Day 245: As I have said repeatedly, last year was a banner year for the mycoheterotrophic species including the relatively uncommon Hemitomes congestum, aka Gnome Plant. Prior to last year, I had only found Hemitomes a handful of times in half a century of woodland ramblings, and those sightings were mostly of single, isolated specimens. However, in 2015, I discovered it in multiple locations for a total of over 100 individual plants. Following another mild winter, I predicted that we might again see an uptick in mycoheterotrophs, a prediction which was borne out at least in part by a record number of individuals (16!) for Corallorhiza trifida earlier in the year. I've been monitoring two known Hemitomes sites for the last month, and was elated to see them beginning to emerge in both locations just one week ago. So far, the count is only five in one site and one in the other, but I am confident more will burst through the forest duff following the next spell of warm weather.
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