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Topic: Wild Clematis
By Dunbar Cave State Natural Area | August 2, 2009 |
What’s going on at Dunbar Cave is an occasional piece written by Park Interpreter Amy Wallace
Flowers that are blooming now include Swamp Milkweed, a pink ballerina-looking flower that can be found at the edge of the lake; Ironweed, a rich deep purple flower with a stem that can reach 9 feet or more; Orange Coneflower, found in one spot along the lake shore (looks a lot like a black-eyed Susan); Creeping Primrose, a yellow flower that actually grows in the water at the edge of the lake; Wild Sensitive Plant, that looks like a small mimosa tree, has small yellow flowers; Tick Trefoil, with three leaflets and a pealike lavender or pink flower (this will later have the brown triangular seeds that stick all over your clothes); and Tall Bellflower, with blue flowers, found growing near the rock walls on the way to the cave.
 Clematis fruit
We also have the fruits of flowers from earlier in the summer – the alien looking fruit of the Wild Clematis and the round green ball (will turn dark purple later) that is the fruit of the Yellow Passion Flower.
Our crayfish are coming out onto the banks of the lake and making chimneys to hide while they shed their exoskeleton and the new one hardens. «Read the rest of this article»
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By Dunbar Cave State Natural Area | May 30, 2009 |
What’s going on at Dunbar Cave is an occasional piece written by Park Interpreter Amy Wallace
We did our last school group yesterday. It was a fun time, considering we had to slog through four to five inches of mud to get through the first room of the cave. The heavy rain we had the weekend of Mother’s Day flooded the first room of the cave and halfway into the first passageway, depositing sticky slippery clay mud. On that Saturday morning, the water was up to chin height (estimate, we didn’t wade in to see exactly how high it was).
While I was sitting at the cave entrance waiting for a group one day, I saw an Eastern Phoebe feeding her young at the nest at the cave entrance and a Carolina Wren flying to a nest in the window of the old concession stand. «Read the rest of this article»
Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments
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