Dead Man's Finger

Order: Xylariales
Family: Xylariaceae
Genus: Xylaria
Species: X. polymorpha

Identifying Characteristics:

- Elongated upright, club-shaped, resembling burned wood, occasionally flattened

- Found with a multiple of separate "digits" but sometimes the "digits" will fuse together

- Dark fruiting body-- often black or brown, but sometimes it can be shades of blue/green

- White on the inside, with a blackened dotted area all around

- 3-10 cm tall; up to 2.5 cm across

-tough

Special Adaptations:

- Plant pathogen

- Common inhabitant of forest and woodland areas, usually growing from the bases of rotting or injured tree stumps and decaying wood

- It has also been known to colonize substrates like woody legume pods and herbaceous stems

- The spore distribution is a lengthy process, sometimes taking several months to complete this part of the life cycle

Wood Nettle

Order: Rosales

Family: Urticaceae

Genus: Laportea

Species: L. canadensis

Identifying Characteristics:

- height: 30 -150 cm

- grow in small clumps

- Leaves: entire, toothed, have both stinging and non stinging hairs, 6 inches long and 4 inches wide, medium to dark green, ovate, and coarsely serrated.

- Stems: light to medium green and have stinging hairs

- Flowers: tiny, in feathery clusters around 2 inches long, greenish-white

Special Adaptations:

- Habitats include moist floodplain woodlands, shady seeps, and other moist places in wooded areas.

- It prefers partial sun to medium shade, moist conditions, and a fertile loamy soil with abundant organic matter.

-stingy hairs serve as protection

Sugar Maple

Order: Sapindales

Family: Sapindaceae

Genus: Acer

Species: A. saccharum

Identifying Characteristics:

- Deciduous tree

- 82-115 ft tall

- Leaves: 8-15 cm long and equally wide, moderately and triangularly lobed

- Twigs: glossy, not droopy

- buds: brown and sharp

- Flowers: yellow-green and without petals, occurs in early spring

-Bark: shaggy

Special Adaptions:

- Sugar Maples draw up water from lower soil layers and bring the water to the upper and dryer soils. This helps the tree itself and other plants growing around it.

- Shade tolerant: has the ability to tolerate low light levels. So it can still germinate under a closed canopy.

- can grow in any type of soil except sand

- Sap used for maple syrup

- the wood is the hardest and densest of all the maples

Coffee-Tree

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Genus: Gymnocladus

Species: G. dioicus

Identifying Characteristics:

- 60-70 feet tall

- bark: is ash-gray and scaly, flaking

- flowers: are dioecious

- fruit: is a hard-shelled bean in heavy, woody, thick-walled pods filled with sweet, thick, gooey pulp. The shape of the pods varies somewhat: pod length ranges from about 12.7 to 25.4 cm; unfertilized female trees may bear miniature seedless pods. The beans contain the toxin cytisine

-Leaves: Alternate, bi-pinnately compound, ten to fourteen pinnate. Leaflets ovate, two to two and one-half inches long, wedge-shaped or irregularly rounded at base, with wavy margin. When full grown are dark yellow green above, pale green beneath.

Special Adaptations:

- the coffee tree usually occurs as widely dispersed individuals or small colonial groups with interconnected root systems. It is found in floodplains and river valleys but is also sometimes seen on rocky hillsides and limestone woods.

- Toxic to animals

Chinkapin Oak

Chinkapin Oak

Order: Fagales

Family: Fagaceae

Genus: Quercus

Species: Q. muehlenbergii

Indentifying characteristics:

- Deciduous tree reaching 30 m tall

- bark: scaly or flaky

- leaves: coarsely toothed, 5-15 cm long and 4-8 cm broad

- acorns: 1.5-2 cm long and become mature in about 6 months. Chestnut brown to nearly black

Special adaptations:

- generally found on well-drained upland soils derived from limestone. Also found on soils that are weakly acid (pH 6.5)

- Chinkapin is monoecious (having both male and female parts). Flowers emerge in April to late May or early June. The fruit, and acorn, grows singly or in pairs and matures in one year and ripens in September or October.

-The acorns provide an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people. The acorns are eaten by squirrels, mice, voles, chipmunks, deer, turkey, and other birds

1. Wood Frog:

• Order: Anura
• Family: Ranidae
• Genus: Rana
• Species: R. sylvatica

Identifying characteristics:

• Adult wood frogs are usually brown, tan, or rust colored, and usually have a dark eye mask.
• The underparts of wood frogs are pale with a yellow or green cast.
• 3.5-7 cm in size
• Females are larger than males

Special adaptations for environment

• Wood frogs are forest-dwelling organisms that breed primarily woodland vernal ponds
  
• primarily breeds in vernal pools rather than permanent water bodies such as ponds or lakes. This is believed to provide some protection of the adult frogs and their offspring (eggs and tadpoles) from predation by fish and other predators of permanent water bodies.
• By breeding in early spring, wood frogs increase their offspring's chances of metamorphosing before pools dry
• Adult wood frogs spend summer months in moist woodlands, forested swamps, ravines, or bogs. During the fall, they leave summer habitats and migrate to neighboring uplands to overwinter.