Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park

I went camping over the weekend at Prarie Creek Redwoods State Park and I saw many species I have seen many times and also species I have never seen before, which is always a pleasant surprise.

The thalloid liverwort Conocephalum conicum

This is an old decaying fruiting body of Phaeolus schweinitzii that I found at the base of a Douglas Fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii). This fungus is a root/butt rotter and this tree will most likely fall over in the next few years depending on how extensive the rot is.

I was ecstatic when I found this rare species! This saprotrophic, achlorophyllous flower is called Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)because it looks somewhat like a pipe. There were 3 patches of them along the trail I was hiking.

The beautiful California Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)

Cladonia bellidiflora

A wild hazelnut fruit

Some gorgeous orange slash rotters with a poroid hymneophore that I saw in Fern Canyon

My old friend Fomitopsis pinicola. I was very ashamed of myself because I couldn't remember the name of this VERY common slash rotter for the longest time.

Peltigera neopolydactyla

Lobaria pulmonaria

Another saprotrophic, achlorophyllous flower I have never seen before called False Pink Asparagus (Hermitomes congestum)

I decided that this is the Coast Lily (Lilium maritimum)even though there are many other species of Lilium that look quite similar

I also finally noticed for the first time that there are tons of Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) growing in the park. I had only noticed them before as scrubby little sunlight deprived trees in the Arcata Community Forest.

Giant Puffballs

So unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the giant puffballs I encountered at the elementary school by my house in Northern California, but they were huge! The biggest one was probably 20 cm in diameter. There were three total. They were growing in a grass field. After a quick internet search I found the species Calvatia gigantia. The picture looks exactly like the ones I saw but it could be something different because the webpage says they are found in central to eastern US. But it does say that they grow in meadows. Here is the picture I saw on the webpage:

Very cool!