Highlights
May 2021 - Bioreserve Hike, Turtle Walk
INFO ALERT - We're back!!! May's Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve Walk
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to pause our monthly walks from April of 2020 to yesterday, May 8, 2021.
Hikers in the woods on a wonderful, though overcast, May morning. Hurrah!.jpg)
May wildflowers, such as this wild geranium, are blooming in the forest. Here's a little more on the wild geranium from one of our past newsletters:
The wild geranium is a common spring wildflower in area woodlands. It is flowering now …May thru June.
Wild geranium is perennial, grows from a rhizome and reaches two feet in height. The flowering stem has opposite leaves. Basal leaves and the leaves of the flowering stems are similar in appearance. All leaves are hairy and deeply palmate with five lobes. Leaf margins have secondary lobes. The leaves are coarsely toothed.
It does best when growing from moist, humus-rich, acidic soil under partial shade. It is one of our easiest native woodland flowers to grow in a home wildflower garden.
Geranium is derived from the Greek word for “crane.” The wild geranium’s long, thin seed pod resembles a crane’s beak. The seed capsules split when the seeds are fully mature. The splitting of the capsules propels the seeds away from the parent plant hopefully to an adjacent spot where there will be similarly favorable soil for germination. This form of seed dispersal means one generally finds colonies of wild geraniums rather than just single, individual plants.
An earlier name for the wild geranium was alumroot. Since ancient times the mineral alum was used as a coagulant, styptic, astringent, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic. Wild geranium’s tannin rich rhizome has these same properties and was highly valued in early New England. A poultice made from the mashed rhizome was used to treat burns. Wild geranium root tannins were also used by Indians for tanning hides.
Today, some folks still use wild geranium tinctures and extracts medicinally and it can be found in health and herbal stores.
Wild geranium is perennial, grows from a rhizome and reaches two feet in height. The flowering stem has opposite leaves. Basal leaves and the leaves of the flowering stems are similar in appearance. All leaves are hairy and deeply palmate with five lobes. Leaf margins have secondary lobes. The leaves are coarsely toothed.
It does best when growing from moist, humus-rich, acidic soil under partial shade. It is one of our easiest native woodland flowers to grow in a home wildflower garden.
Geranium is derived from the Greek word for “crane.” The wild geranium’s long, thin seed pod resembles a crane’s beak. The seed capsules split when the seeds are fully mature. The splitting of the capsules propels the seeds away from the parent plant hopefully to an adjacent spot where there will be similarly favorable soil for germination. This form of seed dispersal means one generally finds colonies of wild geraniums rather than just single, individual plants.
An earlier name for the wild geranium was alumroot. Since ancient times the mineral alum was used as a coagulant, styptic, astringent, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic. Wild geranium’s tannin rich rhizome has these same properties and was highly valued in early New England. A poultice made from the mashed rhizome was used to treat burns. Wild geranium root tannins were also used by Indians for tanning hides.
Today, some folks still use wild geranium tinctures and extracts medicinally and it can be found in health and herbal stores.
A feral grape hyacinth encountered on yesterday's walk.
Grape hyacinths are native to Eurasia and often, like daffodils, narcissus and daylilies, escape to the wild. In the Bioreserve we've encountered them before near Cedar Swamp and Copicut Roads, at Doctor Durfee's Mill Pond and in the Ledge area ...although the Assonet Ledge colony has probably been ground into dust by now thanks to a dysfunctional DCR.
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ACTIVITY ALERT - June's Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve - The Turtle Walk
A walk to see if we can find a local turtle out and about searching for the ideal location to lay her eggs. We may be fortunate enough to locate one already in the process of digging her egg chamber. And, it is possible that we may take a short walk and see no turtles at all.
This spring's Turtle Walk will be June 5, first Saturday of the month, at 7 a.m. Meet at Fighting Rock Corner at the intersection of Wilson, Bell Rock and Blossom Roads. Due to the terrible condition of some roads in the Bioreserve we suggest you come via Wilson Road, Fall River.
Length of walk 1 to 2 miles. Wear appropriate walking/hiking shoes. On walks from now to October insect repellent a good idea to have.
Painted turtle eggs hatch after an incubation period of three or more months. If they hatch too late in the fall they will overwinter in the egg chamber. Note the belly-button on this little turtlette and the egg tooth on the front of its face that it used to break its way out of its egg shell.
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A spotted turtle with a muddy head on the stream bank preparing to lay her eggs.
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Do you know your local turtles? What species is this?
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