February 26th, 2018 was the first cooler day in almost a week where the temperatures weren't in the mid 70's. It was a high of 48*F and overcast when I went to monitor both of the spicebushes. On both of the bushes it was apparent that there was between 101-1,000 breaking leaf buds!!! Unfortunately, it looks like these breaking leaf buds are far from becoming actual leaves. On the flipside, neither of these spicebushes had older mature leaves on them, however, they both had older mature fruits still connected to the branches (11-100 fruits with >95% maturity) from last season. Both spicebushes, however, seem to be more than ready to want the warmer weather back, with 101- 1,000 flower bud clusters just waiting to open in the weeks to come. (Post by Nicholle Johnson) Breaking Leaf buds of the Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) 02-26-2018 photos by Nicholle Johnson
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Monitoring is conducted at Selu Convservancy, Radford University's research and educational property approximately fifteen minutes away from campus. The property is about 400 acres of mixed vegetation types, with gravel roads leading you to different areas. Located along the roadside leading you to the retreat center are the two Northern Spicebush's (Lindera benzoin) being monitored. The road has slight canopy cover allowing sunlight in. The surrounding trees consists of pine, oak, and a few other tree species. The ground cover is mostly grass with scattered smaller shrubs. One of our spicebush (Lindera benzoin) has a small Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) stem growing along side of it. On February 20, 2018, the first set of observations were taken late morning, mid day. The weather was nice and sunny, with clear skies all around. It was 72 degrees Fahrenheit with 0% chance of precipitation. With an abnormal amount of warm weather and a decent amount of rain the week prior, the existing phenophases were taking advantage. The two Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin) were consistent with showing the same phenophases. Both showed visible signs of flower buds and leaf buds (not "breaking"). The leaf buds are more cylindrical with a pointed tip, while the flower buds are round and usually in clusters. Neither of the phenophases are open and the leaf buds were covered with brown scales from their dormant, winter stage. Some of the flower buds lost their scales and were showing a nude, fleshy color. The leaf buds are not broken (showing green tips), therefore they are not counted in this weeks data. The flower buds are swollen and are counted in this weeks data. I estimated more than 1,000 flower buds present on both spicebush. On both spicebush, there were roughly 11-100 fruits present and all of them (>95%) were ripe. These fruits were left over from last growing season and had not dropped off. (Post by L. Cort)
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April 2018
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