More Goodies from the Woods

 No wonder I was so tired yesterday afternoon. I forgot that Gary and I held up this clump of trees so everyone could walk under it.

We saw several kinds of ferns, but I'm always a sucker for the Northern Maidenhair, Adiantum pedatum. These whorls are just perfect.

This is nothing special, but it's one of my favorite sedges, just because it's kind of showy. Carex intumescens.

Probably because the wind brought them down, we saw a lot of oak apple galls.

This one must be very new. The structure inside wasn't filled in like I usually see. For example this one

Here's another little oddity. This bracken fern should have 3 branches. But something has damaged the growth meristem. The frond that should have grown there is all bunched up. It looks kind of like "witches broom," but that usually only is found on woody plants. Like galls, this can be caused by more than one thing. Insect damage, a pathogen, a chemical. When you see something similar on goldenrod, it was probably caused by a midge or a fly making the plant create a chamber where its egg can grow. But I've never seen one on a fern before.

In other news, I edited big time. Minnesota is taking a lot of work. I had the data collected, but put it aside because I hadn't settled on a format that worked in all situations. But once I get Minnesota whipped into shape, everything east of there is pretty clean.

I also worked in my gardens for over an hour, total. I edit until I have to wiggle, then go outside for a while.

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