Leader
for today’s Ramble:
Linda
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Linda, Bill, and Don. Comments, edits, and suggestions for
the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Gall,
fungi, and animal identifications: Bill Sheehan, Don Hunter, Heather Larkin
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Click on any photo to enlarge it.
Number
of Ramblers today:
10
Today’s
emphasis:
Seeking what we find on the Orange and Purple Trails
Reading: “Fall” by Mary Oliver (1935
– 2019)
the black oaks fling
their bronze fruit
into all the pockets of the earth
pock pock
they knock against the
thresholds
the roof the sidewalk
fill the eaves
the bottom line
of the old gold song
of the almost finished year
what is spring all that tender
green stuff
compared to this
falling of tiny oak trees
out of the oak trees
then the clouds
gathering thick along the west
then advancing
then closing over
breaking open
the silence
then the rain
dashing its silver seeds
against the house
Announcements: Linda reminded us that
the UGarden has resumed their Thursday afternoon organic vegetable sales, 4:00
pm to 6:00 pm.
Turn off South Milledge at the next driveway south of the Garden’s entrance.
Today’s
Route: After convening this morning in the upper
parking lot, we headed down the Orange Trail and took the boardwalk across the
beaver marsh, then turned uphill on
the Purple Trail and returned by way of the new garden behind the Porcelain
Museum.
OBSERVATIONS:
 |
| We headed down the wet and slippery Orange Trail under cloudy skies. |
 |
| Aborted Entoloma mushrooms (left photo by Don Hunter, right photo by Bill Sheehan) |
Crossing the foot bridge at
the head of the ravine, we noticed several Aborted Entoloma mushrooms growing
out of the soil beneath a downed and rotting Northern Red Oak. These are also
known as Shrimp-of-the-Woods and are choice edible mushrooms. Bill writes: “For
over a hundred years, it was believed that the lumpy masses of tissue
represented an ‘aborted’ form of the Entoloma – like a mushroom that never
happened – as the species name suggests. In the seventies, however, mycologists
suggested that the masses of tissue might result from parasitizing action on
the part of the mycelium of Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea). But more
recent research
has turned this idea on its head, suggesting that Entoloma is the parasite, and
Honey Fungus the victim!”
 |
| Japanese Lady Fern frond (left, photo by Don Hunter) and distinctive sori on lower surface of frond (right, photo by Connie Gray) This invasive species is established below the first foot bridge on the Orange Trail; Gary has targeted it for removal. |
 |
| Curtis’s Goldenrod (aka Mountain Decumbent Goldenrod) It is one of only a few Georgia goldenrods to hold its flower heads in small clusters at the leaf axils. |
 |
|
Globular Root galls on a White Oak |
Globular Root galls look like ripe Muscadine fruits but are actually one of the many galls we see on oaks in the
Piedmont. They are caused by female Cynipid Wasps injecting their eggs into stem
tissue.When the egg hatches and the larva begins to develop, it secretes
chemicals that cause the plant tissue to form a gall around the larva,
providing protection and food for the larva while it matures into an adult. We
dissected several galls, and Bill found an intact and living adult Cynipid Wasp
in one gall. Bill reports that “Cynipid Gall Wasps emerge as adults in late
October and early November, according to gallformers.org. The original description notes that these galls are found on roots or slightly
above the ground, but these were 1-3 feet above the ground, as is often the
case, judging from 177 observations on iNaturalist. Globular Root Gall is an alternate-generation gall, with a sexual generation
of both males and females alternating with an asexual generation of only
females. The different generations usually look different and sometimes use
different plant species or plant parts.”
 |
| White Turtlehead in flower beside the upper stretch of the creek along the Orange Trail |
Moving down the trail, we were
completely surprised to find a lushly flowering White Turtlehead growing beside
the trail just below the foot bridge. This is pretty far upstream of the large
population in the marsh, described below.
 |
| (Left photo) Tiny, brown Neuroterus gall in the upper half of the circled area; white leaf miner cocoon in the lower half of the circle on the skeletonized leaf tissue. This leaf mine is of the “blotch” type rather than the winding trail type. (Right photo) Close-up of the leaf miner cocoon and the upper leaf epidermis left after the larva ate the inner leaf tissue. Photos by Bill Sheehan |
Bill reports: “Someone picked up a White Oak leaf from the ground, and I noticed traces of two of my tiny friends:
a micro-moth cocoon and a tiny gall wasp gall. The white ribbed cocoon is
probably that of a leaf-mining moth like the ones that have been so abundant this year on White Oaks, and was probably
responsible for skeletonizing this leaf. The little brown gall is one I have
seen a lot of this year. The gall in this photo is empty; there was an exit hole on the top side of the
leaf. It belongs to the genus Neuroterus in the gall wasp family
Cynipidae. Cynipid Gall Wasps are highly diverse on oaks, with more than 1000
described species. They are fascinating both in the diversity of gall shapes,
as well as in the fact that, like the Globular Root Gall, most species
alternate between a sexual generation (with males and females) and an asexual
generation (with only females).
Once you train your eye to look for
these things, they’re easy to spot. They only look small to us if we’re used to
looking at flowers and big bugs. It’s interesting to contemplate that these two
critters are in fact giants in relation to other organisms and lifeforms living
on and in the leaf. There are even smaller wasps, called fairyflies, that could
fly through the eye of a needle; and I see teeny mites crawling around the
leaves I collect. And of course you’ve got fungi and other microorganisms
living inside the leaf!”
Native ferns are abundant
along this section of the Orange Trail
 |
| Broad Beech Ferns aka “Fox Head Fern” to Nature Ramblers |
 |
| Christmas Fern |
 |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar clinging to the mossy bark of a Musclewood tree. Those amazing false eyespots are on the thorax. The real eyes are on the head of the caterpillar which is small and tucked up under the thorax. |
In spite of weeks of
drought, a diversity of fungi are flourishing along this ravine.
 |
| Coral Tooth Fungus photo by Linda Chafin |
 |
|
| Silky Parchment Fungus: upper surface (left) and smooth lower pore surface, with coffee-and-cream-colored bands (right) |
 |
| Two flushes of a False Turkey Tail species, same species with two different color patterns |
 |
| Thin-walled Maze Polypore – upper surface (left), lower surface (right) photos by Bill Sheehan |
 |
| Gilled Polypore fungus. This is one of the relatively few species of polypore fungi with gills. |
 |
| Following the trail along the creek, we entered the “Hepatica Zone” where we saw the first of many Round-lobed Hepatica that grow in this area. |
Hepatica
leaves overwinter, using the sunlight that shines through the leafless winter
canopy to produce and store the carbohydrates that fuel their early bloom. Soon after
the plants flower, these leaves will turn maroon, then wither and be replaced by a new
set. Two of the original Nature Ramble leaders, Hugh and
Carol Nourse, would always go on “Hepatica watch” in late December, trying to
catch the first flowers of the new season. They reported the first blooms as early as December 28 one year and
always said you could reliably start looking for first flowers soon after the
new year, though sometimes it may be mid-January before they appeared. The “Hepatica Zone” starts just below the Orange
Trail Spur bridge connecting the Orange Trail with the Flower Garden and
extends northward up the creek for several hundred feet. We now and forever affectionately refer to
this bridge as the “Hugh-patica Bridge.”
Down and dead tree excavated by a
Pileated Woodpecker
Gary explained how he knows that the holes in
this dead tree were made by Pileated Woodpeckers. They are the only woodpeckers
that feed on the ground, excavating stumps and downed legs in search of Carpenter
Ants and beetles.
The holes they excavate are distinctive: they are more or
less oblong or square in shape because their muscular necks and heavy beaks
enable them to excavate deep into the wood, loosening large chunks that follow
the grain of the wood.
 |
| Beech Drops, a non-photosynthetic plant, parasitizes the roots of Beech trees, but in such low numbers it does not harm the trees. |
Beech Drops flowers in late summer,
producing small, white, purple-dotted, solitary flowers along their upper stems.
These are visited by a variety of insects but are probably most often
pollinated during visits by the Winter Ant (Prenolepis impairs). The
plant also relies on self-pollinating flowers that occupy the lower half of the
stems to produce seeds if pollination fails in the upper flowers. The plants
are annuals and must have some way of producing seeds if they are going to
persist. They regularly return here year after year and are abundant throughout
the Garden wherever there are Beech trees. The dead, dried stems are seen all
through the winter.
Virginia Jumpseed’s slender
stalks are lined with small, white, nearly closed flowers in the summer. Later in
the fall, the flowers are replaced by two-sided fruits with a conspicuous hook
– the persistent style – at the tip. When the seeds are mature, they “jump” off
of the stem when disturbed, flinging themselves up to 12 feet away. Such
moderate-distance seed dispersal reduces competition between parent plant and offspring while
ensuring that the seeds are likely to land in suitable habitat.
 |
| Ramblers reached the beaver marsh as the sun finally broke through the morning cloud cover. |
 |
| Large stand of White Turtlehead near the southeast corner of the marsh, just south of Ben’s Bridge. |
White Turtlehead stems are known
to reach 7.5 feet but this is the first time I’ve ever seen them anywhere near
that tall nor so loaded with flowers. Perhaps growing in the sunny,
consistently wet marsh fosters this extravagant growth and flowering. Several Ramblers
asked: how are these seemingly closed flowers ever pollinated? This question
has been recently researched and the results published here and here. The flowers of
White Turtlehead may occasionally self-pollinate but only cross-pollinated
flowers will set seed. The flowers produce copious quantities of nectar that
attract at least 20 species of insects, but cross-pollination is effected
mainly by the Half-black Bumble Bee (Bombus vagans), a species of bee
that is large and strong enough to push open the nearly closed lips of the
flower. Some bees rob the flower of its nectar by chewing a hole in the base of
the flower and extracting nectar but do not aid in pollination since they bypass
the anthers and the stigma.
The beaver marsh is dominated by
Rice Cutgrass, a native species that is well armed against browsing and grazing
animals: the leaves and stems are lined with stiff, sharp hairs that slice bare skin and act like Velcro on your shirt.
Other conspicuous species in the marsh include (clockwise from upper left): Bur-cucumber, Dotted Smartweed, Climbing Hempweed, and Arrow-leaved
Tearthumb.
Crossing the boardwalk, we paused
to admire a Common Elderberry shrub
sporting galls of the midge, Neolasioptera
pierrei.
 |
| Gall nearly enveloping the Elderberry stem (top left and top right). Dissected gall (lower left). Midge larva (lower right). (All photos by Bill Sheehan) |
We left the marsh and turned
uphill onto the Purple Trail and into the Oak-Hickory forest, where a large Chalk
Maple was showing off its close relation to its northern cousin Sugar Maple.
Further up the Purple Trail
ridge, we found a Common Box Turtle, its red eyes and indented plastron (lower
shell) indicating that it is a male. Box Turtles in the South remain active
through the winter. Box Turtles typically live 25-35 years; Heather pointed out
the ridges on this turtle’s shell are worn nearly smooth, a sign of advanced age. (Photos by Linda Chafin)
We made our way back to the Visitor Center by way of the new garden behind the Porcelain Museum. This garden features more than 200 Swamp Milkweed plants donated by Chuck and Susan Murphy. The success of this planting for supporting Monarchs is attested by the abundance of defoliated plants and the presence of empty chrysalides. (Photos by Heather Larkin)
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Sweet Bay Magnolias, now in fruit,
Carolina Anole soaking up the noonday
|
Postscript from Bill: “On
Thursday, I peeled off from the Ramble to look for galls on oak and hickory
trees. One thing I love about this pursuit is all the other things I find when
looking under leaves. Caterpillars and other insects are often striking, but
every now and then I stumble on real mystery and I cannot rest until I solve
it. I found such a thing on Thursday. In a square inch on the underside of a White
Oak leaf there were about 20 tiny, shiny, black things standing erect, with a
similar number of even tinier clusters of yellowish balls nearby. My first
thought was aliens for the shiny black things and fungi for the tiny clumps.
Actually, I realized the black things were pupal skins of insects, but I had no
idea even what order. I ran my photos through iNaturalist
and to my surprise its first selection was “Eulophus”
with photos that had similar aggregations AND the yellowish lumpy clusters.
Then, googling “Eulophus” I came to beautiful, clear photos
from the Maryland Biodiversity Project.
It turns out that I had stumbled on
the scene of a murder. The murder victim (a caterpillar) had disappeared, along
with the murderers. But the murderers – 20 identical twins (the mother
parasitoid deposits a single egg which divides into numerous embryos that eat the
living host) – left smoking guns: their pupal skins. The yellowish lumpy
clusters are the excrement that the parasitoid larvae evacuated before
pupating. Solving this mystery so readily using the Internet made me appreciate
how naturalists a century or two ago would have had to use books and specimen collections,
which would severely limit the number of people who could participate! And they
would have to make drawings of what they found to share it with the world.”
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES
Bess Beetle or Horned Passalus Beetle Odontotaenius disjunctus
Aborted Entoloma fungus AKA Shrimp-of-the-Woods Entoloma abortivum
Japanese Lady Fern Deparia petersenii
Mountain Decumbent Goldenrod Solidago curtisii
White Oak Quercus alba
Globular Root Gall cynipid wasp Disholcaspis globosa
White Turtlehead Chelone glabra
Christmas Fern Polystichum acrostichoides
Broad Beech Fern Phegopteris hexagonoptera
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (caterpillar) Papilio glaucus
Musclewood Carpinus caroliniana
False Turkey Tail mushroom Stereum lobatum
Gilled Polypore mushroom Lenzites betulina
River Cane Arundinaria gigantea
Flamed Tigersnail Anguispira alternata
Round-lobed Hepatica Hepatica americana
Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra
Pileated Woodpecker (visual evidence of activity) Dryocopus pileatus
Silky Parchment fungus Stereum striatum
Jumpseed Persicaria virginiana
Golden Rain Tree Koelreuteria paniculata
Yellowroot Xanthorhiza simplicissima
Marbled Orbweaver Araneus marmoreus
Dotted Smartweed Polygonum punctatum
Blue-stemmed or Wreath Goldenrod Solidago caesia
Curtis’s or Mountain Decumbent Goldenrod Solidago curtisii
Rice Cutgrass Leersia oryzoides
Japanese Stiltgrass Microstegium vimineum
Climbing Hempvine Mikania scandens
Arrow-leaved Tearthumb Persicaria sagittata
Purple Beautyberry Callicarpa dichotoma
American Dagger Moth (caterpillar) Acronicta americana
Box Elder Acer negundo
Bur Cucumber Sicyos angulatus
Elderberry Sambucus canadensis
Elderberry gall midge Neolasioptera pierrei
Chalk Maple Acer leucoderme
Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra
Twin Flagged Jumping Spider Anasaitis canosa
Common Box Turtle Terrapene carolina
Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata
Carolina Anole Anolis carolinensis
Monarch Butterfly, adults, chrysalis Danaus plexippus
Sweet Bay Magnolia Magnolia virginiana
Eulophus sp.