What is it Wednesday: December 2, 2020

 

Can you identify what's in this photo?

 

 

Each Wednesday morning 

on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page

 the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program posts a photo. 

 

 

Readers have all morning and afternoon 

to make their best guess about what the photo is. 

 

Around 6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.

 

 

Each week's What is it Wednesday post 

will also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

 after it is posted on Facebook,

sometimes with additional bonus information. 

 

In addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday 

on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

we will be reposting old editions,

creating a What is it Wednesday archive. 

 

This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on

December 2, 2020. 

 

 

 

And the answer is....

 

 These are the berries of a vine known as oriental bittersweet. 

Bittersweet is one of the prettiest and most destructive invasive plants we have at Lutherlyn. It was imported from Asia in the 1860’s as a decorative domestic vine, and quickly began spreading out of gardens into forests, fields, and roadsides. It grows quickly up trees and shrubs, twining thick woody vines around trunks and branches and making it difficult for the native plants to grow and thrive.

 

Birds eat the prolific crops of berries, which furthers the spread of the vine when the seeds are dropped near and far with their own fertilizer. 

When we find bittersweet we try to remove it, but there is so much of it, it is impossible to keep up. So, we try to control it as best we can in the most vulnerable or important places, and enjoy the beauty its bright berries and twining vines bring where it is beyond our control. It is especially striking in the drab days of winter or against a stark white background of snow!

Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!

What is it Wednesday archive: April 18, 2018

Can you identify what's in this photo?

Each Wednesday morning 

on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page

 the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program posts a photo. 

Readers have all morning and afternoon 

to make their best guess about what the photo is. 

Around 6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.

Each week's What is it Wednesday post 

will also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

 after it is posted on Facebook,

sometimes with additional bonus information. 

In addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday 

on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

we will be reposting old editions,

creating a What is it Wednesday archive. 

This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on. 

And the answer is....

It is amazing that this little bud, about an inch or two long, contains the beginnings of an entire strand of wisteria blossoms. 

They can be stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately they are problematic as well. Wisteria is a highly invasive vine, and it if becomes established in a forested area, over time it will twine itself tightly over all the trees and choke out the native forest. Because there are so many flowers in each blossom, it makes many seeds and spreads quickly. 

Please don’t plant wisteria, and this is a rare case where cutting or picking wildflowers – all of them, if you like! – will actually be helpful to the environment by slowing the spread of the wisteria vine. Feel free to enjoy the beauty of wisteria when you see it (a section of Lutherlyn’s Cherry Trail is stunning in late April when the wisteria blooms), but try not to add to the amount of it growing where it doesn’t belong.

To learn more about the complex and beautiful natural world all around us with LEEP, check out http://lutherlyn.com/ee, 

And to learn more about invasive plants and how to control them, visit

http://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Conservation/WildPlants/InvasivePlants/InvasivePlantFactSheets/Pages/default.aspx 

Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!