I was going to walk a rail trail in Swanzey one day but as I pulled off the road to park I saw a small pond. Though I’ve seen it many times before it wasn’t until this day that it caught my interest. I started to explore its shores and before I knew it I had a camera full of photos and never did walk the rail trail. Normally this wouldn’t be anything remarkable but the pond is one step above a puddle, so if you put a canoe in it you’d be lucky if you had one stroke of the paddle before you had crossed it.
The unexplored rail trail will still be there for another day; maybe a sunnier one.
Barbed wire was used in this area in place of the heavy gauge stock fencing that the railroad usually used to keep cows and other animals off the tracks. You have to watch where you’re going in these New Hampshire woods because there are still miles of barbed wire out there and it’s easy to get hung up on.
A culvert lets the small stream that feeds the pond flow under the road.
An outflow stream runs into the drainage ditches along the rail bed, ensuring that the pond is always balanced and never floods.
This 3 part seed pod told me that I can come here in the spring to find the sessile leaved bellwort plant (Uvularia sessilifolia.) The flowers are pale yellow, more or less tubular, and nodding, and often grow in large colonies. The plant is also called wild oats or merry bells. In botany sessile means “resting on the surface” so in the case of sessile leaved bellwort the leave are stalkless and appear to be resting on the surface of the stem. Since the plant is so good at spreading by underground stems (stolons) it doesn’t often set seed.
Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) likes to grow in places that are on the wet side and seeing its clusters of spore bearing sori is a good indication of a wetland. It is also called bead fern, for obvious reasons. The name sensitive fern comes from its sensitivity to frost, which was first noticed by the early colonials.
Another wetland indicator appeared in the form of winterberries (Ilex verticillata.) I often see this native holly growing in standing water but I’ve heard that it will grow in drier soil. Birds love its bright red berries. These shrubs are dioecious, meaning they need both a male and female plant present to produce seed. If you have a yard with wet spots winterberry is a great, easy to grow native plant that won’t mind wet feet.
Black jelly fungi (Exidia glandulosa) grew on a fallen oak limb. They were a bit dry and had lost some of their volume but they hadn’t shriveled down to the black flakes they could have been. I like their shiny surfaces; sometimes it’s almost as if they had been faceted and polished like a beautiful black gem.
I think that this is what was left of a thin maze flat polypore (Daedaleopsis confragosa) but it was hard to tell because its entire upper surface was missing so I could see its gills from above. I’m assuming that it was slowly decomposing from age but I can’t be sure because I’ve never seen another bracket fungus do this. Normally the upper surface of a thin maze flat polypore would be zoned like a turkey tail, but the zones would tend to be tan to brown to cream, rather than brightly colored like a turkey tail.
The lower pore bearing surface of the thin maze flat polypore is maze like, as its name suggests. Michael Kuo of Mushroom Expert. com says that this mushroom’s appearance is highly variable, with pores sometimes appearing elongated and sometimes more round. I put my camera against the tree’s trunk under the fungus and snapped this photo without seeing what I was taking a photo of, so it isn’t one of the best I’ve ever done. It does show you the maze-like structure of this fungus though, and that’s the point.
From a photographic perspective the example above is terrible, but it shows just what I want you to see. These foliose lichens were growing in the white pine branches just over my head, and all I had to do to find them was look up and see their silhouette. If you’d like to find them all you need to do is look up the next time you’re under a tree.
If you see a foliose lichen on a branch and pull it down for a look like I did you might see something similar to the northern camouflage lichen seen (Melanelia septentrionalis) above. Foliose means leaf or foliage like, and this lichen is a beautiful example of that.
The shiny reddish brown discs are apothecia or fruiting bodies, and they help identify this lichen. The stringy black parts are the lichen’s root like structures called rhizines, and they also help identify the lichen. The body (thallus) was very dry and its color had faded from brown to the off whitish gray color seen here. I usually find these on pine or birch limbs.
Note: Canadian Botanist Arold Lavoie tells me that this lichen is in the Tuckermannopsis ciliata group. I’m sorry if my misidentification has caused any confusion. Arold has helped me here before and I’m very grateful. If you’d like to pay him a visit his website can be found at http:www.aroldlavoie.com
Just to the right of center in the above photo is a maple dust lichen (Lecanora thysanophora) on the bark of a maple. It was about the size of a dime, or .70 inches (17.9 mm.)
It was a few years ago now that I stumbled onto my first maple dust lichen and though I kept it in the front of my mind I never saw another example until just recently. Now I’m suddenly seeing them everywhere. It’s hard for me to believe but I must have been looking right at them and not seeing them for years. From a distance they resemble script lichens, so maybe that’s why. They’re a beautiful lichen and definitely worth looking for. They can be identified in part by the tiny fringe around their perimeter.
Of all the things I saw near the pond this moss on a log was my favorite because of its beautiful green color and because it was so full of life. It seemed as if it was sparkling from the light of creation coursing through its trailing arms and I could have sat there with it all day. When the log was a tree a woodpecker might have made the hole that the moss explored. I could see part of an acorn in there, so maybe the woodpecker that made the hole hid the acorn in it for a future meal. I think this moss might be beaked comb moss (Rhynchostegium serrulatum) but I’m not certain. I see it quite often on logs but never quite so full of life as this one was. Even in a photo it glows.
American hazelnut (Corylus americana) catkins told me that I could come here in April and see the tiny crimson female flowers. The catkins are the male flowers and once they begin to open and shed yellowish green pollen that will be the signal that it’s time to watch for the opening of the female flowers. They are among the smallest flowers that I know of and are hard to get a good photo of, but I try each spring because they’re also among the most beautiful.
Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take. ~Angela N. Blount
Thanks for stopping in.
I’m not surprised you stopped by the pond. With so much to see I think I would have too. Great post.
Thanks! The funny thing was at first I didn’t know there was anything to see. This was one of those “one thing leads to another” situations.
The foliose lichen is so intriguing when you look closely.
I haven’t found a lichen yet that wasn’t amazing when you looked closely!
Great lichen! You always manage to find the good ones.
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoy seeing them!
Excellent quote and though it was a touch choice, I have to say I vote the shot of the thin maze flat polypore that you took without seeing it first my favorite of this post! very artistic and intriguing!
Thank you Martha. I’m not sure why that shot came out like it did, but I’m glad you liked it!
Lots of wonderful finds in such a compact area. I’ve seen wetlands so full of winterberries that it appears a sea of red, always a joy against the drab colors of the season.
Thanks Laura. I know what you mean about winterberries. This seems to be a good year for them!
Nothing quite like a mystery of a simple pond… 🙂
Yes, I agree. I could have spent 2 days there.
Such an enjoyable combination of pictures!
Thank you!
This post really takes me back to when my brother and I were kids and would go exploring some of the ponds around my parent’s home, much to the consternation of our mother. I suppose that the stage was set back then for what I would look for around those small ponds now that I’m older. We went looking for frogs, turtles, salamanders, fish, snakes, etc., and were only vaguely aware of the plants, fungi, and other things around the ponds.
Now that I’m older, I wish that I had paid more attention to the things like you feature in your posts. That’s because I’ve learned how important such small ponds are to the ecosystem as a whole, and how much all wildlife depends on such small bodies of water and what grows around them for survival.
However, identifying the things that you find is hard, as parts of your post points out. I probably would have learned more patience if I had taken the time when I was younger to put more effort into identifying the plant life around the ponds we explored. I know that it’s never too late to learn, but I feel as if I’m so far behind that I’d never be able to catch up, which is why I love your blog as much as I do.
Thanks Jerry! This is a perfect example of how the shoe can be on the other foot, because I often wish that I’d paid more attention to the things that you did. But we can’t all know everything and I suppose we just go with the thing that grabs us the hardest.
I think we’ll both be learning an awful lot until it isn’t possible anymore, just by being out there. I still see things that I’ve never seen before even though I’ve spent my entire life in these woods. Some are very hard to identify, like that foliose lichen, but I see it as a challenge. I’d really like to know what it is and how it fits into the grand scheme of things. Each little thing I find out is another piece of the puzzle and I hope one day I’ll have enough of the pieces to see the whole picture. I’m sure you know what I mean, because I think you’re doing the same thing!
It’s amazing that the pond isn’t frozen. What a mild winter we are having!
I thought so too. For such a small pond you’d think it would be frozen solid.
Yes, we’ve had an easy time of it so far this winter, and I’m happy about that!
I’m grateful not to have to slog around on snowshoes – the woods have remained so accessible!
Yes. I was out there today and saw a woman wearing snowshoes. I was wearing hiking boots and wasn’t having any trouble at all, even with 4-5 inches of new snow.
I hope that you get good pictures of your hazelnut flowers in due course. They are lovely indeed.
I’m looking forward to trying again. They’re a real challenge, as you know.
Funny what you see when you stop to look.
Yes. If only more people would!
I often like to limit myself to a small area and see what I can find. Many of the botanical and plant societies recommend that we mark out a metre square and record all the plants we find in it – a miniature world! I love the photo of the Maple Dust Lichen with its blue-edged fringe.
Thank you Clare. I’d like to try that someday. I’ve often wondered if someone couldn’t do an entire blog about only what they find in their own yard.
I like the maple dust lichens too. I found out today that they also grow on beech trees. I’ve been wondering if they only grew on maples and now I know!
I think it would be really interesting to blog about a small area like a back yard. Isn’t it good to be forever learning something new?
I’ve thought so too, but I sure don’t have the time for another blog and I’m guessing that you don’t either.
Maybe someone will pick up on our comments and decide to do it.
It is good to be forever learning something new. I try to every day if I can. Blogging helps with that.
You’re absolutely right – not enough time for this blog let alone another one!
Thank-you for taking the time to share your photographs and your nature talk.
You’re welcome, and thank you for visiting.
Hi! Great job! I think your foliose lichen is from the Tuckermannopsis ciliata group.
Thanks very much Arold, I appreciate your help as always. I’ve struggled with the identity of this one for many years and I’m very grateful that you’ve sorted it out. Normally when I’m not certain I say so but somehow this time I forgot to, so I’ll correct the entry. Thanks again!
Are you sure about the Melanelia septentrionalis ID ? It doesn’t seem to jibe with other sources I am looking at, especially Lichens of North America. I see the one you’ve pictured often, and would like to knpow it.
Thanks from an avid follower of your blog! Kit >
You’re welcome and thank you Kit. No, I’m not sure about that identification and I’m sorry that I didn’t say that in the post. I’m usually more careful about that. Luckily Arold Lavoie, who is a Canadian Botanist, has written in and tells me that it is in the Tuckermannopsis ciliata group. Arold is the one who first told me what the maple dust lichen was and I admire and respect his knowledge of such things. I’ll go back and change that post entry when I have a free minute and I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any confusion.
Another beautiful walk. I learn so much from your posts. Here in the UK we watched a program on TV last night all about the fall in New England, it was fascinating. Thanks Sue.
Thank you Sue. I wish I had seen that show. Last fall Marie from the I Walk Alone blog and her husband actually came over from the U.K. in the fall. She said that she always wondered if it was really like she’d heard it was, and now she wants to come back for fall every year. It really is spectacular! If you’d like to visit Marie’s blog you can find her over in my “favorite links” section.
Love the foliose lichen!
Thank you. I’ve misidentified it though. Arold Lavoie, a Canadian botanist, thinks it is from the Tuckermannopsis ciliata group. Arold is the one who first told me what the maple dust lichen was.
Your post, Allen, reminded me of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, a poem that I was required to memorize in school, if I recall correctly. I love the way that your detour turned into an adventure. Once again I am amazed at the number of natural and man-made objects that caught your eye, even in the dead of winter.
Thanks Mike. I wonder if I haven’t lived that poem. Even though I don’t think of it often it’s always been one of my favorites.
You don’t have to go far in nature to find amazing things, and I’m hoping this post helps illustrate that.
What a lot you found round such a small pond, small is indeed beautiful. I liked the colourful winterberries.
Thank you Susan. I think this shows again that you don’t have to go far to find wonderful things in nature. We see winterberries in most of our wetlands here.