miss_fortune's Favourites
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Red Oaks (Section Lobatae)Observer
corsontreeserviceDescription
Unusual red oak that I suspect to be the unnamed hybrid Quercus coccinea × falcata.
This tree caught my eye because its drooping leaves were reminiscent of southern red oak, but they were not turning the characteristic chocolate brown of that species and had an irregular shape.
The upper canopy leaves, despite favoring southern red oak, especially with the deep yellow petioles, were entirely glabrous besides small tufts of hair in the vein axes. The petioles and twigs were also glabrous. Only the bud scales remain densely hairy.
The lower canopy leaves, however, look very uncharacteristic for southern red oak. They're closer to the lower canopy leaves of black oak, or perhaps enlarged versions of the lower leaves of scarlet oak. They're also hairy on the underside, with the hairs clustered in the vein axes but also sparsely distributed over the whole leaf surface. This hair distribution is very similar to that of Garland's oak, another southern red oak hybrid. The lower twigs and petioles are also pubescent.
Few acorn remains were present and only one that seemed well-developed and intact. The cup has loose scales that resemble black oak, but they're rather wide and cover most of the nut as with scarlet oak.
The only mature red oaks in the immediate vicinity were scarlet oak, but southern red oak and black oak are abundant in the general area.
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Georgia Seaside Alder (Alnus maritima ssp. georgiensis)Observer
douggoldmanDescription
Alnus maritima subsp. georgiensis J.A. Schrad. & W.R. Graves
The third photo compares A. maritima (1) to A. serrulata (2), which were growing together at this site.
My thanks to Joel McNeal for bringing me to this site.
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Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina ssp. bauri)Observer
miss_fortunePlace
Missing Location
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North American Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga ssp. leucogaster)Observer
miss_fortune
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Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus)Observer
remileDescription
African people do not like snakes!
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Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)Observer
safronDescription
First record of Longleaf Pine in Simpson Co since this record in 1964: https://sernecportal.org/portal/collections/individual/index.php?occid=5868934
The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company was established to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine (Pinus palustris L.) stands of southern Mississippi during the early 20th century. The main sawmills were located in Wiggins and D'Lo, Mississippi. In July 1915, the Finkbine Lumber Company began construction at D'Lo, Simpson County, of an all electric sawmill containing two band saws, a gang saw and a resaw. When operations began in July 1916, this mill had a cutting capacity of 200,000 feet in 10 hours. The timber supply extended over parts of Simpson, Rankin, Smith and Scott counties, running east from D'Lo for about 50 miles. About August 1927 the supply of pine was cut out, after which the mill switched to cutting redwood shipped from the Finkbine-Guild mill in California through the Panama Canal to Gulfport.
The D'Lo mill cut out for good in August 1929, and the Longleaf Pine-the dominant tree in the county that provided shelter for thousands of species, started to be forgotten. A lost relic of an ecosystem once prominent, This tree is a survivor, likely being a descendant of those first trees that were cut.
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North Sea Tube Anemone (Synarachnactis lloydii)Observer
rusevaDescription
Hundreds of larvae found during some mass occurrence event.
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Eastern Black Bear (Ursus americanus ssp. americanus)Observer
astrobirderDescription
The only large black hairy thing in the woods around here
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Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)Observer
graytreefrogDescription
Adult male found under a log near a sinkhole pond. My first lifer herp of the decade. Extremely exciting to find this very rare species in VA!
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Eastern Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus ssp. zibethicus)Observer
dongminsungDescription
Confirm?
