My last day in the field with Morgan was Friday, June 15. We returned to Pilot Barrens to capture an enormous patch of maidenhair fern in the shade at the edge of a grassland. Pilot is regularly fire-maintained, and has a beautiful, diverse array of serpentine grassland species, including some large, dense patches of few-flowered nutrush (Scleria pauciflora). I captured a few of them in observations: the ragwort and lobelia are just going out now but still make a lovely yellow-and-pale blue display. Fameflower is present on some exposed sites, but does not yet seem to be blooming.

The visit captured some interesting species. I found a shrub that may be shrubby St. John's wort (Hypericum proliferum) and a meadow spikemoss (Selaginella apoda or S. eclipes). I saw the latter on a barrens for the first time last month at Chrome. Maybe I've just been overlooking it, but it's interesting to see a lycophyte on the barrens. Normally we only see ground-cedar (Diphasiastrum digitatum) in piny woods over serpentine. Finally, and most interestingly, I found what seemed to be 3 stalks of wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum), which I see on occasion at Nottingham. This turns out to be SH for Maryland! I'll be going back to get better pictures and a more extensive survey.

All in all, a highly productive (7 sites in 3.5 days) visit which I hope will extend our knowledge of maidenhair fern ecology.

Posted on June 19, 2018 06:13 PM by choess