365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Candystick, Allotropa Virgata
Day 244: Without a shadow of doubt, Candystick (Allotropa virgata) is one of the most unusual plants you will find in Pacific Northwestern forests. This mycoheterotrophic species resembles nothing quite so much as a stick of peppermint candy with its red and white stripes, and like many of Mount Rainier National Park's other mycoheterotrophs, it is appearing in abundance this year, and in places where this observer has not previously seen it. These specimens were photographed in the Longmire Stewardship Campground on June 13, 2015. Other clusters of a dozen or more spikes, some a foot tall or more, were noted within the space of approximately one acre.
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