Hollis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 468 )

• Monthly Fern: Polypodies & Fern Sex (or Do They?)

  

  Left, Polypodium saximontanum, leaves to 25 cm long (Matt Berger); right, P. virginianum, leaves to 40 cm long.For May, the South Dakota "Monthly Fern" series... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2025 OUTDOORS

• The Monthly Fern: Bracken—dreadful Or Delightful?

  

  "Shelter" by Colin.Come my sweet and let us lie inSome idyllic wooded glade And let us stay til merry-made Amid the Bracken.For April, the South Dakota... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2025 OUTDOORS

• Peculiar Eruptive Mountains on the Colorado Plateau

  

  The La Sal Mountains rise 8000+ feet above the Colorado Plateau (source).In 1875, two geologists employed by the US government were studying mountains in... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2025 OUTDOORS

• The Monthly Fern: Northern Holly Fern, a Spore Shooter

  

  This month's South Dakota fern is Polystichum lonchitis, Northern Holly Fern (Andre Zharkikh).It was the first paragraph on the first page of Robbin Moran's... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2025 OUTDOORS

• Upheaval Dome, the Most Peculiar Structural Feature in Southeast Utah

  

  Severely contorted innards of Upheaval Dome.Last September I visited two anomalous features on the generally orderly Colorado Plateau. Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2025 OUTDOORS

• The Monthly Fern: Sensitive Or Bead Fern

  

  "... the fertile ones being so unlike the sterile, that no one who is unacquainted with the plant would suppose they had anything to do with each other." Photo... Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2025 OUTDOORS

• Wishing Happiness to All!

  

  Are you wondering about "my families" in this year's botanical greetings? Nothing aberrant here, it's just that there is no all-encompassing Fern Family. Instea... Read more

  Posted on 25 December 2024 OUTDOORS

• Osage Orange—God's Gift to the Prairie Farmer

  

  "this curious fruit, which, when first discovered lying neglected beneath the tree, led the voyagers to fear and report it as a poison" wrote Thomas Nuttall... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2024 OUTDOORS

• Does Dog Exist? A Tail of Philosophy, AI, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

  

  Dog?In a scan of The Atlantic homepage recently, I came across Are You a Platonist or an Aristotelian? I was especially intrigued by the subtitle: "Your answer... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2024 OUTDOORS

• Tree Following: Killer Cottonwood in Utah

  

  On a hot afternoon several weeks ago, I pulled into Hittle Bottom Campground on the Colorado River in southern Utah. After parking in the only site with shade, ... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Trees: Black Walnut

  

  Black Walnut with spring leaves—its "yearly trick of looking new" (Philip Larkin, The Trees). Union Grove State Park, South Dakota.Walnuts from a previous... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Trees—why a Mulberry is Not a Blackberry Even Though It Looks Like...

  

  Geek alert! (ʘ‿ʘ)╯(photo modified from Flickr).Continuing my exploration of the South Dakota sylva, this month's featured tree is the mulberry. Supposedly... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2024 OUTDOORS

• Missouri River, South Dakota's Great Divide

  

  "What does the Missouri mean to you?" I was asked.South Dakota is one of those roughly rectangular states in the heartland of the USA. Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2024 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Basswood in South Dakota (barely)

  

  From Trees as Good Citizens (Pack 1922)."The man who loves trees should be able to identify them at a glance. ... he should make himself familiar with the... Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota's Ancient Rock is Hiding Under the Covers (mostly)

  

  "ruins of some ancient city built of marble and porphyry" (Joseph Nicollet, 1843).South Dakota east of the Missouri River is nearly flat, and covered in corn,... Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Tree-Following: Le Chêne à Gros Acorn

  

  "An Oak, whose leaves are as large, and which bears such large fruits, is well suited to attract the attention of lovers of foreign cultures, and to find a plac... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota's Leguminous Trees (& a Vine)

  

  A legume is a fruit type specific to the pea family. When dry, it splits on two sides to release seeds.Continuing my journey through the South Dakota sylva, thi... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Maples—Sugar, Silver, & a Trickster

  

  Sugar Maple in Sica Hollow, northeasternmost South Dakota.For April's tree-following report I'm sticking with my strategy of following (learning about) South... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Tree-Following—Prairie Crabapple

  

  Pyrus ioensis. 1913, Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Source.This month's tree-following report features another tree from South Dakota, part of my effort to learn... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2024 OUTDOORS

• Fruits of the Rose Family—a Cornucopia!

  

  How many Rosaceous fruits are in this painting? Answer at end of post. (Still Life with Fruit by Severin Roesen, 1852; Smithsonian Open Access)The Rosaceae is... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2024 OUTDOORS