Integrative Natural History of Minnesota's North Shore, Part 23: Sharing a Ledge of Basalt | Gooseberry Falls State Park
(Updated on March 17, 2025)
This nook, both rocky and verdant, is located not far from the park's Middle Falls.
When I first came upon this community of plants I thought for an instant that I'd been teleported back to northern New England.
Cheerfully blooming atop an outcrop of North Shore Volcanic Group basalt that erupted in the Midcontinent Rift 1.1 Ga ago is the ground-hugging herbaceous perennial known as Bunchberry, or Cornus canadensis. As its generic epithet indicates, it's actually a member of the dogwoods—a group of plants that are otherwise woody shrubs or small trees. Its affinity with them is signaled not by its growth habit, certainly, but by its white-bracted inflorescences.
And between and above the Bunchberries there's another classic North Woods denizen of much more ancient ancestry— Oak Fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris). Though this photo was taken at the end of June, it shows that the fronds of this free-sporing vascular plant are still not fully mature; their pinnae or leaf segments are still curled inward. Nevertheless, they provide a nice textural contrast to the tightly packed ovate leaves of the Bunchberries.
Part 24 of this series offers a closer look at both of these species.
And to see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit
my Integrative Natural History of Minnesota's North Shore album.
Integrative Natural History of Minnesota's North Shore, Part 23: Sharing a Ledge of Basalt | Gooseberry Falls State Park
(Updated on March 17, 2025)
This nook, both rocky and verdant, is located not far from the park's Middle Falls.
When I first came upon this community of plants I thought for an instant that I'd been teleported back to northern New England.
Cheerfully blooming atop an outcrop of North Shore Volcanic Group basalt that erupted in the Midcontinent Rift 1.1 Ga ago is the ground-hugging herbaceous perennial known as Bunchberry, or Cornus canadensis. As its generic epithet indicates, it's actually a member of the dogwoods—a group of plants that are otherwise woody shrubs or small trees. Its affinity with them is signaled not by its growth habit, certainly, but by its white-bracted inflorescences.
And between and above the Bunchberries there's another classic North Woods denizen of much more ancient ancestry— Oak Fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris). Though this photo was taken at the end of June, it shows that the fronds of this free-sporing vascular plant are still not fully mature; their pinnae or leaf segments are still curled inward. Nevertheless, they provide a nice textural contrast to the tightly packed ovate leaves of the Bunchberries.
Part 24 of this series offers a closer look at both of these species.
And to see the other photos and descriptions of this series, visit
my Integrative Natural History of Minnesota's North Shore album.