August 12th. 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 had bloomed and two were setting seeds. The slime molds
appeared to be finished for the season. For the moment, some wildflowers we
still blooming but there was a lull between seasons.
Kudzu (Pueraria montana) vines – blooming in the woods the
previous week - were blooming in the open near the beginning of the trail.
I hadn’t seen dragonflies along this section of the trail
this year. But, on this day, a…
female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis
simplicicollis) was hunting at the
edge of the Kudzu.
In the woods, St. Andrew’s Cross (Hypericum hypericioides) plants were still blooming.
The Witch’s Butter (Tremella
mesenterica) that rehydrated after recent rains; a Leopard Slug (Limax maximus) was happily munching on
it. I’ve seen a lot of Leopard slugs on mushrooms and slime molds, as well as
munching on lichens; no wonder the ‘vegetation’ looks ragged at times.
The Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza
bicolor) was still blooming; this is one of the longest blooming plants in
these woods.
On the previous walk, there weren’t any slime mold
fruiting bodies at either of the two logs I visited on the way to the dam, but
on this walk I found…
Dog Vomit/Scrambled Egg (Fuligo
septica), and both…
immature (pink), and…
brown, mature Wolf’s Milk (Lycogala epidendrum) fruiting bodies. The upper photo has clusters
of stalks left from Chocolate Tube (Stemonitis
sp.) fruiting bodies.
The fruit on the Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) tree looked unchanged from the previous
week; in fact, it’s looked like this for months now.
The Lanceleaf Coreopsis
(Coreopsis lanceolata) had put on some new flowers. The flowers are smaller
than that had been in spring.
A Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis
arthemis) was basking in the sun at the end of the dam.
(To be continued…)
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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