Massachusetts Wildlife

Just a short post today about an interesting magazine published by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife It's called Massachusetts Wildlife and it's published quarterly for $6 per year. The magazine touches on the full mission of the Division from the traditional hunting and fishing to wildlife conservation and rare species with full color articles. You can subscribe at www.mass.gov/masswildlife.

This quarters magazine has articles on a wily turkey, smallmouth bass fishing, Big Brown Bats, and the Eel River Headwaters Restoration Project. My two favorite articles feature parasitic plants and box turtles.

Parasitic plants need a connection to other plants to live. At Sheep Pasture I have discovered two parasitic plants. One is Indian pipe, also called ghost plant. Here it is:

The plant is completely white because it's incapable of photosynthesis. Indian Pipe is parasitic on certain fungi that have there own symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain trees. The fungus gets its nutrients from the tree roots, but improves those roots ability to absorb that nutrition. The Indian pipe just takes its nutrition from the fungus without giving anything back. Needless to say, a parasite that feeds on a fungus that feeds on a tree root needs an ecosystem that has long been undisturbed so Indian pipe is found in areas that have been woodlands for decades if not centuries. A relative called pinesap which can be identified by its yellow or red flowers may also be present at Sheep Pasture. Both pinesap and Indian pipe are members of the same plant family as blueberries. The adaptation to give up photosynthesis allows the plant to grow in total shade. Indian pipe can be found in Easton's woods rigth now.

The other parasitic plant I've seen at Sheep Pasture is dodder. Dodder looks like a yellow or orange Silly String sprayed over a plant. It is a member of the Morning Glory family. When a dodder seed germinates, it sends out a tiny root and begins to grow towards the odor of a green plant. If it touches a green plant that can meet its nutritional needs, the dodder generates a suction cup device called a haustoria that pierces the green plants vascular system. Once attached, the dodder root dies and the plant becomes completely dependent on its host. Unlike Indian pipe which doesn't seem to harm its host, dodder can take enough nutrients to kill a plant, reduce its resistance to plant diseases, and even spread plant diseases from one plant to another if it is attached to more than one plant at a time.

Of course, none of this is what the article is about. That's what makes Massachusetts Wildlife so interesting-you almost always learn something. Here I learned that there are parasitic plants that, while still connecting to others with haustoria, are capable of photosynthesis. This group of plants is very rare, and the article documents attempts to protect them from invasive species and other threats. These plants, called louseworts, are generally swamp lovers. Since they can perform photosynthesis, their "happiness" depends on finding a host that can provide nutrients without shading the plant out.

All the parasitic plants mentioned here still produce flowers and seeds just like "normal" plants.

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at box turtles among a variety of topics.