Anybody Seen My Focus?: August 2015

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Ornate-stalked Bolete (Retiboletus ornatipes)

July 13th. On my walk from picnic Shelter A to the Old Fort at Fort Yargo State Park, I noticed a rather nondescript mushroom on the side of a gully to the lake.

It was in a bed of pine needles just beside a short bridge over a gully. It didn’t look like much but I’ve seen them here before and it was worth climbing down into the gully for a better look.

It looked like something had eaten some of the cap.

When you get closer, it becomes apparent that this isn’t such an ordinary mushroom. Getting a close look is essential to appreciate this mushroom. I always carry a small mirror to get a look at the underside of the cap, and I can take photos of the reflection in the mirror.

Firstly, it’s a polypore. It has pores rather than gills. The pore surface is bright yellow, and the pores are visible to the naked eye – about 2 to 3 pores per millimeter (enlarged in this image).

The pore tubes are approximately 1 to 1.5 cm deep. I don’t know why it is, but something had taken a ‘bite’ out of the side of the cap. (It wasn’t just this one; I’ve seen many photos of this mushroom with a bite out of one side.) It does let us see the pores without having to damage the mushroom.

And then, secondly, the crowning glory of this mushroom – the reticulated stem. This ‘sculptured’ stem is the basis for the common (ornate-stalked) and scientific (ornatipes) names of this mushroom. And finally,…

the beautiful combination of the pores and the ornate stem.

So, next time you see a rather ordinary looking mushroom in the woods, it might be worthwhile taking a closer look. You might be rewarded with seeing a truly beautiful, but probably a much unappreciated, mushroom.

References:

- Mushroom Expert: Retiboletus ornatipes

- Mushroom Observer: Retiboletus ornatipes

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort,July 13th, 2015 (Part 2)

Friday, August 28, 2015

Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, July 13th, 2015 (Part 2)

July 13th. (Continued from…). 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 finished blooming; it’s time to watch the developing fruit. A few late spring/summer wildflowers are blooming now.

The trail from the cliff to the Fishing Area usually doesn’t have many points of interest but on this walk, I spotted one of my favorite mushrooms, an…

Ornate-stalked Bolete (Retiboletus ornatipes). I spent some time sitting in the leaf litter photographing this mushroom; I’ll post them separately.

I did find another nice specimen of the Nakedflower Ticktrefoil (Desmodium nudiflorum) flowering beside the trail. And now I could see the…

leaves. They were on a ‘separate’ stalk, about a foot long, that appeared not to be associated with the bloom stalk; there were two to three inches between these stalks at the surface of the leaf litter.

Looking back along the lake just south of the Fishing Area.

A Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) was perched on a dead branch; periodically, it would take off and circle around in search of prey before returning to this same perch.

From the bridge to the Fishing Area, I saw a young Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) on a floating log to enjoy the morning sun.

Fruit are developing on the Buttonbushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis). I’ve never seen these mature before either so I’m following them with some interest. I think this is going to be a slow process.

A Carolina Wild Petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis) was still blooming. These plants have been blooming in the shady area near the point for a surprisingly long time.

In the ‘Rock Garden,’ the seed capsules on the Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) were doing well.

The Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides) on a tree trunk in the Rock Garden, leafy the week previously, had dried yet again.

A seed capsule on an Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) was hiding behind the leaves; it also looked quite healthy.

I was surprised when I got to the Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata).

The plant had shriveled and the seed capsule also looked dry. There was no sign that the capsule had split along the side, which is what I had suspected. When I lifted the leaf up, I could see that the…

bottom had ‘fallen’ out of the capsule and most of the seeds had fallen onto the ground.

When I got back to the main trail, I found the…

Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) flower stalks that I had located the week previously. The buds were still pressed against the stalk. Still a week or so before the flowers would be open.

The Swamp Rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) was still blooming but, already,

seed capsules were forming.

Indian Woodoats (Chasmanthium latifolium) were becoming a common sight along the trail through the…

woods.

I found a couple of…

Cranefly Orchid flower stalks at the base of a tree by the trail. Cranefly orchids have been blooming here for many years and I can use this spot to assess the status of these orchids if I can’t find them in other locations.

Hairy Elephantsfoot (Elephantopus tomentosus) were blooming in several locations in the shady woods. This one was blooming in the sun.

The final sighting for the walk was the…

Hairy Angelica (Angelica venenosa) in bloom.

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort,July 13th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Summer AtFort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, July 6th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort,July 6th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort,June 29th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort,June 29th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Orange Sponge Polypore (Pycnoporellus alboluteus)?

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 22nd, 2015 (Part 2)

- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 22nd, 2015 (Part 1)

- Black Chanterelle (Craterellus cornucopioides)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 15th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 15th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, June 8th, 2015 (Part 2)

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

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

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

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

- Redring Milkweed (Asclepias variegata)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 18th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 18th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 11th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 11th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 6th, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, May 6th, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 30th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 30th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 22nd April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 22nd April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 16th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 16th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 10th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 10th April, 2015 (Part 1)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 4th April, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 4th April, 2015 (Part 1)

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

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

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 20th March, 2015 (Part 2)

- Spring Walk At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, 20th March, 2015 (Part 1)

Summer At Fort Yargo State Park: Shelter A To The Old Fort, July 13th, 2015 (Part 1)

July 13th. 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 finished blooming; it was time to watch the developing fruit. A few late spring/summer wildflowers were blooming now.

The seed capsules were still developing on this Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus). The seed capsules had swollen slightly but then had remained the same size, and no sign of pink color yet.

A few Starry Rosinweeds (Silphium astericus) were still blooming in the shade by the trail just beyond the Strawberry Bush.

A new flower had appeared in the open area beyond the first woods. A Bushy Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) had begun blooming. The flowers are really ‘fragile;’ the petals will fall off the flowers easily if touched. Flowers of Ludwigia sp. are easy to recognize with their...

large bulb-shaped stigmas.

A couple of Carolina Desert-chicory (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus) plants were also blooming. These flowers are a lemon yellow compared with the golden yellow of most of the other dandelion-like flowers and easy to recognize from a distance.

For the first time I saw a ‘ripe’ blackberry. Even ripe, they aren’t very sweet.

Atlantic Pigeonwings (Clitoria mariana) were blooming close to the ground. The vines will climb, but not very aggressively.

The berries on the surviving Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) plants hadn’t ripened yet. These take a long time to ripen.

Just past the first bridge I noticed a number of European Hornets (Vespa crabro) feeding on sap that was oozing from a tree trunk.

A Five-lined Skink, probably Plestiodon fasciatus, was sunning itself on a log nearby where I usually see the Eastern Fence Lizard.

A number of large bolete mushrooms – several were 6 to 7 inches across – had grown during the previous few days. These can be challenging to identify; maybe next year.

A little further along the trail, the seed capsules on the Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) were still doing well, as were the…

seed capsules on the Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) plant, and the..

seed capsules on the Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) vine. Once I found them, I haven’t had much doubt that they would survive to maturity; my only regret is that I missed the very early stage of their development.

Fewer of the Nakedflower Ticktrefoils (Desmodium nudiflorum) were blooming. Most, however, were setting seed lomonts; these will break into one-seeded joints when mature.

The seed capsules on the witchhazel bush (Hamamelis sp.) were unchanged, but still doing well.

The developing flower buds for this season, that I first saw the previous week, were unchanged.

The seed capsules were still healthy on the Mountain Azalea (Rhododendron canescens) bush at the top of the cliff. There appear to be far fewer than last year.