A "mosquioto-y" filled walk late in the month through the woods at Mer Bleue produced a few fungii, emerging ferns, a few "normal" flowers and an abundance of "abnormal" flowers - Indian Pipes (aka indian Pipestems)
A coral fungus was a one of the fingii. (I should have shaded the fungus when taking its photo)
A tree was hosting two fungii
A years-ago fallen tree had a small round mushroom growing on it. No other mushrooms around to be seen. Too early and too dry I think.
What did catch my eye was young ferns, still in the fiddlehead stage. The area has a lot of ferns and has boardwalks through wet areas. The new ferns were along side the boardwalks. My guess was that the wet areas, with our summer weather, had dried up and ferns were having a chance to grow,
There were a few very tall slender plants, some over 6 feet, growing in a few areas. My PlantNet app on my phone told me it was Tall BLue Lettuce. Not like any lettuce I'd seen - I thought it was a thistle of some sort.
There was lots of Queen Anne's Lace in bloom along with a few other wild flowers. The purple loosestrife stood out.
Having unexpectedly seen Indian Pipes earlier in the month in the Lanark Walk in the Woods, I was on the lookout for it. In these woods there is a 50 yard/metre section of trail that has many, many Indian Pipe plants. They usually show up at the end of July/early August. I found some, and more
Indian Pipe is often thought of as a mushroom, however it is perennial, but lacks chlorophyll. I have "a thing" for it and go overboard looking for it.
Most plants are about 6-8 inches (15-20cm) tall and mainly white, some have black markings.
Each stem has a single flower on its top. You have look closely to see it. The flower points down when first growing, then gradually bends upward and by the time the plants is finished, it is pointing straight up.
The plants come up in small clumps, or singly. This stretch of pathway has many clumps. (There are 20 clumps in the left hand photo)
The plants force there way up through the leaf litter. So one looks for the tell-tale humps indicating a new plant is starting
And up come the plants through the leaf litter
A few (too many more?) photos of various plants
Sometimes they remind me of a pony or a seahorse
Same plant from different perspectives
I am not sure what was going with this one, but it sure was a mess
The remains of a plant from last year
