The Question: I’m hoping you can help identify this plant. It has us stumped! We were hiking in the Adirondack Mountains and caught some of the early wildflowers. Spring beauty, trout lily and trillium are blooming. This one had buds but no blooms, but I figured it would be easy to identify by the distinctive [...]
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What is causing this vinegar smell?
The Question: Whenever I walk by this certain house, there’s a noticeable smell, like vinegar, but more chemical. Very hard to pinpoint the source. Now at the same time, they had a giant white oak cut down, and some of the 5-foot diameter rounds from the trunk are still in the yard, freshly cut. Is [...]
What is this wildflower?
The Question: It’s nettleish even deadnettleish…hairy stems, bush like, so far about four feet, has round spiky balls and out of each spike a tiny—(three or four would fit on a dime) pinkish purple blossom grows out of each spike, and the blossoms look like tiny orchids or irises in shape. Leaves are toothy but [...]
Is Indian Pipe Rare?
The Question: I enjoyed your article on the Indian Pipe (at CuriousNature.net). I live in SE Wisconsin and I was thrilled to find some of these wonderful plants in my wooded yard. How rare is this plant? I have lived in this area all most all of my 50 years and have not seen one [...]
How do you identify Poison Sumac?
The Question: How do you identify Poison sumac? Submitted by: Ellie, Wilmington, MA The Short Answer: Poison sumac is a large shrub or small tree found in wet areas. It has compound leaves with 7-13 smooth-edged leaflets, as shown in figure 1. The stalk of the compound leaf is reddish. To differentiate poison sumac from [...]