bryophytes & wildflowers & fungi

Found in Northwestern CT forest growing in soil under a hardwood

Thought this color was brilliant. Saw lots of other coral fungi this day but none violet! My first time seeing this guy in nature. A beut!

Image 2 & 3: Gaultheria procumbens - Wintergreen

Found near Brattleboro, VT small mountain near the Connecticut River

this isn’t a plant ID it’s just a lil snail baby I found on a piece of moss, enjoy! I did.

Found this big boy with my biology of fungi class. You can see the bottom section has been carved off by an earlier forager, but they were gracious enough not to harvest it all for themselves, whatta find! Here it is surrounded by rock polypody fern (Polypodium virginianum)

Could also be P. flammans, the Yellow Pholiota tbh I can’t really tell the difference but I think these cap scales are too dark and pronounced.

Honeys! I think! Such awesome formations made by these mushrooms.

Hardwood forest, Burlington, VT, September

Found in Burlington, VT early September

Here is another time I found the actual species, again, unconfirmed. This time in a with sphagnum and cranberries in a bog in VT, mid September.

...But also... just thought this was a lovely mossy fungi-y stump to look at.

Once this lily flower has past the fruit remaining is a single dark blue berry, hence its common name.

I have yet to find an ID for this sphagnum moss. I am quite sure it is in the section Sphagnum. But I don’t really have much experience identifying past section. Found in a classic low-nutrient bog in Eastern Massachusetts, alongside many other species of sphagnum, pitcher plants, sundew, high mountain blueberry, and cranberry.

The tuber of this plant is eaten on occasion in Guinea and Senegal, however it contains high concentrations of calcium oxalate, an extremely bitter and pain-inducing toxin. If the tuber is prepared correctly this toxin can be expelled from the plant. Traditionally it is also said to have been used to poison arrows, but other sources say it can be used as a snake bite remedy. Not sure which or if all of these are true.

While serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, it was always a delight to see these trees when traveling across the country. Until I was able to find the species name, I simply referred to them as “Christmas bobble trees”, for an obvious reason. (Note the massive termite mound at the base of the tree (so cool))

Have been seeing these everywhere in New England this spring! Such an exciting plant to find! I thought this photo of the spiderwebs pulling up the spathe to reveal the spadix was particularly cool :D