#saururus

Back to the chert barrens, Wild Cat Glades, MO. 

Riparian zone, chert glades budding directly up to the banks of shoal creek, the habitat remains rather open and dry, many upland forbes associated with open prairie with decent soil occur here along with many riparian grass since some alluvium is present along the banks. The aquatic section is somewhat intact for once, 

Saururus cernuus , lizzard tail, a plant that smells like root beer when crushed and a species known for bank stabilization along clean water ways and streams with karst cobble. In most cases it is a bank stabilizer though chert is insoluble and hard to weather so I don’t think it is going anywhere. 

The Riparian zone is a bit more complex but here is what was noticeably dominant:

The trees and scrub present are that of post oak/Quercus stellata that are krumholtzed, button bush/Cephalanthus occidentalis , and Viburnum dentatum are more present along with eastern sycamore/  Platanus occidentalis(occident means “of the west” but the western usa has a western sycamore so this name refers to how Europeons thought of North America as the “west”.

Sub shrubs and vines tend to be   Toxicodendron radicans, and a Rubus spp. (one of the uncommon/rare ones because I can’t find this species anywhere on I nat and I even tried to do the classic bonap comparison, I think I need to start collecting herbarium specimens of Rubus spp. so I can key). Campsis radicans is also present too.

While the Missouri goldenrods and bluestem goldenrods were not in bloom a few forbes were: Echinacea purpurea and Ratibida pinnata.

Saururus cernuus

One of the things that I am most excited to see in bloom this coming field season is this population of lizard tail, I had no idea that this species was around Clifton Gorge and it was really cool to find these along the calcareous gravel bars along the main tributary as it is very different from the usual suspects that we commonly see. This species is in it’s own family, a very old family with only two extant members, the other species being found in China, both having a wetland habit.  Saururaceae>Piperales> > > Magnoliids