Bill's Botanical Forays

Viola lanceolata

Viola eriocarpa

Viola cucullata – Marsh Violet

Spotlight on Christine McElroy

As the lead of the refuge plant inventory project, I would like to formally acknowledge the important contribution that Christine McElroy has made and is making with restoring voucher specimens in the Patuxent Research Refuge…

2018 Plant Inventory Progress Report – A Banner Year

[caption id="attachment_5251" align="alignleft" width="217"] Lightbox used for imaging the specimens.[/caption] 2018 was a banner year for the Patuxent Research Refuge (PRR) Plant Inventory Project (PIP) Team. The biggest event was the digital-imaging of about 4600…

16 February 2019 – My first encounter with Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides)

Today I had my first encounter with Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides). We saw it growing on trees throughout Florence, South Carolina. Spanish moss frequently grows on trees in tropical and subtropical regions. Around Florence at…

8 October 2018 – Washington County Cactus Foray

Today, Joe Metzger and I went on a foray to locate two populations of cactus in Washington County, Maryland. [caption id="attachment_5125" align="alignleft" width="312"] Voucher specimen of Opuntia cespitosa collected by Clyde Reed at Kemps Mill…

13 August 2018 – Queen Anne Canoe Launch

Had an awesome time today with Michael Ellis, park ranger and invasive plant specialist for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation. We visited two sites where prickly pear was growing.  …

11 August 2018 – Cactus in Elkridge

On the way home from Glen Arm, Maryland this morning, I stopped off at a location here in Elkridge where someone planted some prickly pear cactus evidently many years ago next to a parking lot. …

11 August 2018 – Cactus on Factory Road

This morning I attempted re-visit a site where Clyde Reed collected some cactus in 1981 which has been determined by Opuntia expert Lucas Majure to be Opuntia cespitosa. The site was on Factory Road in…

7 August 2018 – Cactus Foraying near Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary

After learning about some cacti located south of Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, David Anderson, Matthew Beziat, and I went on a foray to see if we could locate them. We found the cactus on a south…

3 August 2018 – Cactus Foraying at Wooton’s Landing

This time Matt Beziat and I forayed the Wooton's Landing Park to look for some cactus that Matt had spotted previously. We found it along the perimeter trail which parallels Sands Road. The small number…

28 July 2018 – Cactus at Jug Bay Wetland Sanctuary Parking Lot Meadow

Today, Matt Beziat, Dave Anderson, and I paid a visit to the meadow next to the Jug Bay Wetland Sanctuary Center parking lot to look for the cactus reportedly there. The meadow was well maintained…

14 July 2018 – Cactus at Milt’s Sand Pit

Today Sam Droege showed me a location where some Opuntia was growing along the east side of the Patuxent River along Sands Road in Davidsonville, MD in Anne Arundel County. There were scattered patches of…