Devil's Icebox and Its Environs

Today I went with some kids from my dorm to Devil's Icebox, which is a cave, and some trails around it. I had a great time, and, naturally, I took a lot of pictures of plants.

First, though, check out this spinach I got. The greenhouse overwintered some of its spinach from last fall, and it began growing again this spring. The spinach soon bolted, though, so I was tasked with pulling it all. Even though it had flowered, the leaves tasted fine, so I was allowed to take home whatever I wanted. I took home a whole bagful, and gave a few plants each to two of my closest friends at school. Here's what I had left after that. It may not look like much, but there's real treasure in there. And lots of aphids and spiders, as it turns out.

Here's another photo unrelated to my cave trip. I saw this on my way to my car this morning and couldn't resist photographing it.

The cave pictured here is not the one we explored, but we did end up crossing this stream. I didn't take many pictures inside the cave because the bottom of it was a river, and I didn't want to drop my phone in it. However, some of my friends took quite a few pictures from in the cave, so I'll post them when I get them.

This plant is a wild Missouri edible, the mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). These umbrella-like plants will produce apple-esque fruits later this year. The fruits are edible when cooked and can be incorporated in pies, jellies, and so forth. I've never eaten one, but I would like to.

I love mossy cliff faces. This one was quite impressive. The mud made it impossible to clamber over to that tree, though.

There was a plethora of wildflowers blooming at the state park we visited, and I didn't recognize any of them. There's a surprising but substantial difference in the ecologies of my native region and more northern regions of Missouri.

This is Devil's Icebox. This is the cave we explored. We did not, however, enter it this way.

These ornate ferns were all over the place. I quite enjoyed them.

Another unfamiliar wildflower. These blooms resembled snapdragons, except that they weren't in spike formations.

These flowers look like they might belong to the Phlox genus.

Again, I hope to bring you some in-cave pictures. It was a great experience, exploring some of the area's natural wonders. What has nature created in your neck of the woods?

Next post: me in a cave?