For an uneventful albeit hot ride of 46 miles today, my mind wanders to the untended spaces next to bike trails that are often a cornucopia of wonderful and wild plants. The OVRT/Algonquin trial is no exception to this. While I can identify about half the plants I find, to discern the others I rely on Google lens, which can be error-prone. So excuse me if there are some misidentifications.
Unlike many other trails Ted and I have explored, I found only a couple of highly poisonous plants, like wild parsnip and poison hemlock. (In the pictures, the plants referenced here start on the upper left and move clockwise for each collection.)
Among my favorite finds are two clumps of showy lady’s slippers on the edge of the K&P trail. I marvel at their delicacy and the fact that they are untouched in plain sight. An additional find was a large mushroom in the gravel at the intersection of the K&P and OVRT trails. I am really bad at mushroom ID so I won’t even try.
In our travels, many familiar friends populate the roadside: Mullen, milkweed, yarrow, oxeye daisy, and chicory to name a few.
A blue-flag iris sits in standing water adjacent to a recently constructed beaver dam, its days now numbered. Large clumps of smooth sumac with their umbrella-like shape line parts of the trail and crown vetch with its characteristic pink and white flowers are easy to spot. And purple flowering raspberry bushes are flowering with berries soon to come.
Then there are lots of plants that I had no clue as to what they were. I struggled for a time identifying a boxelder maple thinking it was some kind of ash (an easy mistake to make). But its hanging samaras clinched the identification. I spot a few large plots of the invasive viper’s bugloss next to hay fields but it can be found on the entire length of the OVRT.
Others that are new to me include: yellow hawkweed, spreading dogbane, tall wormseed mustard, and hoary alyssum.
Yellow salsify and dame’s rocket are a pair of other pretty flowers, easy to find. Google identified one plant as sweet autumn clematis. It looks like the right plant but according to many sources it should not flower until late August. But it doesn’t matter as they are all lovely (even the invasive ones) to look at and consider as we pedal back toward home.
