Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park Trail: Section B To The Dam, July 14th (Part 1)


July 14th. 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.


The Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica), growing after recent rains, had dried up again.


I was surprised to find a single Atlantic Pigeonwings (Clitoria mariana) blooming  by the trail along the lake shore. It was just a tiny plant, but was supporting two sets of flowers.


The Starry Rosinweed (Silphium astericus) was still blooming in the shade.


The Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) bushes nearby were putting on more blooms, still in the bud stage. 

I made my way over to the first log where I’d been finding slime mold fruiting bodies. The only slime mold I found were…


Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis sp.) fruiting bodies, but there were more than enough of these to make up for the lack of variety – a small forest. These included…


fruiting bodies that were relatively undisturbed, and others that looked as if they had been…


'wind blown.' 

I left the first log and walked up ‘The Hill’ to the second log. 

At the second log near the top of the hill, I was in for another surprise. I found a few…


Arcyria cinerea fruiting bodies, and just a…


few Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis sp.) fruiting bodies. 

The surprise on this log, though, was a small patch of…


short, stalked fruiting bodies. They looked like miniature…


Chocolate Tube fruiting bodies. They were only about 3 to 4 mm tall compared with the approximately 1-cm height of the Chocolate Tube fruiting bodies. I've been calling them 'stubbies' in the absence of a proper identification.

I walked around to the Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) where the


developing fruit was thriving. 

On my way up the trail, I had an unexpected encounter with a…


Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus) dragonfly. This was the first time I had seen one of these dragonflies.

I walked up through the…


young pine woods to the Outer Loop Trail and 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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