Master Naturalist

Saturday outing on December 1st for Master Naturalist alumni's.

The First Saturday outing on December 1st for Master Naturalist alumni's and near-alumni produced several interesting finds at Kanawha State Forest.  Here are a few of the highlights.
 
Martha Hopper brought some show-and-tell mushrooms, and then helped us identify several species as we walked on the Polly Trail, including an enormous Sulphur Shelf growing on a log and a tiny, delicate Common Split Gill growing on a stick.  The CSG was cupped, with white lines radiating from a central point on the inside of the cup, creating a star-like pattern.
 
We used the Margaret Denison book, Ferns and Fern Allies Found in Kanawha State Forest to help us target species of ferns that remain viable through the winter.  These are easier to spot now that most plants have dropped their leaves.  We found a good number of Marginal Shield Ferns mixed among the omnipresent Christmas Ferns on the hillsides.  We found Common Polypody on top of moss-covered boulders, and we found an Oblique Grape Fern, which is a subspecies of Cut-leaf Grape Fern (also known as Dissected Grape Fern), near the cluster of Tamarack trees in Polly Hollow.  This OGF was still all green, but I later found a specimen at the mouth of White Hollow that had started to turn bronze, and the book says they will turn reddish-brown as winter progresses.  We also found some Maidenhair Ferns and Hay-scented Ferns that were still green, but these fronds won't last through the winter.
 
Laura Miller pointed out several species of insects that were at varying stages of their life cycles, some of which we examined under 20 power magnification.  Which reminds me that on a previous outing Laura picked up a fallen oak leaf and found a uniformly reddish-brown grasshopper whose color was an absolutely exact match with the color of the leaf.  She later IDd it to be a Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper.  Ron McLaughlin helped us practice our tree IDs, as he and Willis recently helped lead a tree walk on the Polly Trail.
 
Another highlight was a small shrub with clusters of amazingly neon-bright pinkish-red berries.  Jerry and Laura both researched this and each reached the same ID of Coralberry, which is in the Honeysuckle family.  Although the range of this plant in WV is somewhat in question, Jerry felt that the ones we found were most likely planted, partly because of where they are located.
 
Among the possibilities for upcoming First Saturday outings during the winter months are one with a tracking emphasis, led by people with experience in this area, and a visit to the extensive insect collection at the WV Dept. of Agriculture.  Laura is the curator for this collection, and she will be our guide.  I'll keep you posted.
 
- Jim Waggy -