UBNA Group Presentations: Fungi and Forbs 5/24/12

Today in class we met at Union Bay Natural Area for two group projects. The fungi group went first and was set up in 5 different stations focusing on different types of fungi. We began by receiving a brief but informational background on fungi and their characteristics and continued on our tour. We met with Ross and discussed an artist's bracket that was found on a dead tree. Artist's bracket was intriguing due to it's impressionable underside that gives the fungi its name. After this station, we continued to a station that was focused on oyster mushrooms that had grown on a tree. The mushrooms always grow horizontally but some were situated vertically on the downed tree suggesting that they grew after the tree had fallen over. I found this quite fascinating to say the least. We then went to a station focusing on turkey tails growing on a dead log. Like the oyster mushrooms, the turkey tails also grow horizontally in plates. After this station we went and observed Japanese parasol mushrooms. After the fungi group, we moved on to forbs where we observed skunk cabbage and had some dandelion wine. After the sample, we went on to observe various wildflowers in UBNA. We were lucky to see a native wildflower and other non native species such as white clover, dandelions, common vetch, queen anne's lace, and thimbleberry. It was a great day in UBNA and the group presentations were very informative.

Posted on May 31, 2012 03:59 AM by twitwer