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

Friday, August 28, 2015

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.