The Cazenovia Creek Bank Beaver...The Story Continues

American Wintergreen or Partridgeberry? ... That is The Question©

 

 

Is this plant a Wintergreen or, is it a Partridgeberry?  Photograph by the Author.

When I first took this picture, I thought I might have found an American Wintergreen plant, but as I looked at pictures of wintergreen plants, I became less and less certain.  In fact, I began to think that I had found a Partridgeberry plant.

 

Do you know the difference between an American Wintergreen (gaultheria procumbens) and a Partridgeberry (mitchella repens)?  I didn’t at first, but here is what I found.

 

A flowering American Wintergreen, from Applied and Economic Botany, by Henry Kraemer, page 650, HERE.

American Wintergreen

 

The native range of the American Wintergreen, gaultheria procumbens, from United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services.

American Wintergreen, which is called wintergreen because of its evergreen leaves, has many names, such as Boxberry, Checkerberry, Teaberry, Deerberry, Ground Holly, Ground Tea, and others.  Wintergreen is a shrub, and it grows from slender creeping stems to form patches or colonies of plants.  The branches that grow from these underground stems are about two to six inches (5 to 15 cm) tall.  These plants bear leaves that are generally grouped around the tips of the branches. 

 

An American Wintergreen, photographed in Algonquin Provincial Park, by the Author.  Note the simple dark green leaf, with a single main vein and fine saw-teeth along the edges of the leaves.

The shiny, dark green leaves of the American Wintergreen, which when crushed or bruised, smell strongly of mint¹, are between one to two (2.5 to 5 cm) long and are oval or elliptical.  Being an evergreen, American Wintergreen keeps its leaves throughout the winter, although sometimes they turn from dark green to a reddish color as the winter turns cold.  The leaves of the American Wintergreen are simple, as opposed to a compound leaf with multiple parts², and the leaves sprout alternately from the stem.  Wintergreen leaves have just one main vein, with smaller veins branching off from it.  The edges of the leaves have fine saw-teeth, each with a needle like spine on the tip of the saw-tooth.

 

From Wikimedia, “Gaultheria_procumbens_2-eheep”, Albert Herring, Superior National Forest National Forest, 15 September 2003, HERE.

American Wintergreen, if they are growing in the northern regions of their range, such as in the Adirondack Mountains, begin to bud during early July and their small white flowers appear in late July and August.  In more southern areas of their range, they will begin to bud in late June, with their flowers appearing in early July.  The flowers of the American Wintergreen are white and waxy and hang beneath the leaves on small stalks.  The flowers are small, only ¼ to ½ of an inch (7 to 13 mm) long and are bell shaped, with five white petals that are fused at the base and curl back at the tips.

 

From Wikimedia, “Gaultheria_procumbens_4_(5097300875)”, Albert Herring, Superior National Forest National Forest, 15 September 2003, HERE.

The flowers of the American Wintergreen become small light green berries during late August and early September, in the northern part of its range.  These berries have a notched pucker mark on their underside and as the berries ripen, they turn a bright red, usually by October.  These bright red berries are about a ¼ inch (7 mm) in diameter and have a strong flavor of wintergreen.  The berries often remain throughout the winter and can be found as the snow melts.

 

Partridgeberry

 

The native range of the American Wintergreen, mitchella repens, from United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services.

Partridgeberry is also called Twinberry, Deer Berry and Squaw Berry.  Like the American Wintergreen, it is a creeping evergreen shrub that grows along the forest floor, with stems that are about two inches (5 cm) high, and frequently forms colonies or patches of the plants.  Both the American Wintergreen and the Partridgeberry have bright green leaves grouped at the tips of the branches, produce white flowers in the summer and red berries during the fall, and the berries often remain with the leaves throughout the winter, hidden under the snow.  However, where they differ is in the shape of the flowers and the shape and aroma of the leaves.

 

A Partridgeberry plant, photograph by the Author.

The bright, shiny, and dark green leaves of the Partridgeberry look like squashed ovals and are about ½ an inch (13 mm) across, with a single large green-yellow main vein with smaller veins branching from it.  The leaves of the Partridgeberry, like the American Wintergreen, are simple, without multiple or compound parts, however, unlike the American Wintergreen, the leaves of the Partridgeberry are opposite, meaning that they sprout from the branch in pairs, not alternately from the stem.  The leaves of the Partridgeberry are smooth and do not have saw-teeth or spines and when bruised or crushed, the leaves do not give off a minty smell.

 

From Wikimedia, “750px-Mitchella_repens”, by Partridge Pea, taken in the Appalachians; Smokies; CabinCove, on September 1, 2007, HERE.

Partridgeberry, in the northern regions of their range, such as the Adirondack Mountains, flower during late June and early July and produce furry, white, and tiny flowers that are about ½ inch (13 mm) long with four petals and come in pairs, appearing above the leaves.  Both twin flowers must be fertilized to produce a single berry, which is about ¼ to ½ an inch (7 to 13 mm) wide and because of this the berry has two “eyes” on it.  The fruit of the Partridgeberry turns from green to a bright red by fall.

 

From Wikimedia, “Mitchella_repens_William_Penn_State_Forest”, by Nicholas A. Tonelli, in State Forest, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2012, HERE.

So, to wrap it all up, what I found was a Partridgeberry plant and not an American Wintergreen.  The main differences between the two plants leaves are shown below.

 

There are three excellent articles which I recommend if you are interested in more information on American Wintergreen and Partridgeberry plants, “Wildflowers of the Adirondacks: Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)”, HERE; “Wildflowers of the Adirondacks: Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)”, HERE and “THE EDIBLE OUTDOORS # 19 - WINTERGREEN - plus a bonus - THE PARTRIDGEBERRY”, HERE.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Common Snowdrop...the First to Bloom in Spring©”, where I will talk about about one of the first flowers to bloom each spring..

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ The characteristic smell of American Wintergreen comes from the compound methyl salicylate, which is a similar chemical to that which is found in aspirin, and people who are sensitive to aspirin should not consume the leaves of American Wintergreen.  Additionally, too much methyl salicylate is toxic.

 

²

Drawing by the Author.

 

Sources

 

Kraemer, Henry; Applied and Economic Botany, [John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1916], page 650, https://archive.org/details/appliedeconomic00krae/page/650/mode/1up?view=theater, accessed March 23, 2021

 

Papa-pepper, “THE EDIBLE OUTDOORS # 19 - WINTERGREEN - plus a bonus - THE PARTRIDGEBERRY”, [Steemit.com], https://steemit.com/food/@papa-pepper/the-edible-outdoors-19-wintergreen-plus-a-bonus-the-partridgeberry, accessed March 27, 2021

 

United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services, “Gaultheria procumbens L. eastern teaberry”, https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=GAPR2, accessed March 25, 2021

 

United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services, “Mitchella repens L. partridgeberry”, https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=MIRE, accessed March 25, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “Gaultheria_procumbens_2-eheep”, [Albert Herring, Superior National Forest National Forest, 15 September 2003], https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaultheria_procumbens_2-eheep_(5097886118).jpg, accessed March 23, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “Gaultheria_procumbens_4_(5097300875)”, [Albert Herring, Superior National Forest National Forest, 15 September 2003], https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaultheria_procumbens_4_(5097300875).jpg, accessed March 23, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “750px-Mitchella_repens” [Partridge Pea, Appalachians, Smokies, CabinCove, September 1, 2007], https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mitchella_repens.jpg, accessed March 25, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “Mitchella_repens_William_Penn_State_Forest”, [Nicholas A. Tonelli, State Forest, Berks County, Pennsylvania, March 25, 2012], https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mitchella_repens_William_Penn_State_Forest.jpg, accessed March 25, 2021

 

Wild Adirondacks, “Wildflowers of the Adirondacks: Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)”, [© 2021 Wild Adirondacks], https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-wildflowers-wintergreen-gaultheria-procumbens.html, accessed March 23, 2021

 

Wild Adirondacks, “Wildflowers of the Adirondacks: Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)”, [© 2021 Wild Adirondacks], https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-wildflowers-partridgeberry-mitchella-repens.html, accessed March 24, 2021

 

Turkey or Goose Tracks? ©

 

 

Photograph by the Author.

“Turkey tracks!”  “Goose tracks!”  “Turkey tracks!”  “Goose tracks!”  Almost sounds like a Looney Tunes cartoon, doesn’t it¹; but that is what my wife and I were thinking when we came across these tracks.

 

We had gone out for a walk and we came across some tracks in the wet snow of Cazenovia Park’s golf course.  She thought that they were Canada Goose² (branta canadensis) tracks, but I thought that some of them were wild turkey (meleagris gallopavo) tracks because some of the tracks had no sign of webbed feet.  So, since there was a question and no answer, when I got home, I did what I always do, and did some research. 

 

Are they turkey tracks or goose tracks, and the verdict is...!

 

“Objection!”  Before we can get to the verdict, we need to look at the evidence.

 

Photograph by the Author.

How can we tell which tracks are turkey tracks and which tracks are goose tracks?  They look similar, are there any distinguishing features which we can use to tell them apart?  Yes, yes there are.

 

Photograph by the Author.

Canada Goose tracks...

 

Adapted from page 324 of Roger Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.

Canada goose tracks are about 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5 cm) long from the tip of the middle toe to the back of the heel, and the goose’s stride is 18 inches (46 cm) long, and their straddle³ is about 12 inches (30 cm) wide.  The feet of the canada goose are webbed, and in soft snow or mud, an imprint of the webbing might be visible.  Their feet also point inwards when walking and leave a pigeon-toed track.

 

Wild Turkey tracks...

 

From page 327 of Roger Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.

The length of wild turkey tracks is also about 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5 cm) long and are 4 to 5-½ inches (10 to almost 14 cm) wide.  Wild turkeys have a stride between 12 to 32 inches (30 to 80 cm) long, depending on their age, size and whether they are walking or running, and a straddle of 6 to 7-½ inches (15 to almost 19 cm), which is narrower than a canada goose’s straddle.  There are four features of turkey tracks (these many times only appear when the tracking conditions are at their best), which distinguish them from canada goose tracks, they have claws on the tips of their toes, they have a fourth toe on the rear of their foot, pointing backwards, they have pebble-like pads on their toes, and their feet aren’t webbed, of course.  When they are walking slowly, wild turkeys often drag the claw on the tip of their middle toe, leaving a mark.

 

Photograph by the Author.  For scale, the Author’ knife, shown in the picture, is 5 inches (13 cm) long. 

But what about scat?

 

 

From page 331 and 332 of Roger Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.

Maybe the scat will help us identify our mystery bird track maker?  Canada goose scat is about 3-½ inches (7.75 cm) long and from the drawing in Roger Tory Peterson’s Animal Tracks, are about ²/₃ of an inch (16 mm) wide, and since canada geese are grazers, the scat is made up of plant matter.  Wild turkey scat is about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long and according to the drawing in Roger Tory Peterson’s Animal Tracks, it is about 1 inch (2.5 cm wide); turkeys are mostly herbivores and their scat is composed largely of plant matter.  The scat of both turkeys⁴ and canada geese have white caps, on one end, where the uric acid is excreted.

 

Photograph by the Author.  For scale, the Author’ knife, shown in the picture, is 5 inches (13 cm) long. 

Unfortunately for us, the tracks and scats of wild turkey and canada geese are both similar.  The tracks are about the same size and both have similar stride patterns.  Since canada goose tracks often don’t show the imprint of the web, and turkey tracks don’t always show the imprint of the rear-facing toe, we must rely on the fact that canada geese walk pigeon-toed.  In the picture above we can clearly see that our unknown track maker didn’t leave an imprint of webbing, had tracks that were about 5 inches (12.5 cm) long and wide, walked pigeon-toed, had a stride of about 12 inches (30 cm), and so was most likely a Canada goose (branta canadensis), which is known to frequent Cazenovia Park’s golf course.

 

Photograph by the Author.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Teaberry, Checkerberry, Boxberry or the American Wintergreen©”, where we will talk all about Wintergreen.

 I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ From “Rabbit Fire”, a 1951 Looney Tunes

 

² According to Languagehat, while the name for this goose is officially canada goose, over time, it has become more common to call it canadian goose.  The plural of canada goose is canada geese.

 

From Languagehat, “Canadian Geese”, January 12, 2004,

 

³ The stride is the distance between the steps, right foot to right foot and the straddle is the width between the prints.

 

⁴ Interestingly the scats of male and female turkeys are different shapes.  The scat of tom turkeys are ³/₈ to ⁵/₈ inches (10 to 16 mm) wide and is often hooked or J-shaped.  The scat of the hen turkeys are ³/₁₆ to ³/₈ inches (5 to 10 mm) wide and more glob shaped.  The differences in the shapes are due to each gender having a different digestive system.

 

From T Martin, “Tracking Wild Turkeys on the Georgia Coast” and Filip Tkaczyk, “Recognizing Wild Turkey Habitat”

 

 

Sources

 

“Animal Autographs”, [Illinois Periodicals Online at the Northern Illinois University Libraries, Illinois State Library], https://www.lib.niu.edu/2002/oi020805.html, accessed March 18, 2021

 

Languagehat, “Canadian Geese”, January 12, 2004, [Languagehat.com, © 2020], http://languagehat.com/canadian-geese/, accessed April 25, 2020

 

Martin, T; “Tracking Wild Turkeys on the Georgia Coast”, Life Traces of the Georgia Coast, November 20, 2012, [© 2012 Anthony Martin], http://www.georgialifetraces.com/2012/11/20/tracking-wild-turkeys-on-the-georgia-coast/, accessed March 18, 2021

 

Roger Tory Peterson, Animal Tracks: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, (The Easton Press: Norwalk Connecticut, [1985]) page 322-332

 

Tkaczyk, Filip; “Recognizing Wild Turkey Habitat”, [© 2006-2021 Alderleaf Wilderness College], https://www.wildernesscollege.com/wild-turkey-habitat.html, accessed March 18, 2021

 

Melt-Enlarged Tracks and Spring Heeled Jack©

 

 

Is this the track of Spring Heeled Jack?  A photograph of one of the tracks I found in the Cazenovia Park’s golf course.  Photograph by the Author.

I was taking a walk with my Wife, two weeks ago, when I found the tracks of cryptid!  This two-toed monstrosity was walking from east to west and leaving its two-toed tracks stamped across the Cazenovia Park’s golf course.  Did I find the tracks of Spring Heeled Jack, “The Terror of London”, from long ago in 1886, here in Western New York?  Could he still be alive and on this side of the Atlantic?  Or is there something else at work here? 

 

“Ad for a Spring Heeled Jack penny dreadful - January 8th, 1886”, from Wikimedia, HERE.

Maybe there is a simple and natural explanation, that doesn’t involve the supernatural or a cryptid?  Is it possible that it is as simple as the effects of sun, the wind and warm weather on those tracks made in the snow?

 

Yes, in fact tracks made in snow change their shape due to melting, sublimation, and the settling of the snowpack?  So, just how do these natural processes effect the shape and size of the tracks that we find in the snow?

 

Melting is caused by both warm temperatures and strong sunlight.  Obviously, warm temperatures cause snow to melt, however even when the temperature is below freezing, if the Sun is out and shining brightly, snow can melt.

 

Melting snow can change the shape of tracks and cause them to become distorted.  Distortion due to melting is often directional, with the greatest distortion occurring on the side of the track opposite the Sun; this is usually on the northeast side of the track. 

 

Sublimation is another word for evaporation.  Sublimation occurs most often in conditions of low relative humidity and dry winds.  Sublimation is also more common at higher altitudes, where the air pressure is less, than at lower altitudes.  Strong sunlight is also necessary for sublimation.  The amount of snow lost to sublimation can be striking, particularly when a chinook wind, a warm dry wind, blows down from the mountains.  Sublimated or evaporated snow looks different from melted snow, it appears as small crystals, while melted snow has crystals that appear to be melted and then refrozen. 

 

With sublimation, unlike with melting, the edges of the tracks will remain crisp, well rounded and will appear dry, even as they widen and lengthen.  Changes in the shape of the tracks occurs mostly on the downwind edges of the tracks, with the change in shape proportional to the wind speed.  Unlike with melting from the Sun, sublimation can enlarge the entire track without any directional distortion, this can cause toe imprints to join and eventually merge with heel pads.  And interestingly, wind-blown snow accumulating on the lee side, or upwind side, of the track combined with sublimation of the downwind side of the track can cause the track to creep downwind. 

 

Settling of snow, due to gravity, can also affect the shape of tracks made in the snow, causing them to shrink.  You can tell if the snow has settled by looking at nearby tree trunks, since the snow sticks to the trunk it will form an inverted cone around the trunk as it settles.

 

Snow around a tree trunk and the inverted cone that is formed around the trunk as the snow settles, photographs by the Author.

If tracks become distorted, either from melting, sublimation, or settling, they lose detail, and the print size can change and that can make it difficult to determine the stride (distance between the steps) and the straddle (width between the prints) of the animal that left the tracks.

 

Photograph of one of the tracks found in Cazenovia Park’s golf course.  For scale, the Author’ knife, shown in the picture, is 5 inches (13 cm) long.  Photograph by the Author.

 

My photograph of the Cazenovia Park Cryptid track isn’t the first time a melt-enlarged or sublimated track in the snow has made people cry “cryptid”!  The famous photograph taken in 1951 by Eric Shipton, on the Menlung glacier of Mount Everest, had everyone yelling “yeti”!

 

“Photograph of an alleged yeti footprint found by Michael Ward.  Photograph was taken at Menlung glacier on the Everest expedition by Eric Shipton in 1951”, from Wikimedia, HERE.

Few today believe that the Shipton photograph shows a yeti track, most believe that it is the sublimated or melt-enlarged footprint of either a man or a bear.  In fact, as early as 1956, Rev. Swami Pranavanada noted in the Indian Geographical Journal, July to September 1955, that the tracks were likely to be the melt-enlarged tracks of a bear.  Some of Rev. Swami Pranavanada thoughts were included in the article, “Abominable Snowman”, published in Science, on June 8, 1956, on page 1024, and this article discussed elongation and other changes to tracks caused by sublimation and melting and the author’s belief that the Shipton track was not made by a yeti. 

 

From “Abominable Snowman”, Science, June 8, 1956, page 1024, by William L. Straus Jr.

Hmmm...so maybe I didn’t find the tracks of Spring Heeled Jack after all?  And so, if this track isn’t the track of Spring Heeled Jack then how was it created?

 

After considering the tracks and the different changes that the weather, the wind, and the Sun could have made on the tracks, I believe that I know what had happened.   First, I think that a person walked across the Cazenovia Park’s golf course heading west and then sometime later a deer followed in their tracks heading in the same direction.  After the tracks were laid down, the weather and the Sun went to work, enlarging the deer tracks until they merged with the boot prints, making it look like a two-toed devil had stomped across the golf course!

 

For more on snow tracking read “Tracks and Tracking in the Winter ©”, HERE and “Who Came To Visit Me Last Night…©”, HERE.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Turkey or Goose Tracks?  ©”, where we will talk snow tracking and tracking in general.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Straus Jr., William L.; “Abominable Snowman”, Science, June 8, 1956, Vol. 123, Issue 3206, p. 1024, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/123/3206/1024, accessed March 11, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “Ad for a Spring Heeled Jack penny dreadful - January 8th, 1886”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack4.jpg, accessed February 28, 2021

 

Wikimedia, “Photograph of an alleged yeti footprint found by Michael Ward, Photograph was taken at Menlung glacier on the Everest expedition by Eric Shipton in 1951”, from The World's Most Mysterious Footprints, Popular Science, December, 1952, by Gardner Soule, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eric_Shipton_yeti_footprint.png, accessed March 11, 2021

 

Zielinski, William J.; Kucera, Thomas E., technical editors; American marten, fisher, lynx, and wolverine: survey methods for their detection, Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-157., [Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station; 1995], page 96, https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr157/, accessed March 7, 2021