This was our first official club walk of 2005. The weather held out and didn't pour, though the grounds were wet with the cool rains of the past week. Centipedes were visible everywhere we looked. New members, Caleb and Eli Hersh, were keen observers and found four of the five Half-free morels found among the tulip trees! Santo, our walk leader found another. The great thing about early spring is that so many things are sprouting from the damp earth to catch our attention. Aside from fungi, there were onion ramps, fern fiddle heads (or 'Fetal Heads' as Pam calls them), woodland violets, Rue Anemone, Rattle-snake Plantain, Cimicifuga and assorted other wonders of nature. As for fungi, we saw many wood-decaying fungi including: Fomes fomentarius, Trichaptum biforme, Trametes versicolor, Chlorociboria aeruginacens, Diatrype stigma, Favolus alveolaris, Polyporus brumalis, Hydnochaete olivaceum, Irpex lactea, Pluteus cervinus, Plicatoropsis crispa, Psathyrella sp., Schizophyllum commune, Trametes conchifer, Stereum ostrea, Xylobolus frustulatus, Auricularia auricula, Tremella mestenterica, Exidia nucleata, Exidia glandulosa, Exidia recisa and Dacrymyces palmatus. To see a larger photo of each picture below just click on it. I will work on adding commentary to each photo as time permits. Enjoy!

Dianna