Treasures of a Buckeye-State Peatland, Part 3: A Swamp Ecosystem in Microcosm | Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, Urbana, Ohio, USA

This close-up, its own world of botanical delights, was taken along the boardwalk in a section that is more swamp than peatland.

While at first it's hard to spot, there is some fallen and browned foliage of Arbor Vitae (Thuja occidentalis). This wetland conifer that also forms thick stands on the fringe of the preserve's fen proper.

However, the real star of the show is the kind of plant often overlooked even by naturalists—a ground-hugging, nonvascular bryophyte. This particular species, however, is just too beautiful and elegant in design to ignore. It's Thuidium delicatulum, otherwise known as Delicate Fern Moss.

Its common name is understandable enough, because its unusually intricate, branched stems do indeed resemble miniaturized fern fronds. But true ferns are vascular—they possess specialized internal tissues that transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Mosses lack that.

Another fascinating aspect of plant evolution is that all members of that immense family experience something we animals do not: an alternation of spore-bearing and gamete-bearing generations. However, this amazing bimodal approach to reproduction is much more obvious in nonvascular plants. What's visible here is just the Fern Moss's "leafy" gametophyte generation, since none of the long-stalked capsule structures that are the sporophytes are present.

Also of note is the fallen tree branch at upper right that now hosts a thriving community of bluish-green, foliose lichens. These organisms may look plantlike, too, but in reality they're a symbiotic association of a fungus and green algae.

And the very strange object at lower left begs our attention, too. At first glance, it appears to be a pine cone that has been dipped in tar. What it actually is, however, is the mature fruit of that classic swamp denizen, Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). By mid-June the broad leaves and the rest of the floral structure of this very early-blooming vascular plant had already wilted away.

To see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit my
Treasures of a Buckeye-State Peatland album.

Taken in: United States / Ohio / Urbana Township / Valley View Mobile Home Park (show map)

Taken on: August 2, 2006

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botany

Thuidium_delicatulum

Swamp_Cabbage

moss

Fern_Moss

Cedar_Bog_Preserve

Ohio

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Sets appears in: • Lichen Planet • Natural History: Ohio more » • Phytophilia • Swamplands • Treasures of a Buckeye-State Peatland | Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, Ohio « less

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Camera: NIKON COOLPIX S4, 99mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	NIKON COOLPIX S4
Focal Length:	99mm
ISO:	200
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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