The East is Different!

Nice to be back in the land of GREEN!! Even though it's rained some in Morrison since I left, it's much wetter, drippier, soggier in general here. Not only is the East different, but the Nature of the East is, for me, a large part of what makes it different. On Monday, June 26th, we walked in Watkins Glen, not far from my original home(s) in the east, and got to see some things I rarely see out west.

Here's one I never see in Colorado! Maidenhair Spleenwort... they were all over the vertical shale walls of the Glen. A particularly dainty, delicate fern... and lots of thalloid and leafy liverworts. Don't know if I've captured them very well, but here they are.


And here are the liverworts--little tiny leafy liverworts, and larger ribbons of the "thallus-type" liverworts. They are related to mosses.

Both types are clinging to the shale walls, along with lots and lots of ferns. A very drippy place.


What's a Glen? For those that don't know, here are a few photos of Watkins Glen. Also known as "ravines" in upstate New York, this is what we think of as glens, tho this is a particularly spectacular example.