Natural North Dakota

Ergot has been in the news recently. Ergot (Claviceps purpurea ) is a parasite of our cereal grains rye, wheat, barley, and oats, as well as other grasses including quackgrass and smooth brome. There are some heavy infestations of ergot in some grain fields this year.

Hunting seasons begin for sharp-tailed grouse, ruffed grouse, and Hungarian or gray partridge this Saturday, September 8. Hunters will have an assortment of reasons to be afield after these gamebirds. But they have long been popular game, and all have a reputation for good table fare. No doubt the ranking and cooking techniques of these upland game birds along with pheasants and doves will be a topic of much conversation.

“What’s radon?” That question came up in a conversation recently. I suspect that the majority of North Dakotans have heard something about radon in our soils and that it is associated with lung cancer. It is definitely here, but I rarely hear mention of radon in conversations. Radon is an element. It is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless radioactive gas. It is on the periodic table of elements over on the far-right column. Its symbol is Rn, and it has an atomic number of 86. But it is the

The aster family is putting on its show of the year right now! Oh, there have been members of the aster family blooming throughout the summer, but they are center stage now. They seem to be flowering everywhere, with the goldenrods, sunflowers, gumweed, and of course the fall asters sporting their colors.

Blue-green algae have been in the news recently. Blooms of the algae have led the North Dakota Department of Health to issue public health warnings for several lakes across the state. There are several types of algae that are common in our marshes, lakes, rivers, and streams. They are important to the food chains in these bodies of water, and serve as little aerators, by releasing oxygen into the water as a byproduct of photosynthesis. Most of the time we don’t even notice them, but if

What you and I know as blanketflower or gaillardia was unknown to science when Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen near what is now known as Lewis and Clark Pass in Montana, July 6, 1806. It was later described by Frederick Pursh and named Gaillardia aristata after French botanist Gaillard de Marentonneau. Blanketflower or gaillardia are the most commonly used names for this plant today, but it is also known as brown-eyed Susan because the flowers are said to resemble those of black-eyed Susan

I have been enjoying watching the goldfinches at our nyjer feeder as well gracing the fields and meadows of the Turtle Mountain area recently. They are always a treat to watch. Noted ornithologist, naturalist, and bird guide author Roger Tory Peterson must have had a soft spot for goldfinches when he described them by saying “The responsibilities of life seem to rest lightly on the Goldfinch’s sunny shoulders.”

I received a text from a friend recently wondering if some mushrooms could be a type of morel. They were not morels, they were stinkhorn, and there is a good reason for that common name! Stinkhorns are club fungi, in the Order Phallales and Family Phallaceae. One of the genera is Phallus . So no doubt about the phallic form of this group of mushrooms. Stinkhorns have been variously described from fascinating to bizarre to disgusting. There are around seventy to eighty species globally. And

Some of you have no doubt noticed some large patches of yellow flowering plants around the margins of some cattail sloughs and similar wet habitats this summer. That is swamp ragwort, also known as marsh ragwort, northern swamp groundsel, marsh fleabane, or, get this, mastodon flower. It is a member of the aster family and is known to botanists as Senecio congestus , and more recently Tephroseris palustris .

We have all heard it. “There are two seasons in North Dakota, winter and road construction.” Of course, that is a tongue in cheek proclamation. But however you define the road construction season, one thing is certain, gravel and sand pits are going to be busy places. Many of us see this activity, but I suspect that few of us have given much thought as to how these sand and gravel pits were formed.