…picking up where I left off

Remember? Dog and I were headed out back. The snow is still too deep for easy walking so we limited ourselves to the stonewalls. Besides the rocks are about the only things showing signs of life right now.

Pixie Cups are lichen podentia.
In simple terms, pixie cups are the exposed erect reproductive organs of a low life form.

Like moss, lichens can hardly wait for the snow to melt to do the hokey pokey.

Moss thing-a-ma-jigs are sprouting like mad as the snow recedes. I believe the red-brown spore pods are Fire Moss.

I’m not even going to guess what type of moss the green pods are. They look a bit immature.

I came across a moss I don’t remember seeing before. It reminds me of the scaly ‘leaves’ of white cedar.

The other stuff
The snow had melted under the red pine trees and I found an old puffball just waiting to be poked. I did get a nice spore cloud but wasn’t able to poke and shoot at the same time.

A sap booger waited to be picked on a red pine.

Yes, I picked it. It’s going into my fire starting kit. I plan on playing with fire again, soon.

Hemlock Varnish Shelf – Ganoderma tsugae

One of the freakest fungi around here (IMO) is the Hemlock Varnish Shelf mushroom. What makes it freaky is the unpredictable shapes it can grow into. One may look like a perfectly normal shelf mushroom while the next may look like a mutated appendage growing from a stump. On not so uncommon occasions alien sprouts can be seen emerging from the forest floor.

As the name implies – Hemlock Varnish Shelf mushrooms grow on Hemlock trees. They are annual but many will over winter in good shape. The normal shelf shapes are most likely to over winter well. This one is typical – in other words it’s a bit of an odd shaped shelf growing on a Hemlock.

A look at the underside reveals the pore surface.

To see other shapes this mushroom forms – go to a post from last June – Fungus Fun .
The photos on that post show the ‘varnish’ finish on the upper surface. It also depicts some measures you may have to undertake if alien sprouts show up in your area.

I did make it to the Middle Branch of the Grasse River. This is a view looking across the river to the Stillwater Hunting Club. Most of the land along the river here is ‘private’ but the state does provide access to the river in some places along the dirt road where they run alongside each other.

My son-in-law is a member so I got to cross the bridge as a guest. The club is about 30 miles south and 600 feet higher in elevation than home. Ya wouldn’t think such short distances would make much of a differece but I could feel winter’s grip was firmer, down here?, up here? There wasn’t much besides the river to photograph but I did manage to find the Wintergreen I went looking for.

Wintergreen – Gaultheria procumbens

This is a creeping evergreen shrub that spreads by underground stems capable of establishing fair sized colonies in the right conditions. In my observations it seems to prefer well drained sandy soil on the acidic side in the shade of mixed woods where Hemlocks are in the majority. As you can see the berries winter over in good shape.

Yep, this is the original Wintergreen once used to flavor candies and gum. Crushing the leaves releases that old familiar smell and is a good cure for my cabin fever.

Last but not least was a bit of Lichen reaching out. I’ve already mentioned in previous posts this is the Lichen reproductive season. These weird erections are a type of reproductive structure built by the symbiotic partners, algae and fungus.

It’s time for Moss Madness and Lichen Lunacy once again.
March is the month when Cabin Fever turns into Spring Fever. The cure is finding something green growing. Lucky for me the first prescriptions are delivered as the snow melts.

I’ve been ‘growing’ lichen on this flat rock for a couple years now. I rescued the stone from the quarry but have yet decided what to make out of it. For now it’s just a stump cover.

You got any good ideas?

I’ve no idea what species of foliose lichen this is but it does create a great leaf pattern.

What we got here are two low life forms that have learned to cooperate. The fungal side of the association provides the structure that supports the algae that does the work of photosynthesis. It’s a cool relationship in more ways than one. Lichens grow when temperatures fall below 50 F. and in the heat of the summer they go dormant.

As you can see – this lichen can’t wait for the ice and snow to melt to get ready for party time. nudge, nudge, wink, wink

I get to photograph the sexual structures these low life forms erect when they party.

That’s some hot stuff. I’ll be finding others as the snow melts from the stone walls. Won’t be long now before the pixie cups and British soldiers are out