Douthat State Park

Monday, June 15, 2021

The Monday Hikers stayed local this week, with a 5-mile hike in Douthat State Park. The star attraction this week was abundant Indian Pipe, with about-to-bloom Spotted/Striped Wintergreen a close second.

Everyone finds Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) an interesting plant. After a soaking rain and very warm temperatures, Indian Pipe reliably pokes out of the ground. Despite its overall look, it is not a fungus, but a flowering plant that lacks chlorophyll. It gets its nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, which ultimately get their food from the trees in the forest. It is fascinating to watch this plant change over the course of about two weeks, as documented in a previous post.

I only recognize about a half-dozen ferns, and Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) is one of them. One hiker thought it should be called the "Necklace Fern", since its stipe (stem) makes a nice circle.

Sometimes a slip-of-the-finger in Photoshop can give a startling revision of the original.

A close-up look at the small flower of Spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata).

Last year we hiked in Douthat about a week later. This year the Spotted (or Striped) Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) was on the verge of blooming, so I retrieved this photo from last year (June 22, 2020) that shows both the flowers and the buds.
In addition to these beautifully variegated leaves, we also saw the distinctive basal leaves of rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens, net-like white-veined leaves) and rattlesnake weed (Hieracium venosum, purple-veined leaves).

Lon found a patch of this interesting fungus, appropriately named "Dead Man's Fingers". These specimens were quite small in size, so it is most likely Xylaria longipes.

More Dead Man's Fingers poking up from the ground.