Leader for today's Ramble: Linda and Roger
Authors of today’s Ramble report: Linda, Don, Dale, and Roger. Comments, edits, and suggestions for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Invertebrate, gall, and fungi identification: Heather Larkin, Don Hunter, Bill Sheehan
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble.
Most
of the photos that appear in this report were taken by Don Hunter, Heather
Licklighter Larkin, Roger Collins, Bill Sheehan, and Aubrey Cox. Photos borrowed from the
internet are credited by name with a link to their source. Photos may be
enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on your screen.
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| Southern Magnolia photo by Don Hunter |
Today's emphasis: Seeking what we find on the Orange and Purple trails with a special focus on early 19th century land use history of the area now occupied by the Botanical Garden.
Number of Ramblers today: 17
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| Ramblers gathered between rain showers on this cool, cloudy morning. photo by Don Hunter |
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| photo by Don Hunter |
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| Heather with her macro-photography kit photo by Aubrey Cox |
Show and Tell: “What’s all that stuff that Heather's carrying around?” Heather explained the gear that makes up her macro-photography kit. In addition to the macro lens that she pairs with her full frame, mirrorless camera body, she has a diffusing hood (Cygnustech) that surrounds the barrel of her lens. It diffuses the light from the flash, pointing it down in front of the lens at her subject instead of behind. In response to many questions, Heather also showed off the snazzy hip clip (Spider Holster) where she carries the camera when not in use, saving the discomfort caused by having all of the weight on a strap around her neck and shoulders.
Announcements: Georgia Forest Watch is sponsoring a “Wild Herbs Walk” with Patricia Kyritsi Howell, RH (AHG), founder of BotanoLogos School of Herbal Studies on Friday, May 26, 10:00am – 1:30pm. The leisurely walk in the Chattahoochee National Forest will cover about one mile, with lots of pauses to look at medicinal plants. For more information, email info@gafw.org or call (706) 867-0051.
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| Humphrey’s Spring Branch photo by Don Hunter |
Today's Route: We left the arbor next to the Children’s Garden and walked to the Orange Trail trailhead on the Garden’s entrance road. We took the Orange Trail along Humphrey’s Spring Branch down to the beaver pond, where we crossed the boardwalk and then returned uphill to the Visitor Center on the Purple Trail. Our route today was described in a 2001 Garden publication, “Plant Communities Along the Purple/Orange Trail at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia,” researched and written by Anne Shenk, Elaine Nash, and Ann Mathews. You can access this guide here.
OBSERVATIONS:
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| On our way to the Orange Trail, we stopped to
look at the Witch Hazel shrubs growing along the Children’s Garden fence. Many of the
leaves sported small conical “witches’ hats,” which are actually a temporary home to gall-forming aphids. Photo by Don Hunter |
Dale wrote about Witch Hazel galls in the Nature Ramble blog of April 27, 2017 (lightly edited for today's report):
“The conical galls on Witch Hazel are produced by an aphid with a complex life history that alternates between two plants, River Birch and Witch Hazel, and two life forms, asexual and sexual. In the spring, female aphids (Hormaphis hamamelidis) emerge from all-female eggs laid near leaf buds on the Witch Hazel the previous autumn. As the tender leaves emerge, the young female aphids begin feeding on them (sucking the sap) and the leaf responds by producing a green, cone-shaped structure around the aphid (which later turns dark red). The gall is rich in nutrients and provides food for the female as well as shelter for her young. Once protected inside the gall, the young female aphid produces eggs asexually (a process called parthenogenesis that produces offspring that are genetically identical to the mother). The female then dies. Later in the spring, the underside of the gall, visible on the lower leaf surface, splits open and winged female aphids leave the gall and fly away to the alternative host plant, a River Birch tree. Here they will lay eggs on the lower leaf surfaces of birch leaves. Several generations of wingless, all-female aphids are produced on the birch leaves (they resemble white flies). Eventually, in the fall, the final, all-female generation of wingless aphids lays eggs that produce sexual, winged aphids – both female and male – that mate when they mature, thus introducing some genetic diversity into the life cycle. The inseminated females then fly to Witch Hazel shrubs where they lay all-female eggs on twigs near the leaf buds. These eggs overwinter and, in the spring, they hatch, starting the Witch Hazel generation again.” (Thanks, Dale!)
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| Lower surface of the Witch Hazel gall showing
exit hole photo by Don Hunter |
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| Heather dissected one of the galls. Some were
empty (left), some still contained adults and larvae (center and right). photo (left) by Don Hunter, photos (center and right) by Heather Larkin |
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| Giant Onion, planted near the
Visitor Center Plaza, is a species of onion native to the Himalayas that
produces beautiful, perfectly round spheres of many small purple-pink flowers. The plant can reach 4.5 feet in height. photo by Frank Liebig |
As we began the downhill walk on the Orange Trail, the misty, gray day seemed to bring with it a peaceful, quiet mood. Ramblers? Quiet? Yes, it happens.
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| Humphrey’s Spring Branch, formerly known only
as “the stream beside the Orange Trail,” now has a name, thanks to Roger’s
research. photo by Don Hunter |
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| Roger
pointed out the terraced slope on the left side of the Orange Trail as we
walked from the trailhead down along Humphrey’s Spring Branch. photo by Don Hunter |
Roger is researching the land use history of several areas in and around Athens, focusing now on the Botanical Garden. He stopped the group where several old Shortleaf Pines line the trail. He pointed out that the larger trees are more than 100 years old – earlier this year, he’d aged a similarly sized, fallen Shortleaf Pine nearby by counting its annual growth rings. Upslope, he pointed out evidence of terracing, a practice employed globally by farmers for thousands of years, and introduced to farm fields in Georgia around 1935, as part of the FDR administration’s efforts to prevent erosion and restore degraded agricultural land.
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| The orange bumps that dot the Brown-toothed
Crust Fungus coating this branch are galls created by tiny gall midges. photo by Don Hunter |
Bill told us the midge is an undescribed species in the midge family (Cecidomyiidae, a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats) that feeds on fungus inside the gall. Bill raised a batch of these midges and took the photos below. He assumes that the white stuff underfoot is a fungus, but is not sure if it is Brown-toothed Crust fungal material or if it is a different fungus imported by the midge.
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| photos by Bill Sheehan |
Dale provided this information: "Midges are true flies and therefore have two wings. The two tiny, brown, club-shaped structures just behind and below the wings are called 'halteres' and are homologous to a second pair of wings, but they are not wings. The halteres vibrate during flight and, as the body of the fly changes orientation, receptors at the base of each haltere sense the movement and communicate with the central nervous system, enabling it to sense where the fly body is oriented in space and time."
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| Bonnet mushrooms completely encircled the
base of a mossy tree trunk. photo by Don Hunter |
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| Phylloxera
are aphid-like insects
that feed on the leaves of many plant species. The plants respond by enclosing the
insect in a gall where a female then lays eggs and young insects develop.
This gall was probably formed by the Hickory Pouch gall-forming aphid. Photos: top of leaf, left, and bottom of
leaf, right, showing a large slit from which the adult Phylloxera exited. photos by Don Hunter |
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| Bill dissected the Phylloxera gall and discovered that its contents are dead insects, the living ones having departed through the slit. photo by Bill Sheehan |
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| Common Split Gill mushroom photo by Heather Larkin |
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| Crown-tipped Coral Fungus photo by Heather Larkin |
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| Two forms of the same species of Xylaria photo by Heather Larkin |
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| Another species of Xylaria, this one known as Dead Moll's Fingers photo by Don Hunter |
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| Hairy Rubber Cup fungus might be better named "peanut butter cups." photo by Don Hunter |
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| Close-up of Hairy Rubber Cup fungus photo by Heather Larkin |
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| Roger stopped near the head of Humphrey's Spring Branch. photo by Don Hunter |
It turns out that this is Humphrey's Spring, which Roger located by researching land records from the early 1800s. In the photo above, he is holding the trunk of a downed Tulip Tree that fell across the trail several years ago. By counting the annual rings, he determined that the tree was at least 170 years old when it fell. This tree would have shaded the spring, helping to keep the water and any foodstuffs stored there cool and fresh.
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| The steep hillside across from Humphrey’s
Spring Branch was too steep to plow, though it was undoubtedly logged at least
once over the years. photo by Don Hunter |
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| At this
point along the Orange Trail, a small tributary, Robison's Spring Branch, flows into Humphrey’s Spring
Branch. photo by Don Hunter |
Earlier in the week, Roger followed this tributary upslope and discovered a small stone spring box at its origin downslope from the UGarden greenhouses. Based on the property owner’s name at the time of its construction, Roger has named the tributary Robison’s Spring Branch. The name of Robison, probably a variation of Robeson as in the North Carolina county, is the spelling in the deed records and is the family name in the cemetery just over the hill in Hidden Hills Lane. The Robison family owned 400 acres which would have included the spring. "The spring" is mentioned in the metes and bounds of their deeds.
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| The
spring box was constructed in the early 1800s. The metal pipe emerging from
the left side of the box was a later addition, 1890s to early 1900s,
probably to serve a ram pump to get water up to the house. The pipe-like thing in the middle is a stick. photo by Roger Collins |
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As the floodplain along Humphrey’s Spring
Branch widens, Broad
Beech Fern (aka "Fox-head Fern" to Ramblers) becomes abundant. |
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| We saw many small, dark snails in Humphrey’s Spring Branch. In Charlie Wharton’s 1998 report, “The Natural
Environments of the
State Botanical Garden of Georgia” (link to the report), he mentions finding “little black aquatic
snails” in the genus Elimia in this creek (which he called “South Creek”). photo by Heather Larkin |
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| Rice
Cut-grass stems and leaf margins are lined with sharp teeth that can actually
draw blood from bare arms and legs. photo by Don Hunter |
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| Roger
spotted a juvenile Yellow-bellied Slider downstream of the boardwalk where the vegetation is sparser; it
was coated with silt and nearly invisible. photo by Heather Larkin |
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| A mysteriously beautiful insect floated
above the plants at the beaver pond. photo by Christina Butler |
The Phantom Crane Fly flies with its legs spread widely apart and seems to tumble through the air like a snowflake
or dandelion seed, movement made possible by hollow legs and air-filled foot
segments. More fascinating info about this very cool insect is here.
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:
Giant Allium Allium giganteum
Shortleaf Pine Pinus echinata
Brown-toothed Crust fungus Hydnoporia olivacea
Undescribed gall-forming midge
Bonnet fungus Mycena sp.
Mockernut Hickory Carya tomentosa
Phylloxeran galls Phylloxera caryaecaulis
Hairy Rubber Cup Galiella rufa
Common Split Gill mushroom Schizophyllum commune
Crown-tipped Coral fungus Artomyces pyxidatus
Xylaria flabelliformis (No common name)
Dead Moll’s Fingers Xylaria longipes
Rattlesnake Fern Botrypus (Botrychium) virginianum
Broad Beech Fern Phegopteris hexagonoptera
Aquatic snail possibly Elimia sp.
Duck Potato, Wapato Sagittaria latifolia
Yellow-bellied Slider Trachemys scripta scripta
Rice Cut-grass Leersia oryzoides
Phantom Crane Fly Bittacomorpha clavipes
Lagniappe
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| Bill took this gorgeous photo last week of a rust fungus (Puccinia recondita) on the lower surface of Jewelweed leaves. |
Searching for terms and topics in old Nature Ramble blogs: There are two easy ways to search old Nature Ramble reports on the blog.
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Lagniappe #2: Joros are back in the news! And back in our yards, I hear.
