Today we
first heard a reading by Carol from Forgotten Grasslands of the South,
p. 5 by Reed Noss on the importance of knowing our
environment.
Beyond its importance for conservation, natural
history provides a way for people to feel at home. Nothing alarms me more than someone who has
no clue about what watershed she lives in and cannot name even five or ten
species of plants and animals in her neighborhood. Such lack of awareness signals a pathological
disconnection from nature. We need to
know our nonhuman neighbors and come to see them as friends. Learning about the geologic history, flora,
and fauna of the place we live in helps us feel that we belong here, regardless
of our socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or whether or not we were born
and raised in this place. Natural
history is democratic--anyone can practice it--and it opens up limitless
opportunities for joyful experiences.
These experiences then circle back to conservation. We become more eager to save plants, animals,
and places when they are familiar rather than strangers.
We rambled
into the woods by the lower parking lot to go down through the Dunson Native
Flora Garden. Our first find was a lot
of Black-footed Marasmius (Marasmiellus
nigripes), which we have found on previous rambles. Next was a group of single fingers of white
coming up from the ground. Avis
described them as dead fingers. From the
mushroom books they looked like White Worm Coral (Clavaria vermicularis) .
it could be C. akinsoniana, which is
more common in the Southeast.
Spiderwebs
were everywhere. We saw garden spiders,
sheet webs, and bowl and doily webs. We
were wishing for Dale to enlighten us about the many different ones we saw.
The next
plant was crane fly orchid (Tipularia
discolor). During our rambles last winter we saw many of
the rosettes of this plant with accordion pleated leaves, green on top and
purple underneath. This one was in
bloom,at which time the leaves disappear.
It is so camouflaged by its brown yellow coloration that it is very hard
to see just walking along the trail.
In the
Dunson Native Flora Garden we stopped to talk about the horse balm (Collinsonia canadensis), which was just starting to bud. Up on the Blue Ridge Parkway they were in
full bloom last week. These may not have
received enough light and too much water to blooms so late.
From here we
walked up the white trail to the power line right of way. Along the way we found more spiders, as well
as Saint Andrews Cross (Hypericum crux-andreae). The hypericums with only four petals are
called St. Peterswort. The other species
on our trails is Hypericum strangulum.
At the
Powerline we turned up the road through it.
In spite of the herbiciding of the area, we found lots of interesting
plants:
False
dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus)
Rabbit
tobacco (Gnaphalium obtusifolium syn Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium)
Boneset or
throughwort (Eupatorium sp.) was
starting to bud
Sensitive
brier (Mimosa microphylla) was fruiting
Rose Pink (Sabatia angularis) was still in bloom
Golden aster
(Heterotheca latifolia)
Purple top
grass was actually switch grass (Panicum
spp.)
A puddle in
the road has been there for weeks with all of this rain. Small water striders were visible in the
pool. Gary pointed out the mosquito
larvae. Beyond this point we noticed the Dixie reindeer lichen (Cladonia subtenuis). It is grey green
compared to the much whiter reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina). Also it tends to fork in twos, whereas the C rangiferina
forks in threes or more. Here was a lone
summer bluet (Houstonia longifolia).
At the top
of the hill near the fence was bitter weed (Helenium
amarum), which actually was on both
sides of the fence.
Going around
the fence at the white trail and over to the road by the radium site and down
the road, we stopped at the wetlands to see the cattails (Typha latifolia). All around us on the road Sericea Lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) was blooming. This
plant has been introduced from Asia for planting along roadsides.
Rejoining
the white trail and entering the woods we passed a sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) and a mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa). Amazingly we spotted grapes from the
muscadine plants ((Vitus rotundifolia)!
At the creek
we noted the cane brake with (Arundinaria
gigantia).
On the way
back to the lower parking lot beech aphids were found as well as a strange
growth on the underside of beech leaves. A strange mushroom with tall yellow
stem and red top was discovered.
It was time
to retire to Dondero's for snacks and conversation.
Hugh
