Cemetery Botanizing,  Outdoors

Cemetery Botanizing – Corgey Cemetery | 2

Back to some more botanizing of cemeteries today! This one is a very tiny family cemetery, with one or two more recent burials. On aerial imagery this area is mostly undeveloped, some farm field and thick pine forests but when I arrived I found one of the pine forests clearcut for a housing development.

“Progress” continues onward…

Corgey Cemetery
There were a lot of Carolina anemones (Anemone caroliniana) here! I think I still love the tenpetal anemones better but I do love seeing these!

Corgey Cemetery

Corgey Cemetery
And then I found something interesting! The leaves were tall and they had what looked like sporangia on the back, which led me to thinking this was some kind of weird fern. The forked leaves reminded me a lot of staghorn ferns and celery ferns so my mind went to ferns for the longest.

Corgey Cemetery
But someone corrected my ways quickly and told me it was actually a rust fungus parasite of anemones called Ochropsora ariae. After I realized that, it clicked and I could see the leaf pattern of the anemones in these. The rust causes the leaves to deform and that’s why I didn’t initially associated them with the anemones. There was a lot of it there and I’m curious how it will affect the plants in future seasons.

Corgey Cemetery
Zizotes milkweed, Asclepias oentheroides. Since finding plants around my neighborhood last year I’m realizing how much more common this species is around here despite being on the edge of its eastern limits.

Corgey Cemetery
Aren’t they all lovely?

Corgey Cemetery
I’ve come to really love this plant, bulbous woodrush (Luzula bulbosa). We’re on its southwestern extent here and I love finding it! Again, it is one of those plants that is more prevalent than people presume because no one is out documenting it. I see it quite frequently.

Untitled
And finally, I went back to this cemetery for a drive-by after I went to another cemetery to try to take photos of a plant only to find it had been mowed recently (grumble, grumble) and thought this one might have something new in the ensuing weeks since I’d been there. Of course, I got there and it had also been mowed. *sigh* But I did find this threadleaf evening primrose (Oenothera linifolia) hiding in the grass.

What are you seeing this spring so far? I feel like the blooms are moving fast and I’m just trying to grasp onto what I can before it is gone for the year.

2 Comments

  • sonnia hill

    So many beauties and discoveries. Did you leave the location off for privacy? If not, please tell us where you were, county will do for curious folks like me. Thanks.

  • Tina

    All it takes is some time and paying attention–which you’ve done beautifully. Ten petal anemones are everywhere in my neighborhood, except for my garden! Ugh, mowers. Why can’t they leave things for a while???

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