A Visit to Cedar Bog in Champaign County, Ohio, June 6, 2016

Tom and I spent several pleasant hours at Cedar Bog on Monday.  We made the trip because we had seen on Facebook that the Showy Lady-slippers (Cypripedium reginae) were blooming.  We found them shortly after we started down the trail.

The bog  has a boardwalk through it which makes it easy for Tom on his scooter.

 There have been some improvements. There are now helpful signs that explain  special features of the bog and also comment on the plants and animals found there.  I think I would have noticed them if they had been up in 2012 since we were with Tom's best friend who was in the plant nursery business most of his life.  Gary would have liked reading them.

I remember from my first visit to the bog 35 years ago that Terry told us that Cedar Bog is really a fen.  To remember the difference between a bog and a fen, he told us, "Bogs clog, Fens flow".

This sign shows the streams in blue that flow through the fen (Cedar Bog).  The pale lines are the boardwalk.

I was expecting lots of mosquitoes so I sprayed myself with plenty of insect repellent.  I have been at the bog when they have been fierce.  On this day, a steady breeze was blowing and the insects weren't a problem.

We found lots of Lady-slippers. We also found other plants and we met a botanist who was doing a survey who identified some of them for us.  In particular, he showed us a Poison Sumac which we had heard of but never come across.  I had already noticed the sign describing it but I didn't concentrate on it as I should have.  I was glad to have the plant pointed out to me since I am extremely allergic to poison ivy, one of its relatives.

The botanist also identified a Meadow-Rue for us, first by the botanical name which I didn't remember.  He gave me a common name also which I also didn't remember but I did remember that he said the plant has purple nodes on its stem.  I posted the photo on Ohio's Wildflowers and Flora where a botanist was kind enough to identify it as most likely Thalictrum dasycarpum.  One common name that I found in one of my wildflower field guides is Purple meadow-rue.

The same botanist on Ohio's Wildflowers and Flora identified the rest of these photos.  I am pleased my niece sent me the address for this site.  People post beautiful photos on it and many people are kind and help with identification.

Shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolious)

Great Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)

Indian Plantain (Cacalia)