Away from the W&OD

The kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) at the end of Charter Oak Court is now in full glorious bloom.  For how this very tree looked last September at the height of its fruiting, see this post.

A closer look at the kousa flowers.  These two pictures of the kousa were taken in the evening of May 6, 2010.

At the southeastern corner of Temporary Road park, where the service road intersects North Shore Drive, is a group of shrubs with showy five-petaled pink flowers, as shown in this photo from April 25, 2010.  The compound leaves with usually 7 small leaflets suggest that this is a rose.  Note also that the stems are extremely thorny.  I believe this may be a rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa, see this Virginia Tech fact sheet and the Missouri description).

The tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) are now in full bloom, as here on May 7, 2010, in the Ivy Square townhouse development.

And the eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) are finally developing their male strobili.  Compare this image taken May 7, 2010, in the Ivy Square townhouse development with this post from exactly two weeks previously.

W&OD Trail, evening of April 2, 2010

Besides the showy ornamentals, such as cherries, pears, and magnolias, there are also many more subtle wonders of nature right now.  For example, all up and down the W&OD trail the sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum, see the Virginia Tech fact sheet) are blooming, as in this spectacular example just west of the intersection of the W&OD trail with Michael Faraday Drive.

I did not get a good direct shot of the blossoms, but in this image one gets a sense that the sassafras bloom consists of many tiny six-rayed flowers clumped together in yellowish-green balls.

Meanwhile, in the weedy undergrowth on both sides of the W&OD trail, the devil's walking stick (Aralia spinosa, see the Virginia Tech fact sheet) is busily sprouting.  As this post from last fall shows, this plant turns into a quite large shrub.  But over the winter most of the year's growth breaks off and decays, leaving a single stick-like stem with the scars from previous years ringed in fierce thorns.  In late winter these form forbidding thickets of spiky stems, but over the past couple of weeks green buds have formed on the top of each stick, and these have now opened to reveal this year's growth starting to unfold.

In the southeastern corner of the intersection of the W&OD bike trail with Isaac Newton Square is this beautiful weeping or Higan cherry (Prunus subhirtella, see the Virginia Tech fact sheet) draped over some bike lockers.

This close-up of the blossoms shows the five-fold symmetry, yellow stigma, and reddish calyx as well as the pronounced horizontal lenticels on the stems that clearly identify this as a cherry.

Also quite noticeable now along the W&OD trail and throughout Reston is that the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is beginning to leaf out.  Four weeks ago, as shown in this posting, branches were bare, graced only with the dried husks of the fruit structures.  Those structures are still present, as can be seen in today's picture, but surrounding them now are new young leaves with their characteristic four lobes.

Finally, on the W&OD trail adjoining the Fannie Mae gardens just east of Old Reston Avenue is this magnolia, which I had earlier shown in its bud stage in this posting.  The white-blooming tree in the left background is a feral Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana), while the dull gray-green bush in the right background is the equally invasive autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), which dominates the undergrowth along large stretches of the W&OD trail.

In my earlier posting I had supposed, based purely on the bud, that this might be a Japanese or saucer magnolia.  But it clearly is a star magnolia (Magnolia stellata, see the Virginia Tech fact sheet) instead.  For a much larger star magnolia, see  this posting from a week ago.

Morning of March 7, 2010

After a long winter, Nature in Reston is finally reawakening.

A red maple (Acer rubrum) with buds ready to flower, highlighted against an evergreen holly (Ilex spp.).  This maple is located in Charter Oak Court.

Close-up of some of the buds.

Ghostly remnants of the structures holding the samaras, or fruit, of a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) in Charter Oak Court.  For what this structure looked like last fall, see this post.

Fresh buds and old dried-out fruit on an American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) on the east side of Old Reston Ave. just north of its intersection with American Dream Way.  For a view from last fall, see this post.

New buds can also be seen on this winged burningbush (Euonymus alatus) on the northern side of the W&OD bike path just east of its intersection with Old Reston Avenue (also featured in this post).  With the leaves gone, one can also clearly see the protruding stripes of cork that give this species its name "winged".

Dried husks that once held fruit persisting on a crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) on the north side of the W&OD bike path east of Old Reston Ave.  For what these structures looked like last fall, when they still contained fruit, see this post.

Morning of October 8, 2009

At sunrise on this beautiful morning, the very red sunlight playing on a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) at Charter Oak Court.

This vine can be found in the fence at the southwestern corner of the intersection of the W&OD bike path with Michael Faraday Drive.  I believe this is hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium);  see Virginia Tech weed ID sheet and this Missouri wildflower page.  A bit difficult to see, but the big leaf to the left of the flower is in fact triangular with deep notch and "dog ears" at its base.

Another shot of a nearby flower about to open, with a better view of the leaf shape to the lower left.  Also clearly visible in this shot is the green cup covering the calyx, at the base of the flower, which gives this plant its generic name.  The bindweeds are part of the Morning Glory family;  each individual flower only blooms for a day or so.

More red berries!  These belong to the very thorny/prickly vine stems that run vertically in the left portion of the image.  I believe these are the fruit of the multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora).  See this Virginia Tech fact sheet, and this indictment from the National Park Service.  I have found them most noticeable along the W&OD gravel path near the top of the rocky slope east of Michael Faraday Drive, interspersed with autumn olives and honeysuckles.

This image shows some of the small, pinnately compound leaves with small, toothed leaflets.  Somewhat out of focus but still visible near the bottom right is the characteristic fringed stipule of a leaf.

Afternoon of September 27, 2009

The following pictures were taken near the eastern end of the hedgerow on the northern side of the Charter Oak apartment complex that separates the complex from the Hidden Creek Country Club golf course to the north.

Most of the trees in this hedgerow are tulip trees, also known as yellow poplars or tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera).  They are instantly recognizable by their unique large four-lobed leaves.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  The bud-like structure in the center of this picture is the fruit of this tree, consisting of numerous samaras that will apparently float off in the next month or so.

In the understory there is this isolated occurrence of tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima).  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  This is a highly invasive weed species;  see this National Park Service fact sheet for details.

The large brown structures are the remnants of its seed pods;  from their size and number you can tell that this tree is a prolific seed producer, which is what makes it such a success as a weed.

Tree of heaven has large pinnately compound leaves, much like walnuts and sumacs.  The way you can tell a tree of heaven leaf is that each leaflet is smooth-edged except for a distinct notch near the base on both sides of the leaflet.  Walnuts and sumacs, by contrast, have serrate (finely toothed) leaflets.

Just beginning to bloom at ground level is this small-flowered white-rayed aster (Symphyotrichum spp.).  There are a large number of asters, which are apparently difficult to distinguish.  Cross-referencing the small-flowered white-rayed asters listed in Newcomb's Wildflower Guide to those listed as growing wild in Fairfax County in the Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora, it appears this could be either calico aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum - see this description from the Connecticut Botanical Society) or frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum - see this description from the Connecticut Botanical Society).

The hedgerow also features several black walnuts (Juglans nigra), which are now magnificently in fruit;  the green husks, which contain the walnut, are about 2-3 inches across.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  Note that this is black walnut, and not butternut (J. cinerea), as the fruit are round rather than lemon-shaped.  Black walnut is found not infrequently in the wild woods of Reston.

 

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), with its distinctive five-part palmately compound leaf, is the dominant vine in this hedgerow.  Here it can be seen as both ground cover as well as climbing the trunk of a tulip tree.  This is the view from my living room window.

The dominant maple in both the hedgerow and the landscaped portions of the Charter Oak apartment complex is the red maple (Acer rubrum).  But the hedgerow also contains this sugar maple (Acer saccharum), with the leave shape familiar to us from the Canadian flag.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.

Toward the very eastern end of the hedgerow is yet another species of maple, the silver maple (Acer saccharinum), whose large leaf is deeply dissected.  Compare the Virginia Tech fact sheet.  The only other silver maple I have noticed so far in Reston is in the Charter Oak Townhomes complex.  In this image (which was taken pointing straight up), also note the pinnately compound leaves of a black walnut higher up in the canopy.