Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park Trail: Section B To The Dam, July 8th (Part 1)


July 8th. When I visited Fort Yargo State Park in mid-February, there were few signs of Spring. The only wildflower plants that were obvious were the leaves of Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor) that I found in many places.


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. 

I found a few of the ‘usual suspects’ on the trail in the main woods.


The Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica) was growing again after recent rains.


The Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) bushes were still blooming; the flowers seemed a little deeper pink than the earlier ones.


A Starry Rosinweed (Silphium astericus) was still blooming in the woods; and still had buds waiting in the wings. 

I stopped by the first log. I found a  some Wolf’s Milk (Lycogala epidendrum) fruiting bodies in a ‘bed’ of slime mold fruiting bodies that looked like…


Coral slime (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa var. fruticulosa) that has just simple sporangia.


Closer examination, when I processed the images. showed that these were mature fruiting bodies of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa var porioides. This slime mold has ‘honeycomb-shaped’ fruiting bodies compared with the simple ‘single-stalk’ fruiting bodies of the fruticulosa variety. It’s easier to see this structure in the developing image here.


Then I found some more fruiting bodies of what is probably Arcyria cinerea. And more Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis sp.) fruiting bodies, both…

recently formed, and…


a bit the worse for wear, and even some more that were…


hanging upside down ‘under’ the log. The pull of gravity had caused the spores to ‘clump’ which made the sporangium look somewhat segmented. 

Then I found…


these small black shiny fruiting bodies, less than a millimeter tall. The dull bodies are the same as the shiny ones. The shiny ‘crust’ has broken to allow the spores to be released. Believe it or not, these fruiting bodies are on tiny stalks. 

Among the tiny black fruiting bodies, I found these…


white fruiting bodies. There were a few individuals, but most seemed to occur as…


clusters of four or more. I don’t know what these are either. They were, perhaps, a millimeter tall. 

The last slime mold I found on the log was…


this one. I almost missed these. They were so small; perhaps a millimeter tall but with very tiny tan-colored sporangia sitting on top of very slender brown stalks. The look bigger in the photo than they were.


I finally left the first log and walked past the Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) bracket fungi and up ‘The Hill’ to the second log. 

At the second log, I was in for another surprise. I found a small patch of the fungus that I have tentatively identified as the…


Orange Sponge Polypore (Pycnoporellus alboluteus). This patch was only seven to eight inches long but I was glad to see it. This means the fungus is probably safe if the big patch on the other trail is damaged when proposed improvements to the park are made over the next 10 to 20 years. Anyway, I settled in to take some photos.


From the side, showing the pores that have


‘eroded’ so that the fungus looks like veils. And from…


underneath - using a mirror – showing the irregular pores. Descriptions of the fungus include the ‘erosion’ of the pores. The erosion of the pores may be helped along by some of the…


creatures, like this Leopard slug, that feed on fungi. (I’ve seen many tiny leopard slugs around the slime molds too.) 

I also found…


Wolf’s Milk (Lycogala epidendrum) fruiting bodies – young and older – on top of the log. There were lots of… 


Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis sp.) fruiting bodies on the side of the log. These were distinctly grayish; white fungal growth on the log made me think that the fungus had invaded the slime mold fruiting bodies. 

I made my way up the trail to the…


Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that was still hosting a couple of fruits.


Hairy Elephantsfoot (Elephantopus tomentosus) had started to bloom – finally!
 
From here, I walked on down to the dam. 
(To be continued)

Related posts:  
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 2)

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