radbackedsalamander's Favorites

Thin-drift glacial till with abundant sand and gravel underlain by cumulate hornblende pyroxenite. Low-energy beach shore at drift line.

Population survey with the Maine Natural Areas Program. Land accessed with owner permission.

In a higher elevation pond (el. 1857 feet) with semi-floating bog mats (therefore low pH) but with plenty of open water. This species rarely fruits and has nearly identical looking cogeners, so it's nice to see in fruit. Additional leaf width photos show this can't be S. angustifolium which has leaves less than or equal to 5 mm. This is a watch-listed species with only 9 records in the last 40 years, though we may have a few unprocessed records. And it is definitively a northern species, where we (Massachusetts) have nearly the southernmost records. It is more common in northern New England, the Adirondacks, Nova Scotia and west to northern Minnesota.

Spotted on bank of cattle pond and then scurried into the water. No fencing or containment.

Note: To clarify, all signs indicate this is either a

1. Uncontained pet on private property
2. Deliberately abandoned pet
3. Escaped pet that has managed to travel to this location (if this option, not likely to have traveled far due to rural setting with few homes spaced 1/4mile to 1 mile+ apart and scarce water sources)

On iNat, this is very rare in New England. State listed as endangered in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I don't believe it is all that rare in Massachusetts (currently ranked an S4) but it is only known from two towns in Franklin County, one is where this observation occurs.

After much searching over several years, by myself and many others, I was finally able to relocate this known population of a very rare beak sedge. We only have two populations of this state-endangered species in Massachusetts and this one had been missing for more than a decade. This find is primarily the result of years of work by our staff at the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, especially Chris Buelow @cbuelow45 and the Western District staff to improve the conditions of this fen after years of beaver flooding. After I made the initial find, I had help from @karro_frost, @Doug_McGrady, and staff from The Nature Conservancy locating several more small populations. Together we were able to find about 300 stems in five spots, showing excellent recovery of this species. This appears to be the first iNat obs in New England for this species.

Lifer, dipnetted larva in shallow pond
Fairly confident on ID - Pseudacris type tadpole with eyes on side of the head, black speckled dorsal fin that goes up onto the body, and clearly bicolored (white bottom half) tail musculature

Single sapling (ca 8 feet in height) observed in mesic forest. Both lobed and unlobed leaves present.

Leaves with secondary veins which curve before reaching the margins (Saar et al, 2012). Vein pattern consistent throughout. Adaxial leaf surface pubescent with stiff hairs which provide a scabrous texture. Abaxial surface pubescent throughout.

This site is underlain by a brownish-purple mesozoic basin sedimentary bedrock with laminae which readily separate.

Thanks to @threepogonias for assisting to confirm ID and for providing additional identification resources. An article published by Dayle E. Saar et al (2012; in Phytologia) proved particularly useful.