Ramble Report February 25 2016

Today's report is written by Don. Here's the link to Don's Facebook album of today's Ramble.

28 Ramblers braved the chilly weather for the second ramble of the year.

Today's reading:

Linda read an excerpt from The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell, page 24:

"The impression of desolation in the [winter forest] is superficial. Within the [forest] are [millions] of plant cells, each one wrapped into itself, intensified in its withdrawal. The quiet gray exterior of plants, like gunpowder, belies the energy that is latent here. So, although titmice and other birds give a vigorous display of life in January, they are trifles compared to the power stored in the quiescent plants. When spring sparks the [plants], the energy released will carry the whole forest, birds included, through another year."

Today's route:  Leaving the arbor, we made our way down to the Administration Building, where we took the Scout Connector Trail, from the Adminstration Building up to the China and Asia section of the International Garden.  From here, we followed the paved path east to the Purple Trail, which we took as far as the Purple Trail spur.  We walked up the spur a short distance then returned to the International Garden and made our way to the Visitor Center and enjoyed conversation and refreshments at Donderos' Kitchen.

Parking Lot:

Cross section of tree trunk

Linda presented a description of the major components of a tree, describing the location of all of the vascular systems and the cork or bark layer.

Red Maple in full flower

Red maple....something red on red maple during each season...red flowers, red fruit, leaf stalks and, in the fall, the leaves turn red.  Older bark is split and furrowed but younger bark, higher up, is smooth.

White Oak bark

White oak....lower bark is blocky but higher up, the bark takes on the typical shaggy character attributed to white oaks.  Bark has low elasticity.

Administration Building:

Red Maple bark

Red Maple near the Arbor:  Older bark on trunk, with less elasticity in its cork cambium, is furrowed where the cambium has split.  Younger branches higher up are smooth.

Japanese maple

Red Maple female flowers

Red maple, with flowers....female flowers....tips on the ends of style branches in the flower receive pollen.....wind pollinated, convenient since late winter does not provide a lot of insects for insect pollination.

Chalk Maple retained leaves

Marcesence...retention of dead leaves throughout most of winter into early spring.  American beech, chalk maple, hophornbeam and, to a lesser extent, musclewood.   Why?  Evolutionary leftover from days when all trees were evergreen.  May deter deer from browsing new leaf buds.   Also tends to be more prominent on lower limbs.

Scout Connector Trail:

Red maple....red maple leaves have teeth, sugar maple-type leaves don't.  “The sugar rotted all of the teeth away!”

Florida maple (aka southern sugar maple) versus Chalk Maple discussion:. Florida maple leaves are whitened beneath, Chalk Maple leaves are green beneath.  The “chalk” in Chalk Maple refers to the whitish bark.

Leaf gall

False turkey tail mushroom

Mustard yellow polypore mushroom

Pignut Hickory bark

Pignut hickory....has occasional horizontal bands or breaks in the diamond shaped pattern of the bark
northern red oak with “ski trails”

Hophornbeam

At bend in trail, hophornbeam with cat scratch bark

Chattahoochee(?) Trillium

Trillium...Chattahoochee most likely....seeds transported by yellow jackets from Dunson NFG, perhaps.  Like Ants, yellow jackets like fatty elaisosomes and transport them from where seeds were dropped to their nests.  Seeds dropped along the way can sprout.

Cucumber Magnolia terminal bud

Cucumber tree....cucumber magnolia....fuzzy buds, similar to Ashe's magnolia, but much smaller and not as white appearing.  Bark is soft and flaky, red inner bark, forms small plates

Luna moth cocoon

Luna moth cocoon found on the ground.  Luna moths pupate 

on the ground, Polyphemus moths pupate on branches.

Diatrype virescens fungus on Beech twig

Diatrype virescens at beech tree, ascomycete fungus   seen on dead/dying limbs/twigs – black spots erupting from bark layer

Black Tubakia leaf spot on northern red oak leaes...probably caused by the Ascomycete fungus Tubakia dryina

Painted buckeye     a piedmont shrub buckeye  beautiful yellow flowers. Earliest shrub to leaf out in Piedmont.

Hophornbeam again

White oak with white fungal patches....fungus feeds only on bark  jury out on fungus that causes patches; one paper attributes it to Athelia macularis (Lair) and not the hornbeam disk fungus.

Musclewood (AKA American hornbeam)

Musclewood.....barely marcesent.....in floodplains, mainly, liking dampish roots, but can be found on upland soils near drainages

Resurrection ferns, 40-50 up

Resurrection ferns high up in two trees

Black gum   blocky bark, square/rectangular blocks, horizontal branches

White Ash bark

White ash....spongy, corky bark, with occasional girdles of smoother bark, opposite twigs/limbs....probably white ash because of light rusty color of inner bark

Mockernut Hickory - large terminal bud

Mockernut hickory, with pronounced diamonds and thick, coarse twigs and fat leaf buds

Downed trees loaded with false turkey tails, mustard yellow polypores, turkey tails

Split-gill mushrooms

Common split gill mushrooms

Hairy Bittercress (AKA Creasy Greens)

Hairy Bittercress   

Winged elm, young with minor wings and very thin outer twigs

Sweetgum sapling also with minor wings, but with thicker twigs and buds, youngest growth brassy/bronzy green color

Pokeweed skeleton

Black cherry

Box elder, actually a maple....ash leaf maple,,,,Manitoba maple

Yaupon holly....native americans made “black drink” an emetic...popular landscape plant now

Catchweed/cleavers

Purple Trail Spur:

Hophornbeam

Hornbeam disc mushroooms

Short leaf pine...small cones, short needles, busy crown, the bark with tiny resin pits or canals not seen on Loblolly bark

Loblolly pine  fewer cones, longer needles, long limbed

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Red maple	Acer rubrum
White oak	Quercus alba
Japanese maple	Acer palmatum
Chalk maple	Acer leucoderme
False turkey tail mushroom	Stereum ostrea
Mustard yellow polypore mushroom	Phellinus gilvus
Pignut hickory	Carya glabra
Northern red oak	Quercus rubra
Hophornbeam	Ostraya virginiana
Chattahoochee trillium	Trillium decipiens
Cucumber tree/cucumber magnolia	Magnolia acuminata
Luna moth	Actias luna
	Diatrype virescens
Tubakia leaf spot (on Q. rubra)	Tubakia dryina
Painted buckeye	Aesculus sylvatica
Musclewood	Carpinus caroliniana
Resurrection fern	Pleopeltis polypodiodes
Black gum	Nyssa sylvatica
White ash	Fraxinus americana
Mockernut hickory	Carya tomentosa
Turkey tail mushrooms	Trametes versicolor
Common split gill mushroom	Schizophyllum commune
Hairy cress	Cardamine hirsuta
Winged elm	Ulmus alata
Sweetgum	Liquidambar styraciflua
American pokeweed	Phytolacca americana
Black cherry	Prunus serotina
Box elder	Acer negundo
Hairy bittercress	Cardamine hirsuta
Yaupon holly	Ilex vomitoria
Cleavers/catchweed	Galium aparine
Hornbeam disc mushroooms	Aleurodiscus oakseii
Short leaf pine	Pinus echinata
Loblolly pine	Pinus taeda