Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, June 17th (Part 1)

June 17th. 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 were blooming. The occurrence of slime mold fruiting bodies added a new focus of interest for this walk.

The trail along the lake shore in the woods.

I was a little surprised to fine this Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) blooming in the shaded, north-facing section of the trail. I had expected the bushes on the east-facing section of the trail to bloom first. 

I had to stop and check ‘my' slime mold log. I hadn’t expected to find much since it had been dry for a while. I found even more clusters of a Chocolate Tube slime mold (Stemonitis sp.) including…

‘single’ clusters, and

‘forests’ of sporangia in pristine condition; in addition, there were…

‘forests’ in various stages of releasing their spores. It seems that I wasn’t the only entity interested in these slime molds, although for different reasons. It seems that…

tiny slugs were feeding on them. I saw several slugs near these stands.

At the other end of the same log, I found some new patches of Red Raspberry (Tubifera ferruginosa) slime mold.

Then, on up ‘The Hill’ and over to check on the…

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) fruit.

Some of the Hairy Elephantsfoot (Elephantopus tomentosus) plants had developed flower stalks; none were blooming yet.

I walked up to the Outer Loop and then down to the dam.

Blue-fronted Dancers (Argia apicala) were enjoying the sun at the end of the dam.

Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) were still blooming nearby, as were…

Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota).

(To be continued…)

Related posts: 

- Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula getula)

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, June 12th (Part 2)

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, June 12th (Part 1)

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort YargoState Park, Section B To The Dam, June 4th (Part 2)

- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B ToThe Dam, June 4th (Part 1)
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 28th 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 22nd (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 22nd (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 15th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 15th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 8th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 8th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, May 1st (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 26th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 17th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 2) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 12th (Part 1) 
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam, April 5th  
- Spring Is In The Air: Fort Yargo State Park, Section B To The Dam  
- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 2)  
- Out With The Old; In With The New (Part 1)  
- Well… So Much For Walking The Beach  
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 4)  
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 3)  
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 2)  
- Winter Walk: Fort Yargo State Park – Section B To The Dam (Part 1)