Making up Lost Ground

Water Hemlock

Leatherflower

Bur-reed

Yum!

Last week I took a couple days off work, to get some wildflower time as well as some time away from the chaos of normal life.  While it didn't really work very well, as far as getting away from the chaos, as the chaos was always awaiting my return, it did work well to see some new and different things.

It is that same chaos that has put me behind on posting updates about the One Thousand Flowers project.  I have trouble posting about trips that happened a week ago, feeling like old news is no news at all.  But I do have some folks who are interested in the project, and at some point in the future these posts will be used to jog my memory as I write what will most certainly be a massively popular book about the big wildflower year, so I present the old news, even if it is old only to me.

A week ago Monday I tried to get caught up on some relatively nearby locals that I had not visited in awhile, among those Rutherford Swamp east of Nelsonville and The Ridges in Athens.  Frequently when I visit the Athens area, I like to take the back way home, along OH56 through Carbondale, Coonville, Starr, New Plymouth, and other small towns that nobody has ever heard of.  I truly believe that this stretch of OH56 has some of the most unique roadside botanical life of any 40 mile stretch of road in the state.

Near Carbondale a swamp can be found right next to the road, and this swamp always yields some interesting things, such as Water Hemlock.  Cicuta maculata, like many members of the carrot family, is extremely toxic.  Reports that I have heard is that consuming just a small quantity of this plant can cause 'violent vomiting'.  Not sure that I have ever experienced anything approaching violent vomiting, but I am sure that I never want to!

Another interesting plant in the swamp is Bur-reed.  I do not see it very often, and therefore it holds a special place for me.  The flowers are quite showy and the leaves almost have a succulent feel to them.

Blooming a little later in the summer will be Swamp Mallow with its gynormous, dinner-plate size flowers, and Button Bush, with its showy little floral balls, which the swallowtail butterflies will cling to for nectar.

Just around the corner from the swamp, a little farther west, is another wonderful little spot along OH56.  In this spot I have found Purple Milkweed and Four-leaf Milkweed, neither of which is as common as the more recognizable Butterfly Weed and Common Milkweed, both of which occur along this same stretch as well.  Also along this stretch is Leatherflower, a type of Clematis.  Much like the milkweeds above, Leatherflower does not qualify as rare, but it is a plant you don't see everyday, which gives it a special place for me!

I have also included a photo of a lovely spring found along this same stretch of highway in Carbondale. Sadly, this lovely orange water is a common feature of the southeast Ohio landscape.  The water in these parts is very iron-rich, and when that iron-rich water comes in contact with air, it turns orange.  For this reason, many people who live in these hills and hollows must invest in water treatment systems for their homes, so that their clothes, dishes, and everything else isn't stained orange.