Anybody Seen My Focus?: Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park Trail: Section B To The Dam, September 11th (Part 3)

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

- Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park Trail: Section B To The Dam, September 11th (Part 2)

- Summer On A Fort Yargo State Park Trail: Section B To The Dam, September 11th (Part 1)