Highlights
DECEMBER 2023 - Dec. Bioreserve Hike
ACTIVITY ALERT - December's hike in the forest this past Saturday!
Saturday morning's walk. Checking the route. Photo by Liz.
Saturday morning dawned sunny and bright with the temperature in the forties. A perfect December day for a walk in the forest. Winter will be here in a few short days and remain until the Vernal Equinox on March 19, 11:06 P.M., 2024.
A southern New England deciduous forest in winter shows mostly shades of grey and brown with stands of evergreen trees, mainly white pine and pitch pine, here and there. If you look carefully and closely, as you walk along, you might find some of our increasingly threatened and rare smaller "evergreen" species.
Here are three of them, below, rapidly disappearing from the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve due to lack of protection and proper management by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Rock tripe is the common name for lichens in the Umbilicaria genus that grow on rocks and ledges.
Hartford fern or climbing fern stays green all winter.
The rattlesnake plantain is in the orchid family. The last colony of this interesting plant, that we know of in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, was destroyed by DCR allowing near constant dirt bike activity. If anyone finds this plant in the bioreserve please let us know.
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