NC, Smokies, 20060525
CabinCove, various, flowers etc.
Amanita muscaria persicina
Two under the white pine by 1850s cabin.
| | GEN | | huge beautiful mushroom, somewhat musty unpleasant odor |
| | ST | | 150x20-40mm, tapering upward from bulb-like base (like the grinder of a mortar and pestle), partial veil forming conspic thin dull pale yellowish skirt about 25mm from top, volva with free rim and an additional ring a few mm above it, smooth creamy white ab partial veil, off-white w some ragged scurfy scales bel veil, bruises brownish |
| | CAP | | 180mm wide, flat to sl concave, split radially in 4 places, remnants of veil present at marg, pale yellow at marg to peach in the center, covered with chunky pale tan scales, skin fairly tough |
| | FLESH | | 10mm thick in center, white to creamy, firm |
| | GILL | | totally free, unbr, 1.5mm apart, dull white to creamy to almost yellowish near marg, convex like curtains hanging from underside of cap |
| | SPORE | | print white or very pale, colorless, smooth, ellip, ~9.5x6.8um |
Anemone quinquefolia
Patch on Mary-Wanda when you first reach the elderberry spring.
| | LF | | 3 lflts, lat lflts deeply split in 2, spreading pubesc |
| | FR | | v d short straight spreading pubesc, achene, sev, comp ellipsoid, body 2.5x1.2x1.0mm, hooked beak 1mm, just like a buttercup's fruit, beak and v tip glab, radiating in all directions |
There is significant variation in the lobation of the lvs.
RA&B distinguishes
A. q. and
A. lancifolia only by number of lf lobes, and mentions in passing that the latter tends to be larger. However the former will display 3-lobed lvs sometimes (even flowering specimens, as the one from
20060524 showed): thus you must be careful to look at
all plants in the area to see if any have 5 lobes. Or maybe you need to see what the majority have: can
A. lancifolia ever have 5 lobes?
Asarum canadense
Misty Mellow just down from where trail T's on right side (going downhill).
| | LF | | few basal, heart, entire, large, pubesc?, acutish, aurs v large |
| | INFL | | 1, emerging from ground between lf sts, ped sp sh vill |
| | HYP | | 10x14mm, urn, sh vill outside |
| | SEP | | 3, free, ov, v acum, spread 45deg or so, 15x8mm, bottom 5mm touching all around forming tube and lt yellish inside, top part greenish reddish with maroon line separating parts, sh vil outside |
| | STAM | | 12 anths in pairs on 6 fleshy fils that ext past the tiny anthersanth open by slits and face out |
| | OV | | 1, inf, 6 chamb, 3 ovules per chamb |
| | STYLE | | 6 bi-lobed crown atop ov, greenish, stigs narr black bumpy small things sl below and etween pairs of lobes on teeth of crown facing outward |
| | FR | | nuts, smooth tan, ov to wedge, rounded back, flat scar on inside where att to placenta, 5x2.5x2mm, dors comp, acute |
Need to grab a leaf. Key feature is fully inferior ovary, verify by styles barely exceeding stigma. Bizarre flower. Moth wing remains inside calyx telling me how it is pollinated!
Calycanthus floridus laevigatus
One by entrance to Jason's path; this one from Tobacco road on right half way to pond.
| | GEN | | fls are very odorous like sour or rotting apples |
| | LF | | opp, ellip, 55x25+6mm, entire, sl wavy, glauc bel, glab except for sp reddish min strig bel on midv |
| | INFL | | 1 in axil, pedicel short and stout |
| | HYP | | thick-walled, cup-shaped, fleshy |
| | TEP | | many, dk maroon, curving out to reflexed, thick, puber, to 23x6mm, oblance, acute |
| | STAM | | many| fil | | short and stout, extending past anth, maroon, puber |
|
| | OV | | 1, inf, silky strig walls, many strig whitish ovules |
| | STYLE | | filamentous sticky mess (?) |
Cervus canadensis
| | APP | | huge squarish deer-like creatures, dk brown overall with large lter buff rump and v short tail, narr but not mule-sized ears, deer-like face but more angular |
| | BEHAVE | | male and female wandering desultorily across open field grazing here and there, apparently unconcerned, walked off a bit faster once reached downwind of me, this was late afternoon on a cloudy day after a significant thunderstorm still rather light but diffused |
Erigeron philadelphicus
Nice patch ab road where it turns just up from Mary-Wanda.
| | ROOT | | v short 6-7mm thick rhiz-like thing |
| | ST | | 1, 4dm, erect, br'd at v top, v d pil (spread all dir bel but all ascend almost strig ab) |
| | LF | | alt, sl reduced ab, basal withered at fl, spat to oblong-lance, clasp, dist serr ab half, 60x20+0mm bel to 35x12+0mm ab, sp pil ab and marg and midv bel, v sl clear gland-puber at base bel on some, 8 lvs on st |
| | INFL | | sev, 1 at end of each br, peduncles to 40mm, strig bristly |
| | PHYL | | 2 equal rows, appress, green w wide scar marg, acute, bristly and d min clear gland puber, 6x0.8mm, invol 8x4mm broad cup |
| | RAY | | tons, white to v sl purpish, v thin, 8x0.1-0.2mm, female or ster (styles look much thinner than disc's and show no stigmatic lines) |
| | DISC | | tons, yellow, convex, 12mm, bisex, styles not devel yet |
| | OV | | 1mm, d short seric, white |
| | PAP | | cap bristles, greyish, 3mm, ray = disc |
Keys very readily in
Wofford.
Euonymus americanus
Shrub just downstream from bridge on far side of stream.
| | TWIG | | angled, green, v min pap-bristly (almost missed it!) |
| | LF | | opp, lance, acutish, serr 100%, 50x27+1.5mm, lter bel, no stips, glab |
| | INFL | | 1-3 in peduncled umbels in axils, peduncle 13mm, pedicel to 4mm |
| | HYP | | disk-like nectary?, 5mm wide, sticky, stam att directly to edges of it, 5 min pap radiating bumps in center each with a shallow radiating groove down the middle |
| | SEP | | 5, join at base, calyx 6mm wide disc, lobes 1x3mm squat ovate mucronate, glab, green w v thin irreg scar marg |
| | PET | | 5, free, alt sep, yellish greenish, round to sl ov, 5x5.5mm, spread 90deg, glab |
| | STAM | | 5, v short, alt petals, fil 1mm stocky green glab, anth 2 yell tiny balls on top of fils, erect |
| | OV | | sup?, 5 chamb, many ovules per chamb |
| | STYLE | | stig 1 green sess little ball, looks like 3 tiny bumps atop the green ball |
Yes, the ov is sup; surprisingly I got most of it right this time!
Collybia fuscopurpurea-group?
Growing scattered close together on a v rotten log just across the first stream crossing on Prissy Bear's Run.
| | GEN | | mushroom, small to medium, on rotting hardwood of unknown type |
| | ST | | 30x4mm, hollow, golden dkish brown, golden scurfy over dk brown base like center of cap, bends without breaking |
| | CAP | | 25mm wide, rounded, smooth, dk sl reddish brown in center to striate ochre at marg |
| | FLESH | | brown, 2mm thick, watery |
| | GILL | | free, unbr, ochre, 1-3 per mm, 5mm thick |
| | SPORE | | print white, dumbell shaped (ellip with two "pores" on either side), colorless, ~8x3.5um, smooth |
This does not key out well in
Arora, nor does a perusal of pictures in
Lincoff turn up anything promising. This is the only species that
mostly matches: no mention of dumbell-shape of spores, flesh is too dark, cap is not sticky, and this is too late in the season for it. (See
20060603 for another study of (apparently) the same mushroom, where I feel a little better about the ID.)
Hypoxis hirsuta hirsuta
Several on road at the top of the steep section above Prissy Bear's Run. I transplanted two onto bank above the elderberry spring on Mary-Wanda.
| | LF | | basal, grass-like, not at all stiff, hirsute |
| | INFL | | sev in umbel, peduncle >= lvs |
| | TEP | | 6, free, yellow, lance, ~10x4mm or so (pure guess), spread 90deg |
| | STAM | | 6, spread 30-40deg, 5-8mm or so (pure guess) |
Inocybe?
Growing att to base of the Amanita above.
| | GEN | | mushroom, tiny, on ground beneath white pine or parasitic on Amanita |
| | ST | | solid, 30x5mm, contorted a bit, v d lt fibrous over dker brown, flesh lter inside, cottony thicker base, cracks lengthwise when broken |
| | CAP | | 8mm wide, rounded, tan, sl scurfy |
| | FLESH | | creamy buff, 2mm thick |
| | GILL | | barely free, 2-3 per mm, lt brown, fuzzy, can barely make out brown dots from spores (not borne in conspic 4's), unbr, 1.5mm thick |
| | SPORE | | print ~brown, ellip, smooth, v lt brown, pore in one end or just apiculate, 8.5x5.3um |
I was looking for ones with germ pores in end of spores, but now looking at the spores again, maybe they're only sharp-ended
they don't really look
truncate which one normally associates with pores. It appears it is entirely incidental that it was associated with the
Amanita. This genus is a plausible guess, but I wouldn't bet anything on it.
Leucanthemum vulgare
Sev scattered on bank ab road from top of hill to Mary-Wanda.
| | GEN | | peren herb (dead lvs at base) |
| | ST | | erect, br'd at base, almost woody, green w red angles bel, angled |
| | LF | | alt, much reduced ab, spat at base to lance ab, deeply pin lobed or toothed, teeth obtuse, glab, spread raggedly |
| | INFL | | 1, term, peduncle 50mm above last tin lf |
| | PHYL | | 3 subequal rows, green with wide scar erose marg and brown line between the two zones, green part lance acute, scar part oblong rounded, appress, glab, 6x1.8mm, invol 15x5mm broad saucer-dish-like |
| | RAY | | 20+, white, showy, spread 90deg, 15x4mm, strap w rounded tip, female |
| | DISC | | tons, flat, yell, 12mm wide, arranged in spirals like sunflower, style tips trunc, bisex |
| | OV | | squat, greenish, glab, many conspic ribs, some may be sl comp or prism |
Packera aurea
One on bank ab road midway between Mary-Wanda and where it crosses Mitchell's branch.
| | ROOT | | long horz rhiz or subterr stolon |
| | ST | | thick, angled, floccose esp ab |
| | LF | | | basal | | long petiolate, reniform, cren, obtuse to rounded tip, cordate, 35x40+80mm w 5mm auricles, glab, soft, green ab and purp bel |
| caul | | alt, reduced ab, oblance, pectinate, sharply dentate to lobed to dissected, sl floccose near top of st |
|
| | INFL | | sev heads in term corymb, peduncle to 50mm, floccose |
| | PHYL | | 1 row, cyl, floccose, 8x0.5mm, invol 8x5mm, acute, sides parallel, acute |
| | RAY | | 12+ (a bit old so some may have fallen), yell, 8x2mm, female |
| | DISC | | convex, yell, many, 6mm wide, bisex |
| | PAP | | cap bristles, whitish, ~7mm |
Packera anonyma
One above the road where it turns just above Mary-Wanda.
| | GEN | | peren (v stiff stem and couldn't pull up roots) |
| | ST | | br'd bel, kind of erect, angled, glab |
| | LF | | alt, v few and far between and reduced ab, basal lyrate, clasp, glab, 90x30+0mm or so, lobes fan-shaped and dentate, overall oblong to lance, rounded tip |
| | INFL | | sev heads in a corymb, peduncle to 70mm, glab |
| | PHYL | | 1 row with a few minute ones at base, glab, lt green, sides parallel, acute, 6x0.5mm, invol 7x4mm |
| | RAY | | 20+, yell, 10x2mm, oblong, rounded tip, spread irreg around 90deg, female |
| | DISC | | 6mm, yell, bisex| style | | app broadly delt, pap |
|
| | OV | | 1mm, glab, few-angular |
| | PAP | | cap bristles, 4-5mm, whitish |
Thought this was
P. anonyma but now I'm not convinced it's not just variation on
P. aurea. (However I have found positive ID of
P. a. recently, so let's go with it anyway.)
Peziza badioconfusa
On fallen tree just beyond our border on Prissy Bear's Run.
| | THAL | | rubbery but v fragile, huge (150-200mm or more), flat but irreg undulating and torn at margins, reddish brown both sides, somewhat translucent, fairly smooth both sides |
| | ASC | | long lin, 8 spores per ascus in 1 row, much longer than the 8 spores, no tip |
| | SPORE | | 16.5-17.5x8.0-8.5um, ellip, smooth outline but mottled texture, colorless, 2 cells or large oil drops with a thick straight wall between |
Lincoff suggests
P. badioconfusa;
Arora suggests that and
P. badio (and about a dozen others that seem subtly farther off the mark). I'm guessing the patterning is "finely warty" and not reticulate which implies more regular geometric pattern to me. This means
P. badioconfusa according to
Arora, and
Lincoff verifies the 2 oil drops in this species.
Piranga olivacea
| | APP | | brilliant medium red, wings and tip of tail black, eye black, beak yellowish and short and stout |
| | BEHAVE | | flitting slowly about the white pine looking for insects presumably |
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