#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #19 The First Wildfower

Yay! The first Wildflower in the woods has bloomed! The Wood Anemone, Anemone quinquefolia, is a spring ephemeral covering the damp forest floor.

Ink and Watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal.

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #18 Free Gills!

Back to the mushroom! I tried but couldn't identify yesterday's 'shroom, so I went back to check on it today.  Yesterday I thought the mushroom didn't have gills, so I tried to find it under "bolete". Today the mushroom had gills! I looked up some info on gill development which I recorded on the page. I also learned that there are different kinds of gills. This mushroom has "free gills" which don't quite reach the stem. I still don't know what species this is but I have learned something new.

Learning to identify mushrooms (or moss, or liverworts, or lichen, or anything else Sporo-licious) means learning what details to look for! One thing that I can recognize are gills, and well, I didn't see any so I thought to look under Bolete to see if I could identify this little guy. No luck. I went back to the log take a second look and found that some of the mushrooms now had gills.

I looked for information on gill development and learned that there is a veil that covers the gills in an early stage.

The veil stretches and then tears. 

I torn a bit off to see the gills underneath.

I established that this species has gills. Then I learned that there are different types of gills! There are gills that attach to the stem or run down the stem, there are "free" gills that seem to go take a last minute turn up into the cap and don't go all the way to the stem, well, there's probably more kinds to learn as well.

Above close-ups taken with Zoomy. 

Ink and watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. 

What's a Zoomy?

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #17 Early Spring Mushrooms

These early spring mushrooms just popped up! I found them on a mossy log in the woods. 

  

Ink and watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. 

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #16 Lichen: Frullania

The exceptional liverwort, Frullania, grows high up on trees. Most liverworts are found in wet places because of their intolerance to desiccation. 

Frullania cluster on a birch tree.

Close up of the Frullania liverwort with the Zoomy.

Ink and watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. 

What's a Zoomy?

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #15 Fiddleheads

Can't wait to see what kind of ferns these will be! 

So far I have found a wood fern, perhaps Dryopteris marginalis, though there may be two different Dryopteris near by, Sensitive Fern, Onoclea sensibilis, and the Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides.

Dryopteris marginalis

Onoclea sensibilis

Polystichum acrostichoides

Ink and watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. 

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #14 Rock Tuft Moss #BimblingAboutTheBryophytes

I noticed the rocks had spiky green tufts. They turned out to be Rock Tuft Moss, a Ulota species, perhaps Ulota hutchinsiae. 

The guide describes them as "dry pincushion-like tufts" on rocks.

Up close I could see that the leaves were held close to the stems because they were in a dry state. There were two kinds of capsules. The older ones with no calyptras or lids showed their teeth or peristomes in a reflexed position. The new sporophytes had punk-style spiky hairy hoods.

Ink and watercolor in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. 

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #13 Train Track Moss

Thelia hirtella, commonly called Train Track moss, on a tree in the nearby woods. It's easy to see how this moss got its common name. I like this moss because it is easy to distinguish from the others growing on the tree trunk.

Close-up with Zoomy.

Thelia hirtella on tree trunk in April. 

What's a Zoomy?

April is Poetry Month: A Bryophyte Bimble

A Bryophyte Bimble

In the woods here about

I found the mossy four:

One covering a rock,

Another blanketing a log,

A third skirted a tree,

And the last in a bog.

However, upon closer inspection,

I believe there to be many more!

(To Bimble is to walk at a leisurely pace.)

I'm using these reference guides to help me identify the many different species of moss and liverworts in my woods.

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day #12 Lipstick Powderhorn lichen

Wonderful Lipstick Powderhorn Lichen, Cladonia macilenta,  growing on the side of a log.

Love the red "lips". They make this lichen so fascinating to find!

Close-up of lips with Zoomy.

Second full page of this project: Days #7-12.

First page of #The100DayProject: Days #1-6

What's a Zoomy?

#MyCanterburyCoddiwomples #The100DayProject Day#11 Lichen: Old Man's Beard

I found a tiny bit of what I think is an Usnea lichen commonly known as the Old Man's Beard. 

Branching tip of lichen with Zoomy.

A larger bit of lichen but it's still on the small side.

There are 400 kinds of lichens in Connecticut. I've drawn bits of 4 of them so far.

What's a Zoomy?