4/24/17

5:10 pm

Sunny, some clouds across the Sound, about 50 degrees F

Butterfly of sorts spotted on Maple bark

After a two-week hiatus from my site, I am astounded by recent changes and how the setting has progressed into spring. The leaves of the canopy shine a bright yellow-green in the sunlight, finally graced by our star’s warmth and UV rays. While studying the canopy-- particularly, the new leaves-- of the almost pure stand of red alder, I came to a realization: the very dominant tree that I’m seeing is not Alnus rubra like I’ve alleged. The leaves don’t even remotely resemble the elliptic, toothed leaves of the red alder, but instead have the characteristic 5-lobed shape like that on the Canadian flag. Also, the stand lacked and lacks catkins that would have appeared before the leaves if it was a red alder stand. So, I conject that these trees are Big Leaf Maple, which is found in places similar to Magnolia Bluff: dry/moist hillsides that have been cleared/logged at low to middle elevations (Pojar 45) (Alden 106).

Photo of my site that I will be repeating henceforth. If you look closely, you'll notice the maple leaves on the trees.

Walking to my site was notably more difficult than it was in the past weeks. The trail-side shrubs have drastically increased in height and are encroaching on the trail. I am going to take some photos and try to identify them, but I identified one type of plant immediately by touch. After only a quick bit of contact my hand was burning and had numerous white spots surrounded by a hot redness: a sign of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).

Stinging Nettle

 Nearly the entire ground is covered up to one foot in plants, shrubs, and ferns. One of them appears to be some kind of blackberry or bramble due to the ovular shape of its compound leaves and its thorniness.

There are a couple more that I will hope to identify from the photos I took. The only conifer in the vicinity I have identified as a Douglas Fir. From a distance I could not tell, and even as I was next to it I struggled for a moment, as the only indicator  was its characteristically gnarled, lichened bark. 

However, I found a fallen branch that had conical tips and same-sized needles which, along with a fallen cone, gave it away.

Doug Fir competing in the Maple Grove

I scoured the area around my site for lichens and fungi and I am not finding very many different types. There is one distinct grayish lichen and a handful of others that are a bit greener or whiter. Below are all the lichen and fungi I found, which unfortunately includes no mushrooms:

This kind of lichen (or perhaps very similar kinds) could be found on every single maple tree in the vicinity. It is a principally white dust lichens of the Lepraria family. This specimen was found on a relatively young maple tree (as can be seen by the lack of features in the bark) approximately five feet off the ground. There appears to also be green lichens competing on the darker parts of the bark that is also likely in the Lepraria family from its dust appearance and blanketing effect.

These lichens are likely a different species than those above, but once again they appear whitish-green and fit the dusty description of the Leparia family. The bright color stands out starkly against the maple bark. The tree is older as can be seen from the features, and is about 1.5 feet thick.

I found it difficult to determine what exactly was wood and what was lichen on this log. In focus, we have once again, what I'd conjecture, some dusty Lepraria species of lichen competing and overlapping in some place that are the white and green areas. In the background you can see a small, hairy green lichen that I hadn't noticed when I took the photo. This light green specimen appears to have a semi-erect leaf structure and looks very similar to antlered perfume (Evernia prunastri). However, it may also be loosely attached and a ragbag (Platismatia glauca) lichen---I should have taken a better photo.

This was the only photo that I definitively took of a fungus. It doesn't look like a mushroom, as it lacks the distinctive cap and spore releasing structure of a mushroom, and as such I honestly struggle to describe it. It's bright white, especially around the edges, and is grayer towards the center of its circular shape. I found this patch of fungus about 3 feet above ground on a Douglas Fir near my site. I'm curious as to what the black part of the image is, as it seems it could be a fungus or maybe simply fire scars from years past. However, the smoothness of these portions lead me to believe the former.

These lichen, found on an adolescent maple trunk, are both familiar and foreign. The white/green portion of the photo seems to be the dusty Lepraria lichen, however there are spots of reddish brown among the Leparia. The red spots appear most like a dusty lichen and lack all the characteristics that would point to a different kind, however the red spots do not sprawl over the trunk like Lepraria species. Furthermore, it is red/brown and not white nor green. The habitat of this tree is the same maple grove as all the other photos, so I'm not sure what could cause this rare specimen. Perhaps they aren't red spots, but rather a lack of the green lichen caused by some animal or insect that feeds on the lichen.

Once again, we have a species from the Lepraria family, evident from the dusty nature of this white/green lichen. Like I said, this family of lichen was extremely common in the area, and I kept photographing it due to my inability to find a larger variety of lichen. The species, or perhaps conditions of all the photos of Lepraria seem to differ in some way, as the colors. density, and thickness of each aren't quite the same.

This light green, semi-erect leaf lichen closely resembles the antlered perfume species found in Pojar (Platismatia glauca) due  to its shape, color, and divergent branching. I was holding this branch when I took the photo, and before that it was lying suspended among other branches on the ground. These branches were in a relatively thick patch of shrubs and plants that I waded through to find some lichens.

Although I spent over an hour looking around the forest for various lichens, I came up short in finding diversity. I think this could be attributed to the fact that I hadn't attended the fungi/lichen lecture yet when I took my notes and photos, so I probably overlooked many lichen, mistaking them for moss or something of the like. However, I am pretty confident in my ability to recognize most mushrooms, so I am rather surprised by their scarcity. I think that could be attributed to the fact that my site has very sandy soil and is situated very close to the Sound, because in my past experiences I've usually seen fungi in wet, dense, and old forests.