It might be mid-August, but staff phenologist John Latimer is already seeing signs of fall. That’s not stopping him from enjoying the rest of the summer though!
Topics
- Introduction (0:00-0:25)
- First fall colors (0:25-3:24)
- Dogwoods (2:25-4:49)
- Identifying baneberries (4:49-7:09)
- Hazels (7:09-8:01)
- Burdock (8:01-9:26)
- Rattlesnake plantain (9:26-11:52)
- Ghost pipe* (11:52-13:08)
- Edible fruits (13:08-14:13)
- American or showy mountain ash (14:13-15:10)
- Asters, goldenrod, tansy, bergamot (15:10-15:38)
- Dragonflies and ants (15:38-16:43)
- Stem-nesting bees (16:43-18:01)
- Conclusion (18:01-18:29)
*Correction: Ghost pipe plants are parasitic, but not on plants. They steal energy and nutrients from fungi in the family Russelaceae. In turn, the fungi steal energy from green, photosynthetic plants.
A (doll's) eye for detail
One of the summer activities John enjoys is watching the wildflowers and monitoring the fruit production in the nearby forest. One group of plants that’s caught his attention are the baneberries. In Minnesota, we have two species: the white baneberry (also known as the doll's-eye baneberry, since it looks a bit like a cartoon eyeball) and the red baneberry.
With names like those, you’d think their fruit would be easy to distinguish. Before this week, I certainly never felt the need to go further than looking at the fruit – If I saw a white fruit, it was a doll's-eye baneberry. If it was red, it was a red baneberry. Easy peasy!
As I’m reminded at least four times a year, everything in nature requires a closer look – there's always more than meets the eye. As John pointed out, the red baneberry can frustratingly produce both white and red berries.
This wouldn’t be so bad if both colors were intermixed on the same plant, but some red baneberry plants produce exclusively white fruits. For someone who isn’t looking closely, those plants become perfectly disguised as doll's-eye baneberries.
Sure enough, those “doll's-eye baneberries” along my driveway were red baneberries in disguise. So sneaky!
Baneberry identification
Without further ado, here’s John’s trick to distinguish the two: look at the stems holding the fruit. If a white fruit is on a thin stalk (like a marshmallow held on an uncooked spaghetti noodle), it’s a red baneberry. If it’s on a thick stalk (like a marshmallow on a chopstick), it’s a doll's-eye baneberry.
Here are a few pictures to show the difference – no more botanical bafflement for you!
What's baffling you these days? Let us know; email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.
That does it for this week! For more phenology, subscribe to our Season Watch Newsletter or visit the Season Watch Facebook page.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
