Peter Mountain mallow

Kingdom:	(unranked):	(unranked):	(unranked):	Order:	Family:	Genus:	Species:
Plantae	Angiosperms	Eudicots	Rosids	Malvales	Malvaceae	Iliamna	I. corei

Peters Mountain mallow, or Iliamna corei, is a type of flower which can be found on the rare plants list as one of the most endangered species in the United States. Peters Mountain mallow can only  be found in Peters mountain, in Giles County, VA, and it is given the name by where it is located.

As a mallow, Peters Mountain mallow is almost the same as the usual mallow, especially Iliamna remota, another endangered mallow found in Langham Island, Illinois, but scientists still consider them differently since they are genetically varied. A Peters Mountain mallow flower has five pinkish white petal, 15-20 of which can be bloomed for each individual plant.  

Peters Mountain mallow was discovered in 1927, when they found only 50 plants in the region. The number has decreased to 3 in 1992 due to different sorts of threats including other plants who either shrink the living space or block it from getting nutritions, and damages from animals like deers and goats. Also, it takes a Peters Mountain mallow seed six years to grow to bloom, which makes it extremely har to reproduce themselves.

However, as Peters Mountain mallow was categorized as an endangered species, people start to protect this rare plants. They preserved the seeds from the flower, an even set up fence to keep Peters Mountain mallow from animal attacks. It must be maintained in a good condition now.

I feel surprised having read that there was such a special rare flower in Virginia. If people can know the endangered species more, the biologists might pay more attention to protect more species since people cares about them. Peters mountain is a lucky plant that it was at least got preserved when it only had 3 of the plant in the mountain space. Biological diversity will, for sure, keep the natrue in a beautiful way.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/anlist2016.pdf

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/EcologicalServices/pdf/endangered/Peters%20Mountain%20Mallow%205YR.pdf

http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchSpeciesUid=ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.155689

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/fsicorei.pdf

Beech tree In February

It was a cold day in the late February, different from an April dog day afternoon. I can still remember that the snow has already melted when we got the Thaiss Park at that time, however, there were a huge pile of snow that is hard enough to stand on the top. Everything seemed as dead as hell in before spring so that I wrote poem themed desolation. I appreciate Nathan for his enthusiasm in such a cold weather, but in general the nature was waiting for the new green passively.
If the scene was not clear, we can talk about it more specifically. There were trees in the Thaiss Park, a considerable number of them, with no green leaves at all. The winter were so mean that broadleaf deciduous trees can't maintain the accomplishment in the spring and the summer. For instance, the beech trees, Fagus Grandifolia, one of the most common trees in the east of Northern America, has leaves like this:

However, in late February, the Beech tree leaves looks like this:

The leaves are totally dried-up.

The branches were so brave that they didn't just throw the old leaves away, but instead the leaves were still be attached to the tree to show the loyalty. They are American Beech trees. Unlike those in Asia or Europe, leaves were the most significant difference. Human would not logged down the Beech trees in the park for the wood material, which means keeping alive was the only thing they should do.

I didn't recognize that tree anymore, even in April, when trees started to grow leaves for the following year, and squirrels appeared in the Thaiss Park. The old leaves would fall down, then becoming a element of soil. The park is as lively as a teenager now, decorated with various forms of greens. However,despite people coming to enjoy the new season, the park is still quiet.

The dead leaves on the Beech trees, along with the coldness and desolation, is the flip side of the thaiss park. The spring and the winter are both real, and they are dramatically close to each other.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/american_beech.htm

http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/faggraa.pdf

Thoreau Reflection: The Same Sun

We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; as, for instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once a system of earths like ours. If I had remembered this it would have presented some mistakes. This was not the light in which I hoed them. The stars are apexes of what wonderful triangles! What distant and different beings in the various mansions of the universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment! Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? We should live in all the ages of the world in an hour; ay, in all the worlds of the ages.

Here, Thoreau reminds us of the simple wonders of nature, but also emphasizes the importance of empathy—an interesting comparison in relation to his theme of appreciating nature. Does Thoreau want to imply that empathy, “look[ing] through each other’s eyes,” is as important and natural as “the same sun that ripens [his] beans”? Surely, it must be. We should all strive to view the world with more care and love—this much Thoreau and I agree on. Perhaps, then, some of our environmental issues would be solved—would you destroy a forest you truly understood? Would you have to, therefore, destroy any understanding of it you may have in order to destroy it? I believe so. If we all strive to know and love each other and our surroundings, we may find ourselves enlightened and in love.

Let’s all try to care a little more.

Signing off,
—Rebecca