Blog post #6: Fungi Field Trip to Pine Ridge Park

On Friday October 27th while visiting Pine Ridge Park the weather was sunny, however it was pretty cold in the park because of the shade from the trees. The field location had forest like terrain and it was a very shaded area. It seemed to be very lush and there were a wide variety of organisms within the park. It had numerous pathways and some pond area. It was not a flat area and had different slopes throughout the park. The first organism observed was a western hemlock, also known as tsuga heterophylla (shown in picture #1). It was located off to the side of a trail and it was surrounded by other trees. It also seemed to me that it is not fully grown because it was quite small. I mainly tried to identify it based on the needles. Western hemlocks have short, flat, blunt, and widely unregularly spaced needles which seemed to be what that tree had. They are also shade tolerant trees and this one was in an area with a lot of shade. Next, I observed a Salmonberry bush, also known as Rubus spectabilis (shown in picture #2). It was located on the side of the trail and was somewhat close to a pond. Although it did not have any berries on it I was able to identify it from the leaves. The leaves were sharply toothed, dark-green, and alternate all of which are traits of a salmonberry. They also grow in moist to wet places and because it was near a pond that also helped me to identify. Lastly I identified the prince mushroom, also known as Agaricus augustus (shown in picture #3). It was located of the side of a trail under a tree and had some blades of grass around it. They are normally found in forests, meadows, often in disturbed sites, along trails, or roads. I found this one in a forest along a trail so that helped me to identify it. Additionally, they can have a yellowish brown color on top and this one had a brownish top. 

                           Picture #1 Western Hemlock                                        Picture #2 Salmonberry

Picture #3 The Prince 

Drawings

Sketch of the Location

Western Hemlock                                        Salmonberry                                          The Prince