The old warehouse on Erie Street is covered with vines showing fall color.
On the north side of the building, red virginia creeper vine (
Parthenocissus quinquifolia) hangs from old poison ivy branchlets. The poison ivy vines were cut at the ground a few years ago, so there is not any poison ivy still alive, but poison ivy characteristically puts branches like this sticking out a yard or so from the vine, now the dead branches provide support for the Virginia creeper.
Link to Parthenocissus quinquifolia:
Link to Parthenocissus quinquifolia:
Link to Parthenocissus quinquifolia:
Link to previous post on poison ivy:
Virginia creeper grows on the ground too, beside the building.
On the east side of the building the colorful vines are largely another kind of
Parthenocissus. This is
Parthenocissus tricuspidata, also called Boston ivy. It shows a good lot of berries here.
Link to previous post on Parthenocissus tricuspidata:
The vine on the east side of the building with the yellow and still green leaves is oriental bittersweet (
Celastrus orbiculatus). This must be a male plant because there aren't any of the colorful fruits on it. The way the vines wrap like a python around other supporting stems is typical of the bittersweet vine.
Link to Celastrus orbiculatus:
Virginia creeper is native to North America but it has been planted as an ornamental in Europe many years ago and has spread wild.
Link to Virginia creeper in Europe:
Another link to Virginia creeper in Europe:
Pictures taken October 13, 2009.
Asparagus has a distinctive butterscotch color in winter. This big asparagus plant (Asparagus officinalis) is along a roadside in Benton County. Some roadsides in western Benton County and Warren County have substantial populations of asparagus growing wild. Take highway US 52 west of Lafayette and you can find asparagus on the roadside where you encounter the first wind turbine.
Wabash River at pedestrian bridge, October 27, 2009.
Nice painting on this wall.
This American cranberrybush is actually a Viburnum, Viburnum opulus var. americanum. It’s native to Indiana. You can find this viburnum at the front entrance to Pfendler Hall on the Purdue Campus. This part of campus has been planted with many native Indiana shrubs. Pictures taken October 22, 2009.
On the north side of the building, red virginia creeper vine (Parthenocissus quinquifolia) hangs from old poison ivy branchlets. The poison ivy vines were cut at the ground a few years ago, so there is not any poison ivy still alive, but poison ivy characteristically puts branches like this sticking out a yard or so from the vine, now the dead branches provide support for the Virginia creeper.
Virginia creeper grows on the ground too, beside the building.
On the east side of the building the colorful vines are largely another kind of Parthenocissus. This is Parthenocissus tricuspidata, also called Boston ivy. It shows a good lot of berries here.
Poison ivy is a key component of the fall color scene. It puts fall color where the trees don't, climbing over tree trunks, fences, roadsides. If it doesn't have anything to climb on it will grow just tall enough over the bare ground to show us the colorful leaves at a great distance. The poison ivy in the picture above is climbing over a fence somewhere east of Muncie, in Delaware County. The darker purple leaves are of dogwood (Cornus sp.). Picture taken October 11, 2009.
These pear-shaped puffballs (Morganella pyriformis) are at Fall Creek Gorge in Warren County. A light rain was falling. The occasional raindrop would hit one of these puffballs, and a puff of a brown smoke of spores would appear. I tried to get a picture of the wisp of spore smoke floating in the air, but didn't get any photo timed just right.
