Pennsylvania Game News - June 2010 - 55

woods that sports a cluster of yellowish, bell-shaped flowers. It was this clintonia that was named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York from 1796 until 1828. Nature writer Henry David Thoreau once complained in his journal “What is he to the lovers of flowers in Massachusetts . . . Name your canals and railroads after Clinton, but his name is not associated with flowers.” Thoreau was wrong. Clinton may have been a politician, but he was also an enthusiastic naturalist who published books on natural history and science. Both clintonia species have the same two to three broad, shining basal leaves and their flowers grow on a single, leafless stalk. But Clintonia borealis produces in mid-August a unique shade of deep blue berries, “like polished lapis-lazuli,” one author says, “Persian blue mixed with a little white,” another maintains, hence, its alternate name “blue-bead lily.” Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) or “dwarf cornel” also produces berries in late August, but they are small, compact clusters of scarlet berries that Inuit supposedly relish. Closely related to flowering dogwood, it has four, showy, white bracts that surround a cluster of tiny, greenish flowers elevated on a short stem above a whorl of six yellowish-green leaves. Beds of Canada mayflower (Maianthemem canadense) reminded me of the thick ground cover this wildflower formed in Maine and here in our small deer exclosure. Also known as “false lily-of-thevalley” it, like clintonia, is a member of the Lily Family. Its terminal cluster of small, 4-pointed white flowers blossom on a zigzag stem above two or three heart-shaped leaves that clasp the stem. It grows from Labrador to Tennessee and, in late autumn,
JUNE 2010

birds eat its small, round, red or speckled berries. One flower was new to me, which is always a thrill — herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum), also called “red-shanks” and “dragon’s blood,” because of its reddish stem. I was reminded of our 4-year-old granddaughter, Elanor, who loves dragon stories, when I learned about “dragon’s blood.” How much more child-pleasing that name would be instead of the rather dull “herb-Robert.” Closely related to the more common wild geranium, it has paired small, pink flowers and fernlike leaves. In Pennsylvania, it likes to grow in moist, wooded, rocky slopes and ravines. Jack-in-the-pulpit and Indian cucumber root, both common in our hollow, completed our flower list on land, and yellow bullhead-lilies floated on the lake. As residents of a dry mountaintop, we were especially charmed by the lake residents. Eva stalked the large and small midland painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) basking on logs in a backwater near the water’s edge, but no matter how quietly she moved, they always tumbled into the water before she crept close enough for good photos. It was a clear, cool day, so the turtles were basking. After spending the cold months hibernating in the mud at the bottom of the lake, midland turtles need a water temperature of 50 degrees to become active. But feeding and most courting and mating don’t happen until the water temperature reaches 68 degrees. No doubt, those bullhead lilies provided some of the vegetable food for the turtles. We also looked at the birds attracted by the water. A pair of mallards accompanied by seven golden ducklings swam near the shore. Farther out, posing on a snag in
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Pennsylvania Game News - June 2010

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