The route… I’ve described it here, here, here, and here This walk doesn’t have the variety of wildflowers as my other
walk from the Group A Shelter to the Old Fort but it does have some gems. One
of the Smallflower (Asimina parviflora) had developed fruit that,
unfortunately, it had lost; the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)
Orchids had bloomed, and some Green Adder’s-mouth (Malaxis unifolia) Orchids had
bloomed and two were setting seeds. The occurrence of slime mold fruiting
bodies added a new focus of interest for this walk.
Before I started down the return trail from the dam, I
checked several wildflowers at the west end of the dam.
Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) were still
blooming, as were the…
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), and the…
Bigroot Morning Glory (Ipomoea pandurata).
I love this tree. It’s not too far down the trail and has an
enormous gall that must have started when the tree was very small and has grown
with it.
The seed capsules on New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) were still
developing.
The mystery galls on the Blackjack Oak (Quercus marilandica) sapling were starting to look sad.
There’s no evidence of any insect having chewed its way out of the galls.
An interesting pattern on a Sweetgum (Liquidamber styraciflua) leaf. Some creature had made its
way around the leaf and damaged the surface cells, creating a fascinating
pattern.
Some Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) bushes were blooming along this section of the trail.
I walked around to the…
Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) plant. The plant
was still healthy and the…
A little further along the trail, I checked a large, fallen
pine log for slime molds. I didn’t expect to find any because this log was in a
much more open area that I thought would be too dry for slime molds. But I was
in for another surprise. I found more…
Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis sp.) fruiting bodies on the side
of the log. This was, by far, the largest single collection of fruiting bodies
I’d seen so far.
The same image inverted, and…
It wasn’t until I was processing this image that I found
these…
much smaller tiny ball-shaped fruiting bodies that appear to be joined - in the lower left and right side of the image. I believe these are Multigoblet Slime (Metatrichia vesparium). They are probably only a few
milimeters tall. In my defense, these fruiting bodies were in an
awkward-to-reach spot on the log and the log was in an awkward location to
reach.
The Green Adder’s Mouth Orchids (Malaxis unifolia) had
finished blooming, and
seed capsules were developing. There are at least 13
developing seed capsules on this plant, and some on a second, smaller plant.
It’ll be interesting to watch these mature.
The Oak Apple galls I had found nearby had turned from an
apple green to a deep green. Unfortunately these had disappeared before my next
walk.
I walked on up The Hill hoping that there might be some slime molds on one of
the logs at the top. I wasn’t disappointed. I found…
a large patch of Dog Vomit/Scrambled Egg (Fuligo septica) that had fruited.
A close-up view of this fruiting body showing its fine
structure.
I continued
from the top of The Hill. My final sighting of the day was a…
Once again, an interesting walk on a trail that I hadn’t
considered to be particularly interesting in the past. Just shows that walking
the same trail over time can change one’s mind about it.
Related posts:
- Margined Leatherwing (Chauliognathus marginatus)
- Spring Is In The
Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 2)
No comments:
Post a Comment