July 6th. (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 been trying to walk it
weekly and document the wildflowers I see.
The early spring wildflowers have finished blooming; it’s time to
watch the developing fruit. A few late spring/summer wildflowers are blooming
now.
As I made my way over
to the ‘Rock Garden,’ I found a lone Starry Rosinweed (Silphium astericus)
blooming. It’s unusual to find this plant near the Fishing Area.
A dead Eastern Red
Cedar (Juniperus
virginiana) had been cut
down. The…
cut was fresh; the
colors of the wood were vibrant and the scent of cedar filled the air in the
immediate area.
The Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis
polypodioides) on a tree trunk in the Rock Garden, dry
the week previously, has been ‘resurrected’ yet again.
The Wild Yam (Dioscoria villosa) with seed capsules, and
the…
Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) both look healthy.
Smooth Yellow False Foxglove (Aureolaria flava) plants were ‘between’
blooms but there are many buds still to open.
The Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) still had its
seed capsule.
One of several Nakedflower Ticktrefoil (Desmodium nudiflorum) plants in this area was blooming,
with a tiny seed pod already forming from a ‘spent’ flower.
Near the end of the Rock Garden trail, I found clusters
of tiny white mushrooms on dead wood. Their caps were only about 0.5 inches in
diameter and 1 to 2 inches tall.
I walked over to the main trail towards the Old Fort.
The fallen log that had previously had Snow Fungus (Tremella fuciformis), had some new
fungus, and I found a few...
young pink Wolf’s Milk (Lycogala epidendrum) slime mold
fruiting bodies on a more-decayed log nearby.
In the grass by the footpath along the edge of the lake, I
found a couple of…
developing seed capsules.
A Bigroot Morning-glory (Ipomoea pandurata) was blooming
just inside the edge of the woods. This isn’t a robust vine and these were the
only blooms I’ve seen here; this isn’t a good spot to look for these.
I had been keeping my eye open for Cranefly (TIpularia
discolor) orchid blooms. Since the leaves have ‘disappeared’ before the orchids
bloom, it’s a case of trying to remember where I’d seen the leaves. This day
was ‘the’ day. I found…
flower stalks just emerging in a couple of locations. It’s
be a week or so before blooms would appear.
Just south of the Fishing Area, I found another…
Dog Vomit (Fuligo septica) slime mold fruiting body forming.
A little further south, I happened to look further up a gully from the
trail and spotted many mushrooms growing on a decaying log. It was about 30 to 40 feet from the trail. I had to decide if it was
worth navigating my way across to it and possibly sitting – inevitably – in the
wet leaves to photograph them. I’m glad I decided to.
A cluster of the mushrooms, and an…
individual
mushroom. I identified this mushroom as the Golden-gilled
Gerronema mushroom (Gerronema strombodes).
Rather than walk back to the trail from the direction I’d come, I decided to leave the gully from its south side. As I reached the top of the gully, I spotted…
fungi on another decaying log. They were…
Crown-tipped Coral fungi (Artomyces pyxidatus; formerly Clavicorona pyxidata). These fungi, also, were in pristine condition and I spent
many more minutes sitting in wet leaves to photograph these. But they were
worth it.
The final sighting for the walk was a cluster of Turkey Tail
(Trametes versicolor) bracket fungi on the end of a log.
It’s interesting that, although I anticipate just checking
on fruits of various plants and the ‘usual suspect’ wildflowers, I seem to find
things that I didn’t expect. That’s what makes these walks interesting.
Reference:
- Mushroom Expert: Gerronema strombodes
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