Could this be the King Bolete?

The mushroom that I suspect may be a king bolete (Boletus edulis).  The quarter is for scale.

       Whenever I walk, run, or bike around town, I always glance along the roadsides looking for interesting wildlife, plants, or wild edibles.  Today I went on a short ride to check on an old muscadine vine and along the way I noticed a nice looking mushroom.  There is a possibility that it is a king bolete (Boletus edulis).  I am somewhat familiar with them, but I have never seen one in this region before.  King boletes out west have yellow spore tubes.  The tubes on this mushroom were tan, but they might just be young.  There were a few smaller mushrooms around.  I'll let them mature longer than this one and see if the tubes turn yellow.  Mushrooms can vary greatly from region to region so I wanted to make sure this is indeed a king bolete.  I contacted my brother, a hobbyist mushroom forager, and he thinks it is a king bolete too, but he is more familiar with mushrooms of the intermountain west.  I also contacted my former roommate and coworker who is also a skilled mushroom forager.  He said, "it could be...there are a lot of other boletes in the southeast though."  He also informed me that the general rule with boletes is Do Not Eat any that bruise blue or have red spores.  With mushrooms (and plants), it is important to be sure of what you are eating so he suggested I contact a local expert.  I am taking his advice.  A quick google search led me to contact the University of West Florida Mycology Club.  Hopefully somebody from the club will be able to share some knowledge, but I am also curious to hear from any readers who have experience with mushrooms of the Gulf coast.  Do you think it is a king bolete?  Identifying characteristics are listed below.

Policeman

I got drunk and fell on the floor this morning

I got drunk and fell on the floor this morning

I got drunk and fell on the floor

It was good corn liquor and I want some more, this morning!

-verse from the old time song, "Policeman".

 

      My friend recently posted an old version of this song on facebook.  He tagged me and then wrote something about how the song was inspired by our adventure.  The lyrics are about a guy getting arrested so naturally people jokingly asked if we had a run in with the police.  Sorry but there is no exciting arrest story to tell.  The truth is we were just out gigging and this song just happened to pop into my head.  We both sang it throughout our adventure thus inspiring John to post it online.  John's posting inspired me to learn it so here it is.  I learned it by ear but it's a pretty simple tune so it didn't take long.  As usual it will be some time before I can sing and play this song at the same time.  When I can, I'll post an update.

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

A flowering white-topped pitcher plant (Sarracenia leucophylla).  If you could actually look closely at the inside of the pitcher, you would notice downward pointing hairs, called spicules, that allow insects to go down the pitcher but make it very hard for them to climb or fly up.

      Florida is a great place to be a naturalist.  There is such a wide variety of habitats resulting in a wide variety of species that can be found.  If you have read this blog before, you know that I work with fish but, I am also a a hobby-botanist.  During this time of year, I can't help but notice all the flowers that are blooming and plants that are leafing out.  While on a short walk the other day, I noticed this white-topped pitcher plant so I snapped a few photos.  These plants used to very common in my my neighborhood but there aren't that many these days.  Fire suppression, habitat destruction, nutrient and herbicide runoff, and over-harvesting are all threats to pitcher plants.  If you want to learn more, check out this link.  Florida has some other carnivorous plants, including other species of pitcher plants and some species that aren't pitcher plants.  I have a few photos of them too.  Maybe I'll write some posts about them.

Flounder Are Back!

John and the first flounder he ever gigged.  You can see that his predatory instincts have taken over.

      It's time to sharpen your gigs and hit the water; The flounder are back!  I went out last night with my friend, John Dougherty, and we found our first fish in about 40 minutes.  He was in about 1.5' of water next to some inundated cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).  John had been with me on less productive trips and was sick this November, so he had never gigged a fish.  I let him make his first kill and he was hooked.  There is something about gigging a fish that taps into your primordial, predatory instincts, and John liked connecting with his primitive roots.  As the fish thrashed and tried to escape, I scolded John for using his left hand to hold a beer rather than retrieve his fish.  I solved the issue by finishing the beer and stashing the empty bottle in my pack.  With a decent 18" flounder, we checked the rest of the cordgrass and then departed for a new location.  We picked up his friend on the way and prepared for more gigging.  We saw some porcupine fish and even some spawning horseshoe crabs.  I often saw horseshoe crabs around St. Teresa, FL, but I haven't seen many near Pensacola.  It was neat to see them cruising the shallows looking for mates.  Next we spotted squid stealthily darting through the water.  They were tough to see, but we caught one.  Finally, after much more walking, we spotted a very camouflage flounder.  I gigged him in the head.  We never measured him, but he was bigger than the first.  By the end of the night, we had two decent flounder, some crabs and some squid.  There aren't a lot of flounder yet, but more will come
     We didn't get a lot of fish, but the night was a success because I helped John gig his first fish.  He must have really liked it.  In fact, I just spent the last few hours helping John make his own gigging light, and then he tried to convince me to go tonight, despite the gusty conditions.   If you are interested in gigging, check out some of my other posts under the "fishing" label.  This one explains what equipment you need, and I'll soon write posts about where to go, and how to make your own light.

Teaberry: American Wintergreen

American winterberry, or Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens), a great trailside nibble.

       Last week, I spent some time with my grandparents in Pennsylvania and I learned of an herb that they called teaberry.  I was told that even in winter, the leaves of the evergreen plant remain, so I thought there was a chance that I could still find some.  However, teaberry did not appear in any of my books, so I didn't even know exactly what to look for.  With a few inches of fresh snow on the ground, and more falling, I laced up my boots and trudged out into the old field adjacent to my grandparent's house.  In no time at all, I found a small, evergreen plant, that had a slight scent of wintergreen.  This was the plant!  What I did not expect were the many red, persistent fruit that had set in the summer, still clinging to the plant just inches above the frozen ground.

Fall On My Knees

I never would've kissed

Your red rosy lips

Never heard your lying tongue, little girl

Never heard your lying tongue

 

      Another banjo tune! Unlike the videos I've posted in the past, this one was recorded with actual recording equipment (i.e. not an iphone or point and shoot camera). My cousin Duane was responsible for the excellent recording and took great care to make sure the multiple microphones were positioned in the perfect places to pick up both of our instruments and voices. It was a lot of fun to record on real equipment, although it took me a little while before I got used to all the microphones. Once I forget that the microphones were there, everything came together.
      This song is a blast to play thanks to it's upbeat tempo.  To me, this song is all about the energy and drive so I try to emphasize the rhythm rather than the melody.  I didn't play any intricate melody in this song and for the most part I stuck to the basic bum-ditty banjo lick.  Duane also did a great job contributing to the rhythm with his percussive guitar techniques.
      I also finally built up the confidence to sing with my banjo, a skill that many banjo players encourage to new players. I took their advice and it not only added another dimension to my songs, but also made playing a whole lot more fun. If you are learning the banjo, give it a try. Nobody cares if you make a few mistakes. This is old fashioned folk music, not refined, auto-tuned and artificial pop music. In the end, I think Duane and I did pretty well, and we both had a blast creating some foot-stompin' music

Hearts

      This is a little late, but I have not had internet access so I'm posting it today as opposed to Tuesday.  Since we just had Valentine's Day, the classic image of a heart is fresh in many people's minds.  Although real hearts don't look anything like that there are many other things in nature that do.

The cross-section of this pignut hickory (Carya glabra) seed has a nice heart shape.  Others liken the shape to a pig's nose, hence the common name.

Spring Time in the Southeast

      It is with great irony that I am writing this post because it is snowing outside right now.  However, I'm in Baltimore, not the southeast, and on my drive up here I was able to see the early signs of spring.  Last Friday, I was camping in Blackwater State forest (N. Florida) and the sparkleberries (Vaccinium arboreum) were already in bloom!  Even way back in  January I spotted a "confused" elderberry plant that was flowering.  Normally, I don't see them until early summer.  I was also surprised to see the dewberries (Rubus trivialis) are blooming too.  As long as we don't get a late frost, we should have plenty for eating, making jams, and fermenting into wine or mead.  The fragrant black titis (Cliftonia monophylla) that normally bloom in late February or March are also starting to bloom in wetlands and along roadside ditches.  Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are blooming in hardwood forests and residential areas. Cultivated plants such as Chinese magnolias, red buds, Bradford pears and evens some azaleas are blooming along city streets and in suburban yards.

Dewberries (Rubus trivialis) are blooming early this year.  Pay attention to where you see these flowers because sweet and tart fruit will replace the flowers in late spring (Photo by Jonathan Bollhoefer).

Fish or Fishes

Three fish but two fishes (i.e. mullet and speckled trout).

      In case you didn't know..."Fish" can be singular (e.g. "look at that fish over there") or plural (e.g. "look at those fish over there"). "Fishes", on the other hand, is plural but it refers to the number of species (not individuals of fish.  For example, if you caught a bass and a catfish, you could say, "Look at these fishes!"  If you caught two bass you would say "Look at these fish!"  Of course, fishes could also be used to describe the act of fishing (in the third person, singular present tense) such as "He fishes everyday."  Anyway, I just figured I would clear this up because I'll be using both words when I write about fish and fishes.

Lapse in Posts

      I received a message from a concerned reader who noted that I have not updated the blog lately.  Apparently he needs something to read at work.  Although I do not officially condone reading my blog at work  (feel free to pass the link on to your coworkers) I will try to get some more posts up by tonight or tomorrow at the latest.  I have not been neglecting my readers.  I have actually been on a marathon drive this week, and the week before I was having issues booting up my 2007 PC.