Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 8th, 2015 (Part 1)

June 8th. I started to walk again at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been trying to walk it weekly and document the wildflowers I see.

The route, which I described here, here, and here. 

The early spring wildflowers have finshed blooming; it’s time to watch the developing fruit. A few late spring/summer wildflowers are blooming now.

Littleleaf Sensitive Briar (Mimosa microphylla) plants were still blooming in the shade at ground level. It would be easy to miss them. I took a few minutes to stroke the leaves into closing up.

The seed capsules were still developing on this Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus). This bush has a lot of fruit.

The Lanceleaf Loosestrife (Lysimachia lanceolata) plants were still blooming.

A lone Carolina Wild Petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis) was blooming in the shade in an open area between the woods. It was one of the most intensely colored petunias I’ve seen.

Virginia Buttonweed (Diodia virginiana) plants were beginning to bloom also.

The berries on the Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) plants just before the first bridge were still developing nicely, as were the…

seed capsules on the Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) plants on the rise just after the bridge.

The berries on the Deerbery (Vaccinium staminium) bushes were still developing. They hadn’t increased in size. 

The Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) fruit was still developing and looked healthy.

I had been looking for seed capsules on Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) vines. I had wanted to watch them develop from the tiny flowers – only about ¼ inches in diameter - into the seed capsules that are about 1 inch long. I finally found some capsules but they were already large. It was great to find them but I’m going to have to wait until next year to see them develop. 

I had stepped off the trail to photograph the Wild Yam seed capsules and as I stepped back onto the trail, I realized that I was about to step on some…

small mushrooms. They had deeply inverted, scaly caps and,…

similar to chantarelles, poorly developed – more like folds - gills running down their stems. It took a bit of sleuthing to discover that they were Black Chanterelles (Craterellus cornucopioides), also known as Black Trumpets or Horn of Plenty. Apparently they are highly prized as delicious edible mushrooms. I’m so glad that I found them and didn’t step on them. I suspect that most people, including me, wouldn’t see them unless they had some reason to look down at exactly the right time. 

It was just a short distance to the…

witchhazel (Hamamelis sp.) bush. The seed  capsules on this plant were doing well, as was the…

second Eastern Sweetshrub fruit. From here I made my way along to the Fishing Area. 

(To be continued…)

Related posts:  
- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The OldFort, June 3rd, 2015

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The OldFort, May 26th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The OldFort, May 26th, 2015 (Part 1) 

- Redring Milkweed (Asclepias variegata)

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