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NATURE / OUTDOORS
Here are some nature stories, outdoors tips and photos.
National and local coverage... | |
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 Shenk's
Ferry I
Lancaster County, PA
5/14/08
Mark Burchick
Shenk's Ferry I
Holtwood Environmental Preserve on the
Susquehanna River
Lancaster County, PA
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Shenk's Ferry Road tunnel.
Shenk's Ferry is a 50-acre subset of the
Holtwood Environmental Preserve and is
touted as having incredible displays of
spring ephemeral wildflowers, especially
trilliums, which number in the millions.
My wife and I took the day off to check
it out. If not for the Garmin nuvi
680 we would have never found this
place.
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Shenk's Ferry trail head.
We walked a recommended loop trail
that more or less followed a series
of streams, and rocky, steep slopes,
within primarily mature and
old-growth forest. The big
show is clearly the erect trillium,
Virginia bluebell and Dutchman's
breeches display of mid-April.
The nature of ephemeral wildflowers
is that of "aspect dominance",
with a dramatically different set of
wildflowers every two-weeks from
late March through late May.
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This is a bank of false Solomon
seal, and we saw many aggregates of
this wildflower at peak bloom. |
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This photo is the underbelly of true
Solomon seal that flowers along the
axils of the leaves instead of the
terminal flower cluster of the false
Solomon seal. |
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Here's a patch of false Solomon
seal. |
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The succulent stonecrop was common
in shady rock-outcroppings.
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Wild geranium was common throughout
the woods. |
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Ok, here is a wild, wildflower, the
inflorescence head of carrion-flower
at near peak bloom. This
Smilax is very similar to our
common greenbriar vine, but smells
like dead meat. Not all
pollination occurs due to the sweet
smell of spring flowers. A
rare few flowers smell like rotting
flesh and attract flies for
pollination. My wife was
amazed at this one and she did the
sniff test. Sure enough, rancid
death! |
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Here is the unfurling leaves of the
carrion-flower. |
<
CLICK HERE FOR PART II >
Submitted by Mark Burchick
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