![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0483-e1493529806167.jpg\")
<\/a>Jeffersonia diphylla<\/em> (Twinleaf) I don’t always catch this species with flower because they last for a short period of time.<\/p><\/div>\n I keyed out a couple new invasive plant species as well.\u00a0 The first was Thlaspi alliaceum<\/em> (Garlic Pennycress).\u00a0 This weed seems well established in Maryland and probably has been for a while.\u00a0 It has been described as a \u201cnewly invading species\u201d by some in states such as Ohio as recently as 2015. It occupies acres upon acres of fallow agricultural fields in the Hagerstown Valley and occasionally occurs in smaller though still dense patches along the floodplain forest of the Potomac River.\u00a0 These observations lead me to believe it prefers open sun and recently disturbed soil.\u00a0 I have never seen it in upland habitats.\u00a0 It looks similar to some other weedy species of the Brassicaceae family.\u00a0 One of the better diagnostic characters of Garlic Pennycress is the slight garlic odor it emits when the tissue is broken.\u00a0 It belongs to the same tribe as Alliaria petiolate (Garlic Mustard).<\/p>\n Thlaspi alliaceum<\/em> (Garlic Pennycress) The light green in this photo is Garlic Pennycress flowering in the thousands in a farm field close to the canal.<\/p><\/div>\n The other invasive species is Lamium galeobdolon<\/em> (Yellow Archangel).\u00a0 I found a small patch along the Potomac River in central Maryland.\u00a0 The Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant team of the National Park Service recently released an invasive plant alert for this species in the region.\u00a0 I reported the location of this species to the Park Biologist for eradication.<\/p>\n Lamium galeobdolon<\/em> (Yellow Archangel) To my knowledge this is the first time this invasive plant has been recorded in the canal boundary.<\/p><\/div>\n The state Natural Heritage Program botanist was nice enough to meet me in the falls line area of Maryland to review several species of Amelanchier that he had done genetic testing on several years earlier.\u00a0 Amelanchier nantucketensis<\/em> is one of the G1-G3 plant species that I am focusing my surveying efforts on this season.\u00a0 We found it in flower and he schooled me on some of the nuances of hybridization within this genus and their morphological character overlap.<\/p>\n Amelanchier nantucketensis<\/em> (Nantucket Serviceberry) The short and narrow petals of this species are diagnostic. Interestingly, the petals will sometimes bare pollen.<\/p><\/div>\n I briefly visited the shale barrens of western Maryland as well and was happy to find a few of the endemic plants that grow there in flower.<\/p>\n Trifolium virginicum<\/em> (Kate’s Mountain Clover) Shale Barren endemic<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Coleman Minney<\/p>\n Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has warmed up quickly in Maryland this year.\u00a0 I spent a lot of time surveying the limestone bluffs along the Potomac River which has a very nice spring ephemeral display.\u00a0 In my previous season working at the canal I … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>