September 9th. 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 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. I found more mushrooms on
this walk and, at a time when I thought there would be fewer interesting
observations, I found that there were even more.
My first spotting was on the trail down to the lake. These
colorful fungi are False Turkey Tails (Stereum
ostrea). Often mistaken for the true Turkey Tails, they do look different
when you get used to looking at them. The litmus test to identify these fungi
is to look at the underside of the brackets; their undersides are smooth with
no evidence of pores.
On a nearby log, I found a jelly fungus. This almost
certainly is Witch’s Butter (Tremella
mesenterica). Witch’s Butter is usually bright yellow. I have found,
however, in following an individual Witch’s Butter that the color fades with
repetitive rounds of desiccation and re-hydration.
My next stop was at the logs in the young open woods beyond
the pine forest. The longest log was hosting at least two different colonies of
small bracket fungi.
Brackets in the colony furthest from the trail had
concentric zones of tans and browns with a lilac brown margins that is
characteristic of this fungus although inexperienced observers might call them
Turkey Tails. These brackets have…
pores on their undersides that are not circular like the
pores on Turkey Tails but have a somewhat ‘zig-zag’ appearance when young and
break down to have a tooth-like appearance as they age. These are called
Violet=toothed Polypore (Trichaptum biforme). The name ‘biforme’ refers to the
two appearances – poroid or tooth-like – of the pore surface. Reference photos
show young brackets with purple undersides. I’ve rarely found young specimens
with ‘intense’ purple color; most have been quite pale with only a hint of
purple color, if any.
In the foreground, the Turkey Tails (Trametes versicolor) brackets had increased from the single
‘rosette’ I’d seen a couple of weeks previously had grown to a small forest.
Yet another fungus on another section of the same log. These
brackets are the Gilled Polypore (Lenzites
betulina); another fungus that may be mistaken for a Turkey Tail if you
don’t examine the underside of the bracket.
Gilled Polypores have gills on their undersides.
A little further along the trail the Small Woodland
Sunflower (Helianthus microcephalus)
plants were still blooming.
Finally… The seed capsules on the Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) had opened to
reveal the bright orange fruit.
I stopped at the small rosettes of brackets on an old oak
log that I had identified as Daedaleopsis
septrionalis. The previous
week, they were an almost even brown color with a light margin. Now they had
concentric zones of tans and browns, quite different from the previous week.
The rosettes were sitting close to the surface of the log and it would have
been difficult to view the undersides without damaging the brackets. I’m going
to have to wait until next year to try to look at the underside of these
brackets more closely.
A Leopard Slug (Limas
maximus) was quietly nibbling on the margin of one of the brackets. Maybe I
shouldn’t worry about disturbing these brackets if they’re being eaten by the
locals.
As I emerged into the open area under the power lines I
found a patch of Forked Bluecurls (Trichostema
dichotomum) in bloom. Although growing in the open, these plants were
shaded for most of the day.
Some small plants of Anisescented Goldenrod (Solidago odora)
were beginning to bloom at the edge of the open area.
(To be continued…)
References:
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo M. (2008, December): Stereum ostrea
- Messiah College: Trichaptum
biforme
- Mushroom
Expert. Kuo, M. (2005 March). Trametes versicolor. The turkey tail.
- Messiah College: Lenzites
betulina
- Go
Botany: Helianthus
microcephalus
- Native
and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Euonymus
americanus
- Messiah
College: Daedaleopsis
septrionalis
- Fairfax
County Public Schools: Leopard Slug
(Limax maximus)
- Native
and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Forked
Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum)
- Native
and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Anisescented
Goldenrod (Solidago odora)*
*Identified
by friends on the Facebook group Plant
Identification
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