Biodiversity and Other Things of Benign Interest

February 5th, 2012

2012-02-05T20:42:00.005-05:00

Well it began like a February morning sure enough but by midday, the clouds began to break, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine and so with camera in hand, I began one of my walks down through the woods, down into the hollow where the creek runs through.

There is not a lot to see this time of the year. It is late winter and though there are some tiny ground hugging flowers beginning to bloom, there isn’t much of anything else and so a lot of my attention is on lichens and what few polyporous fungi there may be growing on old rotten, fallen tree limbs and even some living trees. For example . . .

These polypores have been here for some while, as you can tell. They are already algae encrusted and it is a wonder that there aren’t any Thrips crawling about on them. As I mentioned there isn’t much of anything else at this time of the year, especially something with a lot of color and so these polypores just happened to capture my attention.

Moving along, it seemed that all there was to see were polypores but these lichens looked colorful, all wet and with the suns rays illuminating them, amid the moss encrusted wood that they had taken residence upon.

Actually I am not sure about the dark pimply looking things growing on the lichen crust. They may just be Pyrenomycetes and not being all that familiar with them, I let well enough alone and let just taking a photo suffice for now. They could be lichen apothecia though, however? Look closely and sure enough, there are some polypores on the wood substrate also, over in the far left corner of the photograph. Yes, those little brown leafy, wet, out of focus looking things.

Again moving along, I poked and prodded most everything that I came across. Though not taking any photographs, I did come across a few ferns that were displaying croziers (fiddleheads), though they looked as though the cold of the early morning had stunted and stopped their growth.

The day was warming nicely now that the sun had appeared and for some reason I was desperate to find something more of interest, something to foretell the coming of an early spring, and indeed there was at least one sign of spring and that was the long green shoots or leaves of the Daffodils. One appeared to have already produced a premature bloom that was in a bad state of being, all wilted, barely open and nodding over, probably resulting from the cold wet night before.

Tag Alder catkins. Now these I really look for about this time of the year. Usually you will find the waxy coated ones in late January. The waxy coating protects the tiny flowers to come, from being damaged by the cold nights. When the weather warms sufficiently, they will open and be the first available flowers for the honeybees to glean pollen from.

I am not sure exactly what this is. Is it a silken cocoon of some kind or a silken orb full of spiders! I don’t know but what ever there was inside, did not appreciate my intrusion upon it. See the orange spot amid the silk? Well, it began to turn red afterwards, after I had moved it around so as to get a good photo of it. It was buried amid the leaves of last autumn.

January 29th, 2012 (Late entry)

2012-02-04T13:51:00.003-05:00

The month of January 2012 is now drawing to a close and spring is in the air or so one would think. Temperatures have been mild, very unseasonable one might would say and already there are some things in bloom. Henbit, Hoary bitter-cress, and Chickweed are all in bloom and already Daffodils are beginning to sprout up, the latter of which I would not expect till some time around mid to late February. On top of that, I have already observed at least one Daffodil having started to produce a bloom.

Could all of this odd weather be due to the proposed effect of “global warming,” or climate change? I don’t know, such prognostications are best left to those of much higher learning than I but from what I have read and observed personally, here of late, I am inclined to agree.

Here lately I have formed my own hypothesis but not about the weather or climate but one concerning mankind and to test such a hypothesis, all one really needs to do is to just look around at what mankind has done to our planet. My hypothesis is that we, human-kind, mankind, however one wants to consider themselves, we are nothing more than parasites on the face of this planet. We are consistently raping the resources of the planet for our own benefit and not giving anything back in return to assure our continued existence. Yes, I would assume or even to be so bold as to say that, there are no symbioses between mankind and his/her environment and our parasitic behavior will soon lead to our demise, human existence will soon disappear from the face of the earth and in short order. Whatever recourse that we might have had or even to now may attempt to impose, will be too little, to late I am afraid.

So, with the afore having been gotten off of my chest, it is now that I should be on about the purpose of this document, regardless of the gloom and doom having been proposed by myself and by quite a number of others.

It was not so long ago that I was viewing a video presentation on a Harvard University sponsored website and in that presentation, which was being given on Amanita phalloides by the way, it was mentioned about how little we know about the biodiversity in our own immediate area and so with that having been mentioned, it has prompted me to get out and to do a little photography and research, around my home here in Rutherford county, to see just what all does exist or which lives within the boundaries of the place that I call home, that home being about 5 miles north of the city of Rutherfordton, North Carolina and in a somewhat rural setting.

The landscape around my home or small duplex apartment, is what one could call a “rolling landscape” I suppose you could say. There are fields, pasture land and patches of woodlands here and there. I think that the area is probably more to be called the “foothills” region here in the county, with the Blue Ridge mountains some 50 miles away, taking about an hours drive or a little more maybe, to access them.

My interests are quite diverse. There is not one thing in particular that I could say that I have a particularly keen interest in, unless it would be Plasmodial Slime Molds, of which they are quite elusive creatures or denizens of the forest floor and oftentimes other places as well. Probably the one thing that keeps me from pursuing such creatures is that their identity is hard to pin down at times and the other is that their names are difficult to pronounce, since they are mostly in Latin it seems and there are little if any common names for most all species. However, let me come across a number of fruiting bodies (myxomycetes) on some decaying organic substrate and I am a kid on Christmas morning.

For the purpose of familiarity, I present to you a photograph taken of the area around my home. What one sees here in this photograph is a garden plot, honeybee hives (two of them, there are more, not shown), and a mixed forest of deciduous and evergreen trees. This mixed forest is made up of Pines, Cedars, Yellow Poplar, Maple, Hickory, Oak, Persimmon, Beech, Gray Dogwoods and some others, just to name several species, with what appears to be Yellow Poplar being the most abundant and yes, by the way, Tag Alders that grow in thickets down by the small creek in the hollow below my home.

As one may note, there has already been quite a diverse list of living things having been presented both in word and in the photographs on these pages. What more will there be for me to present in this blog? I would dare to say that it would take several lifetimes to photograph, catalog, and describe all that lives just here in my immediate area and with that having been written, it would seem that I have my hands full with the task now at hand. However I am an aged man, alone, and with lots of free time on my hands and more free time to come, as I will be retiring from my labors late in the next year, that is hopefully. Then I can fully devote all of my time to the study of nature.

I mentioned of there being a small creek in the hollow below my home. Well, here is a photograph of that creek.

It is quite small, one could easily step across it in some places, in others the bank is quite high on both sides, making a simple crossing, difficult. There is not a lot of depth to the creek but it provides a place where deer and other animals may drink from.

Unfortunately this little stream is quite polluted. About a quarter mile upstream is the highway and a great many things get blown over into the creek from passing cars and trucks, litter mostly in the way of plastic bottles, however, there are other forms of refuse to be found also having been washed down by heavy rains. The creek has cut a deep path through the woods and in places it shows where at times, heavy rains appear to have also caused it to overflow its banks, resulting in rather small floodplains along its course.

There are places along the creek where it is easily accessible and from some of those places I have taken samples of water to look for microorganisms. Those samples of water that when allowed to sit for a day or two with some of the decaying organic matter taken along with those samples, result in cultures teeming with protozoans such as Paramecium.

Again the diversity of life here is quite enormous and not only here in my little spot but elsewhere in the world too. Microorganisms are one form of life that can be found most anywhere on Earth and all one needs is a microscope and the time and patience to look for them. Yes, several lifetimes would be needed to explore and try to understand all of Gods creation and even then, I don’t think we would have put a scratch in all that there would be remaining to be discovered.

Not far from the creek, a tree had fallen and it had been there for a number of years from the looks of it and from just looking it over, it appears to have been blown over, as the roots are pulled up from the ground.

Looking over the trunk of the tree, one can see that it is covered with shelf or bracket fungi, fan-shaped polypores. These fungi are oftentimes mistakenly called “lichens,” though they are not and far from being what would be termed as being lichenized fungi.

As I surveyed the trunk of the tree, I came to notice that of which is shown in the above photograph. What I assume to have photographed here are the vestigial remains of a slime mold sporangia, the sporangia of the slime mold are filamentous structures that harbor the spores of the slime mold and are used for slime mold reproduction. I have an idea of the identity of the slime mold but still not enough to go on, to pin point its true being.

There was so much more to be seen around that old fallen tree and unfortunately I failed to photograph all that I should have. I will have to return there within the next few days for another look around and to take some more photographs.

January 22nd, 2012 "While Walking Through the Woods One Day"

2012-01-22T11:44:00.006-05:00

Sort of a raw morning this Sunday the 22^nd of January but a jacket and my camera were all that was needed for a short walk about the woods beside my apartment.

Not much to see in the wintertime I suppose but if one looks closely enough there is always something to catch the eye, like this Spleenwort for example. The brown spots on the leaves are dehiscent sporangia.

Getting down close to the ground is never a bad thing to do, especially when shooting macro, though not every subject involved in macro shooting requires that one get down on the ground and get their knees dirty or worse yet, sore. However, it paid off in noticing and capturing a photograph of this creepy little subject. Can you see it?

I was surprised at just how well it blended in with its surroundings and would not have noticed it or paid any mind to it had I not been photographing that Spleenwort.

How about now? You should be able to see it much better. I am not too keen on spiders or astute in the identification of species but just a wild guess, it may be a Jumping spider of sorts.

A great many times I find myself with “tunnel vision,” becoming focused on one subject in particular and only then finding out after the digital download of the photographs, that there were or was, much more to the image than met the eye at the beginning. Would you just look at the lichen diversity in this photograph. The British Soldiers (red apothecia) were the main focus of my attention, it was not until later that I realized the lichen diversity that lay within that which I had captured as a digital photograph.

January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T14:56:00.002-05:00

This Sunday morning finds itself to be with broken clouds and the temperature, at 09:20 AM, to be 50° F. with no wind. The temperature yesterday was very unseasonable, could it be global warming or climate change? What ever the case may be, it was 68° F. at 2 PM here in Rutherford County, WNC and 70° F. at the airport in Spartanburg, S. C.

It has rained a bit overnight here, though this morning at present there is no rain falling but it is forecasted at 50% for the day. I may try for a short walk through the woods later on, here beside the apartment. Lately I have been busying myself with getting to know some of the flora and fauna that exists here around my home in Rutherford County, as previously mentioned and also as previously mentioned, for the past few years I have been resorting to the mountains, which is a good hours drive away, in search of natures oddities but finding more at home after returning from such a trip. Needless to say, the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side.

Only a few days ago, I found myself to be mildly engrossed in the study of fungi. Though I am familiar with the Kingdom Fungi, I have never really delved much into it other than a passing interest in photographing mushrooms. Here recently though, I have turned my attention to the mycelium that has been lying quietly beneath the decaying leaves of autumn, the true source of the mushrooms that I have been photographing.

Here I have photographed a mycelium that is growing on a piece of decaying tree bark, probably that of a Beech tree since there are many about and this particular piece of bark was beneath a rather large Beech tree.

The specimen looks to be wet and it is, as I uncovered the mycelium from underneath the fallen leaves of the Beech and of Oaks also nearby.

As one can see the mycelium has a fan-shape with a soft diffused-like webbing. I had never given much thought to this organism, often dismissing it as a mold of sorts, aiding in the decomposition of organic matter, which of course it does aid in the decomposition but it is indeed far from being a mold, so to speak.

This photograph here was taken utilizing a Meiji stereomicroscope or dissecting microscope. Stereomicroscopes are very useful when studying the finer points of nature and the specimen rarely has need of any special preparation before viewing with such an instrument. Most of the stereomicroscopes on the market today are quite simple in design and most all are sufficient for the study of nature or other things as well. Photographs today can be taken with digital cameras held up to the eyepiece of one of these instruments or if one has the sufficient funds, a stereomicroscope with a “beam splitter,” enables one to have the camera attached to the phototube of the microscope, so that the camera is there for photographing on demand.

January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T19:45:00.002-05:00

Rather warm for the first day of 2012 but I will take it, like I have a choice, lol! There were a great many things to be seen this day. I surprised myself by the amount of photographs that I had taken in just a short while, in walking the woods and out back of the apartment.

One of the things that I always come upon but never really stop to consider are these Club mosses (above photos). They belong to the Lycopodium this one called “Running Cedar” or “Ground Pine.” The leaves of the plant are sort of flat and fan out from the stem. Like mosses they reproduce by spores or by sporulation but they also produce runners (below) which extend just below the leaf litter, seldom underground. From these runners, new plants arise and can spread out into very large patches along the forest floor.

Not much later as I was looking over the nearby area from which the mosses were growing, I spied this rotten tree stump (below), probably that of a fallen pine tree and it was in a bad state of decay. There on the side of the stump, I found this new growth of lichens and not being adept at lichen identification, I can only suspect these to be squamulose lichens.

However in this second lichen photo (below), it appears as though we have the fruiting body of a Matchstick lichen there on the same stump. So maybe that could be what they are, Matchstick lichens.

Well what would a walk through the wood be without coming across some fungi. Leaving the stump and the lichens, along with the mosses, I was foraging among the fallen leaf litter for something of interest when I came across this perfect specimen of a mycelium!

Here in this photo the networking of the mycelium is very well presented. The substrate of which it is growing upon, is a rotten piece of hardwood as best as I can tell. As for the wood itself, it could be oak, beech, hickory, or yellow poplar as there are many of these kinds of trees to be found in these woods.

Nearby there was a rather large Beech tree and I notice that at the base of the tree (above), just above where the roots begin, there seemed to be “wet rot” fungi growing on the bark of the tree and over various other decaying organic matter lying in contact with the tree base.

Not only was there fungi growing about the base of the Beech tree but at the base of some Alders trees as well (last photo). I wondered if these were or could be mycorrhizas. I really must brush up on my mycology and become more familiar with such things if I am to continue coming across them and photographing them.

This day has passed quickly, the temperatures were in the lower 60’s (F) and it was pretty much a “blue bird” kind of day, quite unusual for the first of January and I suppose we can assume it to be due to “climate change” or what is called “global warming” also.

December 31, 2011

2011-12-31T21:03:00.008-05:00

Though you cannot see it, it’s out there and it’s waiting. It’s sentient, when I walk through the woods, it knows that I am there, it leaps up in the aftermath of my footsteps, grabbing and clinging to whatever it may take hold of, it is hundreds, maybe even thousands or more miles in size and maybe even a few hundred miles of it would fit neatly inside the parameters of the above photograph.

It may enjoin the roots of the plants and the trees that live in the forest, forming a symbiosis or mycorrhiza, it could also parasitize the trees and even destroy the insects and the animals that live there in the woods also, even humankind, though it has done more to benefit humankind than to harm it.

It is a fungus, it is…

MYCELIUM
(video)

However, most of us know it by what is shown here, a mushroom or basidiocarp, they are collectively known as sporocarps. If you have watched the above video, you have learned more about mycelium than I could have ever told you. The Kingdom Fungi is vast and interesting, if you have not considered it, you may want to delve further into the kingdom and have a good look.

December 30, 2011 Liverworts

2011-12-30T20:15:00.006-05:00

A beautiful morning, cool but not overly so, a light jacket sufficed for a leisurely walk through the woods. Not looking for anything specific this morning, just anything that may happen to catch my eye, something of interest unto myself only.

Almost to the small creek that runs through the hollow, I stopped by an Alder tree, a rather large one. Sometime back, maybe two or three months ago, I found a slime mold species on a branch that had broken off from the tree. With that in mind, I investigated to see if just maybe there might be another. Slime molds do and can occur during the winter season if the temperatures warm enough. However, no slime molds were encountered but I did notice that there was an abundance of moss, growing as epiphytes upon the smooth bark of the tree, along with some other interesting little plants that are probably more often overlooked than any other, leafy liverworts.

To look upon them one may just assume that they are young moss plants or even a species of crustose lichen, they do have a crusty appearance until you take a much closer look at them, with a good Hastings triplet hand lens if you so happen to have one. Hand lenses are a necessity I think, when it comes to nature walks. It doesn’t matter the magnification or power of the lens, I have three of them but the one I use most often is a 7x lens. I also have a 10X and a 20X Hastings triplet. However, the 7x hand lens is much easier to use and gives a better standoff and a wider field of view.

Getting back to the liverworts though, most are rather large, much larger than these and they also can have interesting reproductive structures and unlike the cryptic leafy liverwort shown here, they can be found in the open growing on rocks alongside flowing streams or cool mountain springs. They appear not to be too fond of direct sunlight, more to the liking of partial shade one might could say, or at least that is where I find them to be the most. Different species may prefer different types habitats of course.

The photos shown here were all taken with a 50mm macro lens and the last image was taken at almost a 1:1 (life size) ratio.

Liverworts or Marchanitophyta are a division of bryophyte plants (e. g. mosses of which most people are familiar with) commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts.

December 25, 2011 Sunday, Christmas Day

2011-12-25T13:56:00.012-05:00

A cold and cloudy Christmas Day here in Rutherford County. This morning after coffee and breakfast, I took a walk down through the woods beside my apartment. Though everything is pretty much bare and tucked in for the winter, still there were some things that captured my attention.

Lichens are organisms formed of a symbiosis, that is a mutualistic relationship existing between two unlike organisms, in this case an algae and an ascomycete or fungus.

Lichens can take on many shapes and grow to great size in some instances, covering the entire substrate on which they are found. Given ample time and in a good environment, most any surface is susceptible to becoming lichenized, that is, being covered with lichens. Brick walls, stone walls, rocks, wood, soil, metal, all are susceptible to becoming lichenized. They are not only denizens of the forests, deserts, arctic and tropic regions of the world but can also be found in city environments as well.

Unlike humans, lichens can coexist in harmony with others of their species. Here I show at least two or three lichen species cohabitating at the base of a Yellow Pine tree.

These are Reindeer Lichens, they seem to prefer growing on the ground in the presence of conifer trees or Pines. I have found them growing nowhere else here but around those trees, out back of my apartment.

If there is one thing quite common to be found on the forest floor around here in the wintertime, it is fungi. The woodlands here abound with all sorts of fungal species. Like this wet rot fungi that I found growing on an old rotting oak tree limb lying on the ground and another close by, neither of which I know not the names of the species.

Soon these will sporulate (spore germination) and the resulting white web-like mycelium will make its way back under ground. Some may think that these shelf fungi and/or mushrooms are the whole organism, however, the true mass of the fungi lies well beneath the ground, hundreds of miles of it as a matter of fact and in just one area no bigger than ones foot.

Plants, though there are many to be found, still they seem scarce this time of the year. However there are several that winter through and though they may not flower, they are present all the same.

This Spotted Pipsissewa is one of them. Sometimes you will find them with their long stems and their dried round, segmented, seed pods sitting atop of the stems. The one that I show here has not the stem nor the seed pods but they make for a lovely little plant throughout the year, especially around the beginning of summer when they produce their tiny white nodding flowers.

December 24th, 2011

2011-12-24T09:41:00.005-05:00

A chilly morning here in Rutherford County, the temperature outside is 34 degrees F. at 8 AM, though here in the quite of my room, sitting alone at the computer in the soft glow of my desk lamp, it is cozy and warm. I must get another cup of coffee.

Looking out of my window, the world outside appears so bland with all the freshness of the warmer seasons having long now past. Crispy looking little lichens cling precariously to the limbs of the Pines and the leaves of the Beech trees, a flat brown color, still cling to their tree limbs, waiting to be replaced by new leaves come spring of next year. Which, depending on how one looks at it, is not too far away but until then, I will rummage back through some of my old photos of warmer days past.

Bloodroots are a common wildflower that I first begin to look for in the early spring, though it is not the only one, there are a few others, such as these tiny foam flowers.

Bloodroots and Foam flowers both are shade loving and do not tolerate a great deal of sunlight. Mostly they can be found in partial shade and in soils with adequate drainage.

These tiny windflowers (anemones) are another and probably the first to appear here in the foothills in early spring.

Most all of these flowers are short-lived, some like the Trilliums may last for a month or more but they too, their flowers that is, tend to disappear before one realizes it. So look for them starting early and enjoy them while they are around.

Putting aside my mornings musings, I stepped out of doors for a moment to get a breath of fresh air. Having put on a light jacket I was quite comfortable. The temperature had warmed up from the previous mornings chill and so I had a look around.

Having my camera in hand, as usual when I am out and about outside, I came across these mushrooms. Sometimes even in winter, surprises are to be found. I am not very well adept in the identification of fungi. There is so much to be considered these days and if one is not keen as what to look for, misidentifications are easily made, especially in mushrooms. Many people enjoy eating them but I have never been one to care much for fungus outright on my food, though a great many of the foods that I enjoy are due to the wonderful workings of this organism in food processing.

Standing back a bit with the camera, I took this photo and was disappointed to find out that the was a rusty strand of wire running across the upper portion of the photo. So many things you don’t notice until after the deed is done and the images are downloaded.

So now with my hopes kindled as to the possibility of maybe finding a few interesting things to photograph this day, a patiently await for the day to warm. Like I have a choice?

December 23rd, 2011

2011-12-23T06:04:00.028-05:00

Looking back through some of my old photographs, I surprise myself at some of the things that I have been able to photograph in the past. Most of what I do is photomacrography or close up images, some call this “macro photography.”

None of the photos that I take are taken because I am interested expressly in photography, I use photography as a tool for scientific documentation. A good many of my photographed subjects are researched and therefore I acquire some knowledge about what I have seen or discovered.

I have often entertained the thought that maybe one day I might photograph something that no one knew existed here. The Appalachian Mountains nearby are the oldest mountains in the world and from what I can gather, no one knows exactly what all lives there within them. In the Great Smokey Mountains National Park alone, which is a part of that range, I once read that less than 50% of all that lives there has been cataloged.

Seeing as how most of what I look for are those things which seldom attract the attention of the average person as we go through our daily lives, who knows just what I may come across and photograph. Like this White Lady beetle for instance.

White Lady beetles are not that uncommon from what I can gather but this was the first one that I had ever seen.

Here is something interesting. Lady beetles are known to be beneficial to have around the garden. As a matter of fact, that is why the Lady beetle was brought here from Asia, as they are natural predators of some damaging insect species, such as Aphids, which are vectors for plant viruses which can kill or damage some of our most prized plants, such as our roses for example.

Here we see a Lady beetle dining on an aphid and the Lady beetle, even in its larval stage will dine on them also, leaving behind empty aphid husks to be found lying about like so many old and stripped out junk cars in a salvage yard.

Did you know also, that Lady beetles are territorial? Yes they are! If Lady beetles lay their eggs in your garden, the offspring after they hatch will again return to lay eggs there also and so you have a never ending supply of biological pest control for your garden. By the way, God planned it that away.

The Biodiversity of Rutherford County, WNC

2011-12-21T20:18:00.038-05:00

The things listed here are those that I have personally observed and they are listed randomly and by common names (as much as possible). To list all that lives just in and around this area of Western North Carolina, would probably take much more than a few lifetimes to record.

Vertebrates

Gray Squirrel

Red Fox

Box Turtle

Groundhog

Chipmunk

Rabbit

Skunk

Copperheads

Garter Snake

Green Snake

Rat Snake

Black Snake

Carolina Anole

Blue striped Skinks

White-tailed Deer

Invertebrates

Earthworm

Terrestrial Flat Worm

Grubs

Slugs

Glow Worm

Millipede

Insects

Ambush Bug

Assassin Bug

Mosquito

Stink or Shield Bugs

Butterflies spp.

Housefly

Ants spp. (spp. meaning = many species)

Blister Beetles

Tiger Beetles

Midges

Oak Tree Hoppers

Leaf Hoppers

Aphids

Lady Beetles

Dragonflies

Damsel Flies

Honey Bee

Bumble Bee

Yellow Jackets

Hornets

Wheel Bugs

Robber flies

Ichneumon Wasps, spp.

Paper Wasps

Cleptoparasitic bees

Praying Mantis

Daddy Longlegs (Opiliones)

Wolf Spiders

Jumping Spiders

Orb Weaver Spiders

Argiope Spiders (Garden Spider or Writing Spider)

Lynx Spider

Big fat ugly mean looking spiders!

Orange/black spotted Lady Beetles

White/black spotted Lady Beetles

Click Beetles

Japanese Beetles

Scarabs (June bugs)

Longhorned Flower Beetles

Leaf Beetles

Ground Beetles

John, Paul, George and Ringo, "The Beatles"

(no not really, just kidding)

Plants

Honeysuckle

Poison Ivy

Trumpet Vine

Wild Rose

Christmas Fern

Wood Ferns

Maidenhair Ferns

Jack in the Pulpit

Wood Anemone (Windflowers, spp.)

Bloodroot

Foam Flowers

Trillium's

Dwarf Iris

Rhododendrons

Goldenrod

Dallas Grass

Fescu (lawn grass)

Dandelions

White Clover

Oak Trees

Hickory Trees

Yellow Poplar Trees

Persimmon Trees

Beech Trees

Red Maple Trees

Tag Alders

Pine Trees

Cedar Trees

Rabbit Tobacco

Red Clover

Cut-leaf Grape Ferns

Liverworts

Spleenworts (fern)

Ox Eye Daisy

Asters

Club Moss

Mosses, spp.

Fleabane, daisy

Spotted Wintergreen

Rattlesnake plantain

Blue-eyed Grass

Carolina Elephants Foot

Sumac

Brambles

Joe Pye weed

Stinging Nettles

Strawberry Bush

Sourwood Tree

Gray Dogwood Tree

Cinquefoil

Chick-weed

Hoary bitter-cress

(Mustard family)

Fungi, Basidiomycetes

King Boletes, mushroom

Old Man of the Woods, mushroom

Russula, mushroom

Turkey tails, shelf fungi

Puffballs, mushroom

Poison Puffballs, mushroom

Coral fungi, mushroom

Umbrella mushroom

Slippery Jack, mushroom

December 20th, 2011

2011-12-21T07:48:00.001-05:00

It is a cold morning here in Rutherford County. I am up quite early this morning, though I am an early riser at heart, especially after all of my years in the US Naval Service.

I have been looking over some of the other photos that I had taken over the weekend, though not a great many but I have been pondering over one in particular, trying to find out just what sort of plant that I had photographed. It is an evergreen plant, I have noticed it quite a number of times during my walks through the woods here at home and I have also noted it elsewhere in my wanderings.

I have two books, one on Medicinal Plants and Herbs and one on Wildflowers and the former has oftentimes been very helpful in identifying plants that I often come across. It is amazing to realize that most of what we see here are in fact medicinal herbs! Who would have thought? Well anyway I have yet to find this plant in any of those publications nor on the Internet as of yet. Here is a photo of the “mystery plant”

As one can see it is dark green and spotted, heart or arrowhead in shape and no larger than the Oak leaves that are scattered about it. The plant does not appear in clumps of leaves, only one single leaf above ground is all that is found, though there are others, growing as single leaves also, nearby. Maybe one day I will find out the identity of this plant, I often come across things when I am not specifically looking for them.

*Mystery solved: Hexastylis arifolia - "Heart-leaf Wild Ginger"

I mentioned the woods here nearby my home. They are not a large expanse, as a matter of fact, just on the other side of the ridge here by my apartment, there are houses and so my ramblings are limited to a small area of woodland. Oftentimes, I wish that I lived more remotely, more away from people. Not that I have a great dislike for my neighbors, most of them are really nice people, but for the most part I am one who stays to themselves and rarely do I have contact with other people aside from shopping and work and since I will be retiring soon, then there will be even less. But however, getting back on track, I would prefer my solitude to be as to where I could roam large expanses of woodlands and fields at will, not having to travel to places distant from home. I love to explore those hidden niches and hollows that are so often associated with foothills and montane areas, there is so much of life to be seen and to be studied.

However, I suppose that what may have here under my nose would keep me busy for the rest of my life, however long that may be. The diversity of life right here is great when one begins to take notice of it. I recall sometime back how excited I became when I discovered “Jack in the Pulpit” growing right here beside the apartment at the edge of the woods. It wasn’t long after, that I found more of these lovely plants down in the hollow, near the creek and all of them a yellowish green, with no purple stripes.

Here is a photograph of those woods that I am so fond of, in the lower left of the photograph there is the small creek, though barely discernable, that runs through the hollow. I might would mention that this photograph was taken atop the hill and looking down into the hollow. The fallen tree to the left marks where the creek is and runs beneath it.

Though there is not a lot to see judging from the photograph, just stands of Yellow Poplar trees for the most part, still there is life to be found, though some of it may be lying dormant at the present time. What the photograph fails to show, besides the small creek, at this time of the year I guess, are the beds of club mosses, honeysuckle vines, brambles, wild roses, and Christmas ferns, just to name several things. You know, it is a shame that the parasitic behavior of we humans have destroyed so much of our natural world and in our selfishness, some deny others the chance to enjoy that small portion which yet remains.

December 18th, 2011

2011-12-21T07:34:00.001-05:00

Early morning, the trees are shrouded by the fog, most of what one sees in the way of trees are Yellow Poplars, with scattered Oaks, Beech’s and Hickory trees and stands of Alders that can be found by the small creek in the hollow below my home. Of course there are a small number of Pines and Cedars also.

In the forefront, at the edge of my lawn or at the edge of the woods, which ever one prefers, stands a rather large Red Maple tree with a branching trunk. I fear that one of these days, one of those trunks may break away and fall across the lawn, hopefully which ever one that does, will not cause any major property damage.

Leaves from the tree are scattered about the lawn, rotting or decomposing, releasing nutrients back into the soil and creating new soil in the process. My lawn is not a well kept one, the grass is mowed when needed but there is a diversity of plants to be found within it, such as Wild Onion, Dandelions, White Clover, Fescue and Dallas grass, Cinquefoil, Wild Strawberry, Heal-All, Grape Hyacinth and Henbit just to name a number of species. Along the edge of the lawn one may find Honeysuckle, Brambles, Asian Day flowers, Asters, Goldenrod, Trumpet Vines, Wild Roses, Ferns, Jack in the Pulpit, various types of Mosses and Poison Ivy.

The diversity of life around my home is staggering and for a good many years I have failed to take notice, always resorting to the mountains miles away in search of unusual and distinctive life forms of which to take photos and to display on various photography forums found around the Internet or on the “web.”

Thus having realized the errors of my ways, in disregarding the life that exists here around me close to home and having a change of heart, I have decided to focus more on my own local biodiversity than that of other locations miles away from my home.

Shelf or bracket fungi can be found growing on old fallen tree limbs, such as this one here found growing on an old limb having fallen off of the Red Maple tree, previously shown above. The common name or maybe the name used most loosely for this fungi, is Turkey Tail and though an experienced mycologist will most undoubtedly argue that the use of such a name may be wrong, still however for the common layperson, such as myself, the name will have to suffice.

Recently I was viewing a video lecture given by a Dr. Ann Pringle at a teachers outreach conference. Her subject was the Death Cap fungi or mushroom and she noted about how little most of us know about our local biodiversity, what life exists nearby in our own locales. Having viewed and listened to the lecture is what prompted me to study and find out more about what lives here at my home.

While on the subject of fungi, it is interesting to take note of just how important this Kingdom Fungi is and how commonplace it is in our lives. Fungi are involved in most every thing we do from washing clothes to processing and preparing our foods and in a great many other things that we use daily in our ongoing lives. Think about that the next time you eat a “cheese” burger or a “cheese” pizza or if you are so inclined and of age, sip that ice cold beer or that glass of wine.

Another thing about fungi is that when one picks up a book on plants, fungi is often grouped with them. Fungi however, has much more in common with animals than with plants and unlike plants, fungi has no need of light or to engage itself in photosynthesis in order to survive, though there are some fungi that form mycorrhizal associations with the roots of plants and give and gain nutrients from them. Isn’t that wonderful!

This is an Oak leaf gall or at least I think that it is. I found this while walking down through the woods this afternoon. Of the things photographed today, this is probably the only unusual thing that I have come close to identifying, though it may not be called an Oak leaf gall, it is a gall all the same and on an Oak leaf.

Today turned out to be a beautiful day, though not all that warm, it was still comfortable to be out with just a light jacket to keep one warm. Rain is forecasted for a couple of days this week with varying temperatures, nothing really cold except during the evening and early morning hours. I suppose one could say that it is seasonable, though the effects of global climate change are evident.