September 11th. (Continued from…). 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 Pawpaw (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. For
the moment, some wildflowers we still blooming but there was a lull between
seasons. I had thought that the slime mold fruiting was done for the year, but
I was in for a surprise. There were new fungi to be found too.
This next section of trail is on a north-facing slope above
the reservoir. It’s protected from full sun and remains shaded and humid. It
turns out that it’s a good place to find fungi.
I found more Violet-toothed Polypores (Trichaptum biforme).
These had richer brown concentric coloring on their caps compared with those I
had seen earlier
on this walk.
Their undersides were a richer violet-purple than the
‘earlier’ ones too.
A little further along the trail, on the ‘lake’ side of the
trail I was surprised to see Orange Sponge Polypre (Pycnoporellus alboluteus)
fruiting on the underside of a large conifer log. I had seen this fungus fruiting
earlier in the year on the trail from the picnic shelter to the Old Fort; I was
surprised to see it fruiting so much later on this trail.
False Turkey Tail (Stereum
ostrea) fruits along this section of trail. It is unusual to see
algae colonizing the False Turkey Tails at this park so these caught my eye. The
algae were on both the upper and undersides of the brackets.
When I found the Little Nest Polypores (Poronidulus conchifer) on a branch that had fallen during a storm,
I placed it by the trail where I could follow it over time.
The large caps, and their little ‘nests,’ were
deteriorating.
In contrast, the nests that weren’t associated with larger
caps were in much better shape and had more vibrant patterns and colors.
I was surprised to find two sections of fallen branches with
brackets of Daedaleopsis septrionalis
on them. The branch had broken into two pieces. One section (upper photo) had
lodged in a hole in the ground and the brackets were layered up it; the second
(lower photo) was lying flat on the ground, with its brackets growing
horizontally.
The bifurcated gills were easily visible on some of the
brackets.
The gills on other brackets had matured and broken at the
points of bifurcation. The ‘ridges’ created by the breaks were quite visible
and serve as a way to identify this species with older specimens.
I found just a few Tetrapyrgos
nigripes mushrooms fruiting on a small twig. These mushrooms are easy to
identify because they grow directly on wood or leaves but have no visible
mycelium at their base. They had been plentiful a couple of month earlier so it
was surprising to find just a few now.
(To be continued)
Identification references:
Messiah College: Trichaptum
biforme
Kuo, M. Mushroom Expert.com: Pycnoporellus
alboluteus
Anybody Seen My Focus?: Orange Sponge Polypore (Pycnoporellus alboluteus)
Kuo, M. Mushroom Expert.com: Stereum
ostrea
Kuo, M. Mushroom Expert.com: Poronidulus
conchifer
Messiah College: Daedaleopsis septrionalis
Kuo, M. Mushroom Expert.com: Tetrapyrgos
nigripes
Anybody Seen My Focus?: Mushroom: Tetrapyrgos nigripes
Related posts:
- Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park
Trail: Section B To The Dam, July 29th (Part 1)
-
Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st
(Part 2)
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