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, the Pink
Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) Orchids had finished blooming, and some Green Adder’s-mouth (Malaxis unifolia) Orchids were beginning to
bloom.
As I started down the trail from the dam, I found more…
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) plants in bloom. In addition,
some…
remains of the fruit stems from last year were still attached to the
plant.
Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) plants in bud along the
first section of this trail.
The older mystery oak gall was beginning to dry up, and a…
new, smaller gall had developed on the same sapling. These
galls have yet to be identified.
I walked around to the open deciduous woods. I crossed a
small bridge and was making my way up a rise when an unexpected shape caught my
eye. It was the…
Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) plant that I had photographed in bloom on April 5th. I had lost track of it and
thought that none of the flowers had been fertilized. But here it was with a…
developing seed capsule.
I checked fronds of the Ebony Spleenworts (Asplenium platyneuron). Spore packets had developed on
the areas that were white the week before.
I had a dilemma. I had forgotten the small light that I
use in low-light conditions when I can’t use flash. I didn’t want to drive home
to get it and thought that I would have to improvise at the Green Adder’s-mouth
Orchid (Malaxis uniflora) patch. I was lucky.
The sun was shining on one of the plants. I was happy to be
able to photograph that plant.
When I was checking some Pipsissewa plants nearby, I found
a…
new Oak Apple Gall. These galls are produced by the Oak
Apple Gall wasp, Amphibolips confluenta. The galls are green at first but turn
brown later.
Further along the trail, I found more damselflies. These…
Powdered Dancers (Argia moesta) were enjoying the sun on the
trail up the north side of ‘The Hill.’
Just below this crest of the hill, I found more…
Blue-fronted Dancers (Argia apicalis). I counted more than a
dozen damselflies on my walk.
Along the trail, I found many…
A few Common Whitetail (Plathemis
lydia) dragonflies – this one’s a female - were enjoying the sun.
Virginia Sweetspire (itea virginica) was still blooming.
Most of the Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) plants on
the final stretch of the trail had white flowers but a few had strikingly
purple flowers. A nice way to finish a walk.
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