Field trip to the Kellogg Nature Center

Clicking on any of the small pictures below will bring up a larger version of the same picture.

Inside the Interpretation Center, there was a tropical arboretum showing what Michigan was like ages ago. Note the wide, partially above ground tree roots that give stability to tall trees in a rain forest environment.

These plants grow along the wall, but they would be growing on the sides of trees and the forest floor when Michigan was a tropical forest.

Looking through the dense foliage, you can see students from the class at the other side of the area looking at the plants growing in the water

"Notice how the leaves are large and thick and grow at an angle to the ground so the water will run off them", said Sarah, our guide for our visit to the Center.

And some of the leaves are split so the water can run right through the leaves. These are survival mechanisms for a tropical rain forest plant.

Students look more closely at the tropical plants and marvel that this was what Michigan once had as native flora.

From the Center windows, you could see the canopy of the current Michigan forest

Among the canopy were the blossoms of a Michigan sugar maple. Remember, the Genus of these tree's is Acer

In the woods later we got a closer look at these blossoms as Sarah held them up for us to examine more closely.

The group of students, pencils and notebooks in hand, start off on a trip through the forest. You can see the center in the background and a volunteer from the center to help Sarah show the local flora to our Botany class. Smell this crushed wild garlic.

Allium tricoccum: Wild leeks grow here. Can you smell them? These appear in large clumps of bright green leaves. A flower appears in July. The bulbs of the Leek is edible both raw and dried. Did you know the Menominee Indians called the Wild Leek sikaku'ahia. The word shika'ko means "skunk place" and that name was given to the woods where Wild Leeks grew.

Look at the families of Trout Lily: Erythronium americanum. The mottled appearance of the leaf resembles the skin of a Brook Trout. The Trout Lily is also referred to as Yellow Adder's Tongue or Dog-Tooth Violet (descriptive of the roots).

Trout Lily: Erythronium americanum Note the brown and green mottled elliptical leaf. The leaf is singular until the 6th or 7th year when there is enough photosynthetic energy in the bulb to produce a yellow flower and a second leaf.

Now you can see the flower of the Trout lily. It is a cool April morning. This flower will open as the morning warms.

And now, the Trout lily (leaf resembles the skin of a Brook Trout) is warmer and open!

Look closely at an oak leaf and a maple leaf from the forest floor. Notice that the maple leaf is almost transparent? Much light can get through the bare trees to the early blooming plants below... even if the grown is still covered with maple leaves. But the oak leaf has just started to decay... only some holes in the slowly decaying leaves will permit some sunlight to reach the plants under these leaves.

Cut-Leaved Toothwort Dentaria laciniata

The word "wort" comes from the old English word "wyrt" which means plant or root. The root-stock of this plant has a number of prominent teeth, thus.....Toothwort. As you a viewing this plant in the field, you will notice leaves sharply divided and ending in long tapering points. The flower is arranged with four white or pinkish petals arranged in the shape of a cross.

See the baby maple tree? It is actually smaller than the spring plants competing with it for the spring sun.

You can see here one of the "fenced" areas to keep the deer and the other animals from devouring the young trees and plants. Can you see how many more tiny trees there are in here than in the open? They have to have limited harvesting of the deer in the center to keep over population from destroying both the nature center and the herds of deer. Starving animals will do a long of damage as they try to eat anything. Maintaining a good balance between the animals and the fauna of the nature center is a difficult, but necessary part of the center's work.

Note the "Marker system" used in the Nature Center for public education of the name of the plants. Note the name listed: Common blue violet. The genus Viola and then sp. We do not know exactly which specie of Violet this is so the practice is to list this as .....sp.

Here is a closer shot of the flowers

Look inside the flower of the Dutchman's Breeches.. Dicentra cucullaria. Sarah shows the students, how the pollination of this Dicentra cucullaria takes place. Notice these students carry a field guide to take notes on specific plant structures and characteristics they are observing.

These 2 plants below belong to the same genus Dicentra. The plant on the left is Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's Breeches) with fern-like leaves. The plant on the right is Dicentra canadensis. It too has fern-like leaves however, the flower is heart-shaped and has a rounded base rather than long spurs. Squirrel corn is named for its bright yellow tubers which resemble kernels of corn.

Sarah points to the Harbinger of Spring. It is one of the first wildflowers to blossom, hence its name. Looking carefully you can see the finely divided carrot-like leaf. Soon to appear is a very tiny flower with umbel of white petals and dark anthers which bear the pollen.

No wonder it was hard to see. Note the tiny flowers

Look at all the moss growing on this decaying tree and stump. The tree may not be alive anymore, but it still serves life in the forest very well.

Here is another example of fungi on a tree branch:

Note the Educational label that helps us learn these plants by common name and Scientific name. The White Trillium: Trillium grandiflorum is a plant characteristic of three large white petals and three green sepals and three large bright green leaves.

IMPORTANT: Trillium is Protected by Michigan Law because it is on the endangered specie list. It is against the law to pick or transplant.

Look how tall and straight this tree grows!! Yellow popular was used for lumber when there was not enough pine or other more desirable trees available.

The educational marker once again helps us identify with accuracy this wild flower. Podophyllum peltatum: Mayapple.

Underneath the umbrella-like leaves the fruit will appear. Although you can eat a fully ripe May Apple, the plant and the unripe fruit are poisonous. Sarah, our guide, told us that the Indians and early settlers used to pick the ripe may apple and then bury it for 2 days so they were sure it was completely ripe.

Here are some rose bushes growing even in the dense forest. At one time, the extension office recommended that farmers plant these on their fence lines to provide shelter for the animals. Unfortunately, they are a very, very hardy plant and soon took over all available space... providing some shelter, but killing most of the native plants that were growing on the fence rows before they were planted. So many of the animals that now have shelter no longer had food and had to move to another location.

Until recently, this stream was so filled with silt and debris that even though it is cold enough for trout, native trout could not grow in it. But after considerable effort by volunteers of the nature center, the stream was cleaned up and deepened enough so that the water now flows swiftly and trout will be able to again live in this water.

Look at the rough bark on this tree.

Here the Symplocarpus foetidus: Skunk Cabbage grows at the edge of the stream. These large cabbage-like leaves give off a skunk-like order when crushed. It has been said that a group of Indians inhaled the odor from crushed leaves to cure headaches.

Note the Caltha palustris: Marsh Marigolds. The flower appears as 5-10 bright yellow waxy petal-like sepals. They grow in water or very wet areas. As cows traveled down the stream then would slip on these plants thus they plant is also know as the "cow-slip".

Sarah picked one of the flowers of the skunk cabbage for us so she could explain it to us.

Look closely at the blossom. Notice how it looks like rotting mushrooms?

Smell the blossom!! Can you guess how the skunk cabbage got its name? Every plant in the forest that relies on insects for pollination must compete with all the other plants to get the pollinating flies to come to it and allow it to complete its life cycle by pollinating its flowers. This plant seeks to attract beetles by sending out an enticing aroma (enticing this is if you are a beetle!!)

Notice this fungi at the base of an old tree. Like the mosses, the fungi use the end of the life cycle of one species of flora to enhance the life of another.

Remember the trillium: Trillium grandiflorum. Another excellent view of this endangered wildflower

Remember the wild leeks we saw at the beginning of our field trip. Again they are Allium tricoccum. Note they are in the Allium genus(onion). If you crush the leaves you will note that. Well here is one with the dried fruit left from the previous year. It is hard to see against the dried leaves in the background

Note the Moss here. If you look carefully with a field hand lens you will see the sporophyte.

Here the class stand on a bridge over the spring water looking at the fauna (lots of marsh marigolds) growing in the moist earth created by the springs. Even in January when the snow covers the ground or in August when the dogs lay in the shade and pant to try to cool themselves, the water from this spring is 54 degrees.

Here you can see the marsh marigolds they were looking at more closely. Notice the spring water flowing among them.

Among the marigolds in the most ground you can also see the Equisetum or horsetails that the Indians and early settlers of the region used to scrub their cooking utensils and outer cleaning chores due to the silica gel within this plant

Just in case you were not certain what they were, here you can see the Field label next to the marigolds . Note their habitat is moist thus close to springs as you see here.

Here is an excellent view of the Sharp-Lobed Hepatica: Hepatica acutiloba. The leaves resemble the lobes of a human liver. Because of this, often this plant was used to treat liver ailments. Note the 6-7 petal-like sepals in shades of pink, pale blue to lavender and white.

You can easily see reddish leaves, mottled with brown, heart-shaped at the base with three pointed lobes.

Again, another good example of Dicentra canadensis: Squirrel corn. The leaves resemble Dutchman's breeches however, the flower is the corn kernel shape.

Once this small stream was dammed because somebody wanted to put a sawmill here and have the stream turn the wheel. You can still see some signs of the mill pond behind that old dam, but it was not very many years before the mill did not make enough money to keep it and the river soon burst free and the land went back to what it was before the dam was built.

Blue-Eyed Mary: Collinsia verna. This plant grows each year from seed so unlike the perennials that grow in huge clumps in various sites in the forest, these can be found as single flowers here or there in the forest.

We were treated to a visit from a young muskrat on our fieldtrip, but I was so slow in getting my camera focused on the shy beast that all I could get a picture of was its tracks at the edge of the stream.

Recognize these vines? They are hairy. That should warn you not to touch this poison oak. Even though there are no leaves and it looks quite dead, there is enough residual toxin in this late developing vine to make your skin break out even before the leaves, buds, or pollinating flowers appear. And don't count on the fact that you have never reacted to its toxin in the past. Eight out of 10 people are susceptible to the plants poison and many don't develop a reaction until late in their lives. Avoid all hairy vines.. better safe than itchy and bandaged.

This tree is called a muscle tree. It even feels like a taut muscle when you touch it.

Here you can see a bit more of the tree.

After touching it, the class moves on, starting our trip back to the bus and home.

But we follow a different trail back and along the way we see a tree we saw earlier. Can you name it?

Look how tall and straight it grows.

Here, in the shade of a hill, the May apples are just beginning to come up. Here is one just opening.

and here are many emerging.

Here a student uses the magnifying glass provided by the center to look at the pollen in this flower.

Just look at this hillside full of flowers. Can you hear the buzz of all the insects gathering nectar and pollinating the flowers? There are certainly here.

This trail is more in the sun than the one we took out and it is later in the day as well. Here you can see a beautiful yellow violet blooming brightly against a fallen limb.

Not far away was a white one.

Look, here is another blue eyed Mary. Although you never know for certain where they will bloom, it is a wonderful surprise when we see them.

Although we saw the violets earlier, these purple violets seemed especially pretty in the bright sun.

Remember that lovely spring with all the marsh marigolds? Well, this is the other side of that hill. You won't guess that there was a spring and all that beauty on the other side, would you?

Oh, My. Look at what we have here!!! It is a .Garlic mustard plant.. Pull it out!!! This invading species grows rapidly and crowds out the native plant life. The center has to work hard to control the spread of this pest.

And with that final attempt to make the nature center better, we finally reach the end of the trail, and our trip, and head back home. We hope you enjoyed coming along on our field trip to Kellogg Nature Center. It is now time review your notes and write your field trip report

Here are the images captured by the other camera person on the fieldtrip. Can you "guess" what the Genus and specie is of these wildflowers AND can you then predict their needs to flower? Also, in what part of the Nature Center did you see these spring wildflowers?( How does this question relate to the previous one)?