September 2021

Welcome to the iSpy Native Plant and Animal Search! Below, you'll find this month's species.

1.a. Common Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus

Leaves: Opposite and oval shaped. Can have smooth or wavy-toothed edges. Leaves can sometimes be hairy on the undersides. 
Flowers: Small, pink to white, and bell shaped, typically in small clusters. Bloom time: May-August.
Fruit: White berries. Fruit ripens: September-October, persisting through winter.
Distribution: Snowberry is found in in dry to moist open forests, clearings, and rocky slopes. It is very adaptable to different conditions.
Uses: While Snowberry leaves, flowers and berries are useful food for a wide variety of animals, including bees, birds, caterpillars, deer and even bears, they have been recorded as poisonous to humans. In addition, they offer habitat or cover for birds and small animals like rabbits. Many parts of the plant have been historically useful to native people.

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48523-Symphoricarpos-albus

1.b. Spotted Towhee - Pipilo maculatus

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9420-Pipilo-maculatus

2.a. Red Osier Dogwood - Cornus sericea or Cornus stolonifera

Stems: The bark and twigs are reddish to purple and fairly smooth from autumn to late spring; after the leaves have fallen, the deep burgundy branches add color to the winter landscape. The bark, twigs, and leaves are bright green in spring through summer.
Leaves: The simple, opposite leaves are 2-4 in long, with smooth margins, rounded bases, pointed tips, and falsely parallel veins.
Flowers: Arranged in a cluster of small white to cream-colored flowers. Flowering occurs from June to August.
Fruit: White berries, smooth on the faces, furrowed on the sides. The fruit ripens in late summer, and besides being available through the fall, some of the berries may persist on the plants into the winter months.
Uses: Wildlife browse the twigs, foliage, and fruits. A large variety of birds eat the fruit, from Cedar Waxwing to Grouse. The shrubs provide excellent nesting habitat for songbirds. Mammals that eat the fruit and foliage include bear, beaver, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels and more. Other mammals like deer and elk browse the twigs and foliage.

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53387-Cornus-sericea

3.b. Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/7428-Bombycilla-cedrorum

3.a. Kinnikinnick or Bearberry- Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Stems: A long, flexible stem comes from a single root system and branches into a system of trailing stems that may send out roots periodically. The textured branches are initially white to pale green, becoming smooth and red-brown with maturity.
Leaves: Simple, evergreen leaves, alternately arranged on branches. Each leaf is held by a twisted leaf stalk, vertically. The leathery dark green leaves are an inch long and have rounded tips tapering back to the base. In fall, the leaves begin changing from a dark green to a reddish-green to purple.
Flowers: Terminal clusters of small bell or urn-shaped, white to pink flowers. Bloom from May to June, Fruit: Round, fleshy or mealy, bright red to pink fruits called drupes. This smooth, glossy skinned fruit will range from 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. The fruit will persist on the plant into early winter.
Distribution: This long-lived, low growing shrub is very cold tolerant. This plant prefers coarse, well to excessively drained soils of forests, sand dunes, bald or barren areas. It does not tolerate moist or off-drained sites. Although bearberry is often found growing in the open on sand dunes, it grows well under partial shade of forest canopies.
Uses: The fruit is eaten by a few species of songbirds and game animals. Deer will sometimes browse the foliage lightly.

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68049-Arctostaphylos-uva-ursi

4.a. Sitka Mountain Ash - Sorbus sitchensis

Leaves: Winter buds and young growth are covered with rusty-red hairs and are not sticky. Pinnately compound leaves have 7-11 bluish-green leaflets.  Leaflets are rounded at the tip and coarsely toothed from ¾ of the margin to the tip – to nearly entire.
Flowers: White flowers are borne in round-topped clusters.
Fruit: Pinkish to orange-red berry-like clusters.
Distribution: Grows 3-12 feet (1-4m) in open forests, clearings, streambanks, and avalanche slopes; often on drier, nitrogen-poor soils.
Uses: Sitka Mountain Ash fruit remains on the plant until late winter, making it valuable as winter forage for many upland gamebirds, songbirds, and small mammals.  The foliage and twigs are browsed by deer and elk. Black bear and grizzly bear also eat the berries, leaves, and stems. Flowers are pollinated by insects. It is useful for streambank revegetation projects.

Learn more about identification here: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48583-Sorbus-sitchensis

Sources:

-http://nativeplantspnw.com/common-snowberry-symphoricarpos-albus/
-https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_cose16.pdf
-https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_aruv.pdf
-http://nativeplantspnw.com/sitka-mountain-ash/

Publicado el agosto 5, 2021 09:51 TARDE por clarkpudstreamteam clarkpudstreamteam