Favoritos de radbackedsalamander

I was amazed to find this Sierran Treefrog trying to make a meal of a juvenile Taricha.

When I flipped the log the newt was upside down and in the frog's mouth, but was soon let go. The frog's tongue stuck out for a few seconds afterwards, I'd like to think due to awesome tetrodotoxin.

Pepperwood Preserve. Santa Rosa, California.

-pics 1,2,3,4 are from 7/1/2024.
-pics 5,6,7 are the same individual plants from 7/1/2023.
-pic 8 is the hibernaculum 10/4/2023.
-biggest sundews i’ve seen at location. i frequent this location, and am well-familiar with Drosera. this one always makes me wonder.
-it is far more robust and taller than surrounding intermedia, and rotundifolia. could this be characteristic ‘hybrid vigor’?
-location obscured. message me!

Sori mostly between margin and midvein (goldiana should be closer to midvein), sori of smaller upper pinnae marginal or nearly so, blade narrower than goldiana but otherwise similar in stature, texture, margins, and pinna taper, goldiana-type scales with broad central dark area, marginalis-type density of scales on lower stipe, growing with both goldiana and marginalis on rich slope.

The same plant as: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44768825

I wanted to take a picture from the underside of a leaf to see the spores but the leaf broke off, so i took some pictures of it. The plant is still healthy, the first picture of the plant was taken after the leaf broke off.

ID by Jesse Bellemare who show us these plants that have naturalized on the forested slope. Adding more than the usual number of observations to assist with the 2024 Western Mass City Nature Challenge Project. Thanks to fellow iNat folks for any and all ID verifications or comments.

Found fruits on the ground near the base of the parent plant. There were two plants total, one of the umbellets was purely staminate. Pedicels of the staminate flowers were usually near 3mm long.

Link to the flowering date of the same specimen: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118551921

Observed growing in an open electric right of way at the edge of an access road on sandy soil. This is the first observation of Scleria pauciflora documented in New Hampshire since 1833, and only the second observation in NH history.

Approximately 70 individuals were counted during the initial observation, all had immature fruit at that time.

The six tubercles on the hypogynium (shown in the last image) are distinct to S. pauciflora within the genus.

These plants have pubescence on both the stems and leaves, with hairs measuring less than 0.4 mm in length. This character places these plants as Scleria pauciflora var. pauciflora.

ID a bit uncertain, though this keys readily and quickly to this species in both Flora Novae-angliae and Gleason and Cronquist. The problem with the alternative, Chenopodium album, is that in that species the pericarp generally adheres quite tightly to the seed which is not true of the specimen. Also, in general, the leaves are too narrow and not toothed or lobed enough for C. Album. That said, the specimen does not seem to match perfectly the description for this species in various sources. The genus still seems to be in a bit of flux. Various sources treat the species differently, with Michigan Flora mentioning that even with Chenopodium album (common lambsquarters), not enough collections are available in good condition to assist with the species definition.

Not a perfect match to the type's palp illustration but close to the type locality and clearly not the sympatric L. sonoraense. matches somatic description, small sp w faint markings, no banding on legs.
w OL Chavez Torres and MA Leimroth

Thin-drift glacial till with abundant sand and gravel underlain by cumulate hornblende pyroxenite. Low-energy beach shore at drift line.

Population survey with the Maine Natural Areas Program. Land accessed with owner permission.

In a higher elevation pond (el. 1857 feet) with semi-floating bog mats (therefore low pH) but with plenty of open water. This species rarely fruits and has nearly identical looking cogeners, so it's nice to see in fruit. Additional leaf width photos show this can't be S. angustifolium which has leaves less than or equal to 5 mm. This is a watch-listed species with only 9 records in the last 40 years, though we may have a few unprocessed records. And it is definitively a northern species, where we (Massachusetts) have nearly the southernmost records. It is more common in northern New England, the Adirondacks, Nova Scotia and west to northern Minnesota.

Spotted on bank of cattle pond and then scurried into the water. No fencing or containment.

Note: To clarify, all signs indicate this is either a

1. Uncontained pet on private property
2. Deliberately abandoned pet
3. Escaped pet that has managed to travel to this location (if this option, not likely to have traveled far due to rural setting with few homes spaced 1/4mile to 1 mile+ apart and scarce water sources)

On iNat, this is very rare in New England. State listed as endangered in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I don't believe it is all that rare in Massachusetts (currently ranked an S4) but it is only known from two towns in Franklin County, one is where this observation occurs.

After much searching over several years, by myself and many others, I was finally able to relocate this known population of a very rare beak sedge. We only have two populations of this state-endangered species in Massachusetts and this one had been missing for more than a decade. This find is primarily the result of years of work by our staff at the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, especially Chris Buelow @cbuelow45 and the Western District staff to improve the conditions of this fen after years of beaver flooding. After I made the initial find, I had help from @karro_frost, @Doug_McGrady, and staff from The Nature Conservancy locating several more small populations. Together we were able to find about 300 stems in five spots, showing excellent recovery of this species. This appears to be the first iNat obs in New England for this species.