Winter Walk

Welcome to my world.

Walking along my favorite trail on Saturday I stopped to take a photo of the Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) next to the last bit of snow. It just looked so pretty I couldn’t resist. I think they are called Christmas ferns because they stay green all year long and in the past were used as part of Christmas time greenery. It was the first fern that I learned the name of and still remember it to this day. You see the pinnae (little individual leaf like parts) have a lobe on the base that makes them look like a mitten, a Christmas mitten and that is how I remember.

The spores are produced on the small pinnae near the end of the fern frond and are called fertile pinnae. They are smaller than those at the base and once the spores are spread into the wind they shrivel up and turn brown but I don't see any here.

On down the trail I came to the tree with the three mushrooms growing on the side. Remember I wrote about it last month and thought you might like to see how they are progressing. You can see the original post HERE. They are melting away.

I went further up the trail than I have been going lately and ventured into the first meadow where I found some tracks in the snow. The snow was still pretty deep here and I was not able to figures out what made the tracks and I am just learning to recognize tracks.

This same meadow is surrounded by Virginia Pine (see previous blog) and I found a good example of cones showing one closed, one partly open and one fully open.

Back on the trail I went still further up to the larger meadow and found some Bittersweet (Celastru orbiculatus). I’m not sure where the name came from but it seems appropriate to me because the seeds look beautiful and are fun to collect for winter decoration on wreaths but after the season is over the seeds that dropped to the ground are near impossible to pick up and they begin to grow where you don’t want them. It is very invasive and best to leave in the woods. When it climbs up trees it can smother them and actually break some of the smaller trees from the weight of the Bittersweet fruit. I read that it was introduced in the 1860’s and often associated with old home sites. And it just so happened that I was in an old home site or what appeared to be one.

Close up of the Bittersweet.

You can see here where fencing from the old farm has become a part of this tree as the tree continued to grow. This is a common site on this land. At first it looked strange to see a fence coming out of the tree but now I am used to seeing it. Isn’t it wonderful how trees do their best to keep growing and not give into our neglect? I love to find evidence of these old homesteads.

I found the fence because I was off the trail taking a photo of this Running Ground Pine (Lycopodium clavatum). They are part of the Clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae.

The sky was starting to get an overcast so I headed back to the car. While I was in the parking lot a Red Shouldered Hawk flew over and landed on a nearby branch. It stayed while I tried to get a good photo and then flew off. I wonder if it was the one I saw this summer and shared a moment with. You can read about that one HERE. Saying goodbye to the hawk I drove on home after a wonderful day in the woods.

Visit My World Tuesday.