August 18th. (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 This is a rewarding
walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been walking it every week and
documenting the wildflowers that I see.
The early spring wildflowers have finished blooming; it’s time to
watch the developing fruit. Summer wildflowers were still blooming but it was
time to turn attention to the fungi in the woods.
The fruit on the Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) were unchanged from the previous week. But I got a surprise while I was looking at the bush; three surprises to be precise.
A Carolina Anole (Anolis
carolinensis), a…
Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis), and a…
Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) were all hunting in their own ‘corner’ of the
bush.
I was surprised to see a Common Button Lichen (Buellia erubescens) fruiting on a tree
near the ‘Rock Garden;’ it seemed a little early for lichens to be fruiting.
The seed
capsules on the Wild Yam (Dioscorea
villosa) had lightened in color. They weren’t turning brown but it was
possible to see the outline of the seeds in the capsule.
The
Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis
polypodioides) was still green after the recent rain.
The
fruit on the Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) in the Rock Garden had turned completely brown -
finally.
It’s
unusual to find Hairy Elephantfoot (Elephantopus
tomentosus) in this section of the woods but I found one blooming there.
Periodically,
after rains, I had found Snow Fungus (Tremella
fuciformis) on several logs between the end of the Rock Garden trail and
the open area below the Old Fort.
This
was a ‘first.’ I wasn’t used to seeing Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica) on this trail. This was a particularly
beautiful specimen. Even more interesting was the ‘powdery’ surface on a
section that was indicative of sporing; I’d never seen this before.
I
walked down to the Swamp Rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).
In the dry weather, the capsules were open. On this visit, the…
capsules had ‘closed,’ apparently against the wet weather.
Groundnut (Apios
americana) vines were still blooming next to the rosemallow bush.
Along the lake shore between the rosemallow and the woods, I
found…
Water Hemlock (Circuta
maculata), and…
Bushy Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) blooming.
The final find on this walk was particularly exciting. I had
read about these fungi but never thought I’d see one. This is the Golden Reishi
(Ganoderma curtisii) – thanks to Matt Schink in the Facebook Mushroom
Identification Forum for this identification - that is associated with
hardwoods, and distributed mainly in the Southeastern United States.
As with many other walks on this trail; when I think I’ve
seen everything, I see something new and exciting.
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