September 9th. (Continued from…). I started to walk again
at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from
the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This
is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve This is a rewarding
walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been walking it every week
The early spring wildflowers have finished blooming; it’s time to
watch the developing fruit. Summer wildflowers were still blooming but it was
time to turn attention to the fungi in the woods. There were quite a number on
this walk.
The fruit
on the Buttonbush (Cephalanthus
occidentalis) were still unchanged from the previous week. These take a
long time to mature.
As I crossed the Fishing Area picnic ground, I spotted a couple of
small yellow flowers; Pencil-flowers (Stylosanthes
biflora). It was a very small plant and the first time I’ve seen it here.
A Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria
latifolia) had just about finished blooming and was already setting fruit
In the swampy area in the cove in the Fishing Area.
At the north end of the picnic area, some fallen logs were hosting
healthy colonies of the Violet-toothed Polypore (Trichaptum biforme)
A small, strikingly beautiful mushroom with a yellow-gold cap and
white stem was growing in the leaf litter near the logs. This was
Hymenopellis sinapicolor, a mushroom that grows
on buried deadwood, explaining why It looked like it was growing in soil.
As I entered the woods along the Rock Garden trail, I found some a
beautiful Coker’s Amanita (Amanita cokeri).
It’s not unusual to find these mushrooms with veil material still attached to
the stem. This particular mushroom had a strongly sculptured cap.
As I turned back to the trail, I caught sight of a white ‘bump’ on
a fallen log. I knew immediately what it was, but had to make my way around the
log to confirm that it was a Lion’s Mane (Hericium
erinaceus) – the first I had ever seen. It was a young specimen, only four
to five inches long; it’s teeth were just starting to grow out. This would
require another visit in a few days, not another week, to photograph again.
The Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis
polypodioides) had remained ‘re-hydrated’ for several weeks.
The seed capsules on the Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) vine just below the Resurrection Fern had
clearly matured but they hadn’t opened yet.
Further along the Rock Garden trail, I stepped over another
striking fungus. I had been stepping over it for a couple of weeks, trying to
resist the urge to be drawn into identifying fungi. But, on this day, it got
the better of me. It was growing against an exposed tree root and with no space
between it and the ground. I removed a portion of it and was rewarded with the
first…
toothed fungus I’d ever found. It was Hydnellum concrescens, commonly called the Zoned Tooth Fungus. By
the time I photographed it, the cap was quite tough and ‘woody.’
Since I was paying more attention to bracket fungi, I stepped off
the trail to investigate a fallen branch. I found that these fungi were…
Little
Nest Polypores (Poronidulus conchifer).
These fungi were…
old
compared with the ones I had found previously
on the trail to the dam, but there was no mistaking them. What did surprise me
was the…
excellent
condition of the pore surface of these fungi. I’ll be keeping an eye on this
branch next year to see if new brackets develop.
As
I returned to the trail, I found more Snow Fungus (Tremella fuciformis). I’d been finding this fungus on fallen logs
along this section of trail repeatedly for several months
My
final stop before I reached the Old Fort was at the Golden Reishi (Ganoderma curtisii). The cap surface
appeared to have oxidized a little since the previous week. And then I noticed
that…
Another
ganoderma, also G. curtisii, had
grown on the other side of the tree. This
one was almost completely yellow compared with the brighter colors of the first
one. In this instance, however, I was able to photograph the…
pore
surface of this fungus.
(To be continued…)
References:
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Pencil-flower (Stylosanthes biflora)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
- Messiah College: Trichaptum biforme
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2014, November). Hymenopellis sinapicolor
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2013, March). Amanita cokeri
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2013, March). Hericium erinaceus
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa)
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2009, April). Hydnellum concrescens
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2010, March). Poronidulus conchifer
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2008, November). Tremella fuciformis
- Wikipedia: Ganoderma curtisii
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Pencil-flower (Stylosanthes biflora)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
- Messiah College: Trichaptum biforme
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2014, November). Hymenopellis sinapicolor
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2013, March). Amanita cokeri
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2013, March). Hericium erinaceus
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides)
- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa)
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2009, April). Hydnellum concrescens
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2010, March). Poronidulus conchifer
- Mushroom Expert. Kuo, M. (2008, November). Tremella fuciformis
- Wikipedia: Ganoderma curtisii
Related posts:
- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park:Shelter A To The Old Fort, September 9th, 2015 (Part 2)
- Summer At Fort Yargo State Park:Shelter A To The Old Fort, September 9th, 2015 (Part 2)
