immensely.  In the past four years I have tried to get back on at Hocking with no luck.  Maybe my luck will change at some point in the future.

Hocking College owns several acres of land west of the school in an area known as the Sunday Creek Land Lab.  I had visited this site a few times back in my teaching days, and thought I would make a return trip.  The site, located near Minker's Run, is very rich in violets, with yellow, white, and a couple shades of purple all present.  I will have to make a return trip to double check the identification of one violet, Viola hirsutala, which if correct would be a lifer for me.  The other exciting find at the land lab was Wood Betony (Pedicularis).  They are not especially rare, but rare enough that I get excited when I find them.

I stopped for lunch at the Subway in Nelsonville, having my usual oven-roasted chicken on italian herbs and cheese, and then headed east toward the Perry/Morgan county line to visit friend Diane Brooks.  Diane lives on several beautiful acres in Perry County.  Over the years she has moved some of the plants from the woods on her property to her gardens around the house.  She has also sown a lot of seed that she has collected from her wild plants, such that her garden in front of her house is absolutely amazing!

I added several new species at her place including Blue-eyed Mary, Wood Poppy, Fairy Bells, and Pawpaw.  Diane's Pawpaw was much further ahead then the Pawpaw I had observed in the morning at the Sunday Creek Land Lab.  I know several good places in Athens County for Pawpaw.  I anxiously look forward to fighting the racoons for the pawpaws in September, much as I will be fighting the 'coons for my dad's sour cherries!

We then loaded up in Diane's Geo Tracker and traveled perhaps a quarter mile down the road.  She turned right off the road onto a little two track that I initially did not see.  For awhile I thought Diane was going cross-country in her Woods Mobile!  We plowed through multiflora rose and a few other things before she brought the small SUV to a halt.  Diane took me down a steep slope to what could only be described as Blue-eyed Mary Shangri-La.  She apologized, saying that once upon a time they had extended the entire length of the slope.  Now they were merely thick as could be on the lower half of the slope.  Regardless, it was the biggest patch of Blue-eyed Mary I had ever seen!

We explored a little bit.  I had the pleasure of introducing her to False Mermaid (Floerkea) and Chervil (Chaerophyllum), plants that she had overlooked in the past, which made total sense as each species was barely two inches tall!  It was really enjoyable being able to teach each other new things.

After I had returned home, I discovered that the wonderful discoveries of the day had put me over the 100 species mark for the year, ten percent of my total.  I realize it sounds like I still have a long ways to go, but actually I am quite pleased to have 102 species at this point in the game.  I would say that I am on track to achieve 1000 species for the year, although I think I will need to make a couple trips deeper into Appalachia to guarentee the goal.