Escape Along the Railway

Blackberry, Rubus sp.

The return of sunny weather this weekend called for a short field trip along the nearby rail line, no longer in use, sadly.  The blackberries are blooming, as is the high bush cranberry.

High Bush Cranberry, Viburnum trilobum

 This next shot by the tracks may just look like a thicket of young oak trees and such...  

But climbing high into one tree is a honeysuckle vine.  

Lonicera periclymenum?

Nearby, seedlings seem to be sprouting from the the rail bed.  Digging one out from there would be too difficult; I will likely try to dig up a bit from the rich soil along the ditch, where that large vine scrambles, now blooming at the top of the trees.

And, in the vicinity, I spotted a wildflower I'd not run across for twenty years, I'm sure.  See it here, amid the wild strawberry plants?

This is Broomrape, or Cancer-Root, a beautiful parasitic plant.  No chlorophyll, no leaves to speak of.  Just these blossoms that appear, seen by few.  Few humans, I'd guess.  But the insects surely are drawn in, as they are by any blossom. 

Orobanche uniflora

Yes, it is small.  But very attractive. 

A bit deeper into the shade beside the tracks, one clump of Jack-in-the-Pulpit is flourishing.  

Arisaema triphyllum

These were not large, as Jack-in-the-Pulpits go, but they were nice to come across.
     Why not take a short walk along an old railway?  You may be surprised at what you find.