kellyrachel15's Journal

For my third nature walk, I ventured up to upper campus and walked down the perimeter towards Newton Center. I remembered that this stretch just outside of campus has an abundance of uncultivated plants because it sits just past the boundary of Boston College. Here there is no one pulling the weeds or planting garden flowers, instead, there was a variety of wild plants growing amongst each other. So much so that at times it was hard to tell where each plant was growing from. I encountered small yellow flowers, small pink flowers, and dandelion-like plants. Furthermore, I found a few lichen and moss along the rock wall. Perhaps my most interesting finds were the three mushroom/fungi looking organisms I discovered growing in and around tree trunks. I am interested to see what they are. Their unique coloring and shapes really stood out to me.

For this nature walk, I walked around a neighborhood in Brentwood Tennessee. Although I did not have access to a large piece of uncultivated natural space, I was able to find various types of weeds growing in cracks and around cultivated plants - trees, bushes, flowers, etc. Thankfully, there was no shortage of fungi! I noticed that fungi was growing all over different types of surfaces, especially trees. Almost every tree I saw had some form of light green bumpy lichen growing in patches on it. I also saw a greenish/yellow fungi type plant growing on the sidewalk. It was interesting to see how these plants are able to grow and thrive on soilless surfaces. If I was able to find all these types of fungi on a simple neighborhood walk, I’m super curious to see what I could find on a walk through a forest!

On this nature walk, I went through a neighborhood behind upper campus that borders the Hammond Pond Reservation. The neighborhood has lots of houses with larger yards and the streets are lined with large trees - I included a Silver Maple in my observations, found in front of a home. I went with a friend around noon on Friday during rainy weather. Many of the organisms I encountered were cultivated, for example, an apple tree and gardened bushes lining the front yards of various houses. Therefore, a large portion of my observations from this walk were smaller plants such as weeds and moss growing on a wall. Although the larger plants were cultivated, I was able to find lots of uncultivated weeds growing in sidewalk cracks, in the grass, or beneath a larger bush/tree. Next nature walk I hope to discover a place with a higher uncultivated plant population, and maybe go when it isn't rainy to increase the likelihood of an encounter with an animal.