09-05-14 Phenology Field Note

09-05-14 Phenology Field Note

September 5, 2014

Prairie Wolfe's Phenology Field Note details virgin's bower seeds, rabbitbrush, and a black widow spider and her egg sac.

Download (1.82 MB)

Phenology Field Note Seeds and Weeds Prairie Wolfe September 3, 2014

Phenology locations

The soft cotton ball-like seed heads of falsedandelion contrasted with waving green grasses (Agoseris glauca, floodplain).

The plumose tails of virgin’s bower seeds adorned shrubs in the floodplain (Clematis ligusticifolia).

Nodding onion seeds ripen from green to black. They prove difficult to collect; a high percentage crumble under light pressure (Allium cernuum).

Up high, a few false Soloman’s-seal individuals managed to produce ripe berries despite the majority of the population succumbing to dry conditions this summer (Maianthemum racemosum, Baldy).

Yellow salsify appeared senesced, but put on another flush of flowers with the late summer moisture.

Yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) grows in several locations in the center pivot. This species is listed as a Category 1 noxious weed in the state of Montana; I pulled it after snapping a photo.