The Hiker's Notebook©

 

A compendium of interesting natural and cultural facts about things you commonly see on the trails in the southern Appalachian Mountain region including wildflowers, trees, ferns, plants, fungi, animals, and berries. General information and articles on hiking and on environmental issues and their attendant effects. Updated monthly.  If you wish to recommend a subject for an article or have some feedback:  [email protected]                                     Author:     William Needham

 

 

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence

                                                                                                                      -  The Desiderata

 

 

                                      Revised Article:  18 November  2010 Amanita muscaria

 

 

A. General Information and Articles

  1. Introduction

  2. Equipment

  3. Cold Weather Hiking

  4. Black-Legged Ticks and Lyme Disease

  5. Doctrine of Signatures

  6. Autumn Leaves

  7. Masting Behavior of Trees

  8. Lichens

  9. Climate - Carbon Cycle  3 Jan. 2010

  10. Climate - The Greenhouse Effect

  11. Climate - Paleoclimate

  12. Energy Alternatives - Coal

  13. Energy Alternatives - Petroleum

  14. Energy Alternatives - Nuclear

  15. Mushroom Chronicles

 

B. Wildflowers

 

 

Alpine Wildflowers

  1. Bee Balm

  2. Bellwort

  3. Black-eyed Susan & Green Coneflower

  4. Bloodroot

  5. Bluets

  6. Bulbous Buttercup

  7. Chicory

  8. Coltsfoot  21 Feb. 2010

  9. Columbine

  10. Common Mullein

  11. Cut-Leaved Toothwort

  12. Dutchman's Breeches & Squirrel Corn

  13. Dwarf Iris

  14. Goldenrod

  15. Heal-All

  16. Hepatica

  17. Marsh Marigold

  18. Narcissus

  19. Pink Lady's Slipper

  20. Queen Anne's Lace

  21. Showy Orchis

  22. Solomon's Seal

  23. Spiderwort

  24. Spring Beauty

  25. Trailing Arbutus

  26. Trillium

  27. Trout Lily

  28. Violet

  29. Viper's Bugloss

  30. Virginia Bluebells

  31. White Wood Aster

  32. Wild Geranium  17 Jun 2010

  33. Woodland Sunflower

 

C. Trees and Shrubs

  1. American Beech

  2. American Chestnut

  3. Black Birch

  4. Black Cherry

  5. Black Locust

  6. Black Walnut

  7. Chestnut Oak

  8. Dogwood

  9. Mountain Ash

  10. Northern Red Oak

  11. Osage Orange

  12. Pawpaw

  13. Pignut Hickory

  14. Pinxter Flower

  15. Redbud

  16. Red Maple

  17. Royal Paulownia

  18. Sassafras  Revised 2 Oct, 2010

  19. Serviceberry

  20. Shagbark Hickory

  21. Sugar Maple

  22. Sumac

  23. Sycamore

  24. Tulip Poplar

  25. Tupelo

  26. Umbrella Magnolia

  27. White Oak

  28. Witch Hazel

  29. Yellow Birch

 

D. Evergreens and Ferns

  1. American Holly

  2. Balsam Fir

  3. Boxwood

  4. Bracken Fern

  5. Christmas Fern

  6. Cinnamon Fern

  7. Club Moss

  8. Eastern Hemlock

  9. Eastern Red Cedar

  10. Eastern White Pine

  11. Horsetail

  12. Maidenhair Fern

  13. Mountain Laurel

  14. Norway Spruce

  15. Pitch Pine

  16. Polypody Fern

  17. Rhododendron

  18. Table Mountain Pine

  19. Virginia Pine

  20. Wood Ferns

 

E. Other Plants

  1. Black Cohosh

  2. Blue Cohosh

  3. Burdock

  4. Canada Thistle

  5. Cleavers

  6. Dandelion

  7. Devil's Walking Stick

  8. False Hellebore

  9. Fly Poison

  10. Garlic Mustard

  11. Ground Ivy

  12. Indian Cucumber Root

  13. Indian Pipe Rev 5 Apr 2010

  14. Joe-Pye Weed

  15. Mayapple

  16. Milkweed

  17. Mistletoe

  18. Plantain

  19. Poison Ivy

  20. Purple Deadnettle & Henbit

  21. Ramp

  22. Skunk Cabbage

  23. Spotted Jewelweed

  24. Spotted Knapweed

  25. Squawroot

  26. Stinging Nettle

  27. Sweet Cicely and Aniseroot

  28. White Snakeroot

  29. Wild Ginger

  30. Wild Indigo 5 Aug 2010

F. Fungi, Lichens and Slime molds

  1. Artist's Conk

  2. Beefsteak Fungus

  3. Birch Polypore  3 Feb. 2010

  4. British Soldier Lichen

  5. Chanterelle

  6. Clinker Polypore or Chaga

  7. Destroying Angel 17 May 2010

  8. Dryad's Saddle

  9. Elegant Stinkhorn

  10. Fly Agaric/Amanita muscaria  18 Nov, 2010

  11. Giant Puffball

  12. Hemlock Polypore

  13. Hen-of-the-Woods

  14. Honey Mushroom

  15. Jack O'Lantern 27 Aug 2010

  16. Lion's Mane

  17. Many-Headed Slime

  18. Meadow Mushroom 

  19. Morel

  20. Oyster Mushroom

  21. Pear Puffball

  22. Reindeer Lichen

  23. Rock Tripe

  24. Russula

  25. Sulphur Shelf

  26. Tinder Polypore

  27. Turkey Tail

  28. Witches' Broom

  29. Witches' Butter

  30. Wood Ear

 

G. Invertebrates

  1. American Carrion Beetle

  2. Bald-Faced Hornet's Nest

  3. Black and Yellow Argiope Spider

  4. Black-Legged Tick

  5. Brown Garden Snail

  6. Bumblebee 27 Apr 2010

  7. Cabbage White Butterfly

  8. Cicada

  9. Crayfish

  10. Daddy-Long-Legs

  11. Dragonfly

  12. Eastern Tent Caterpillar

  13. Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly

  14. Gypsy Moth

  15. Ladybird Beetle

  16. Luna Moth

  17. Millipede

  18. Monarch Butterfly

  19. Mourning Cloak Butterfly

  20. Northern Walkingstick

  21. Oak Gall

  22. Praying Mantis

  23. Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

  24. Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

  25. Tumblebug

  26. Wolf Spider

  27. Wood Tick

  28. Woolly Adelgid

  29. Woolly Bear Caterpillar

 

H. Vertebrates

  1. Black Bear

  2. Black Rat Snake

  3. Black Vulture

  4. Bobcat

  5. Box Turtle

  6. Canada Goose

  7. Chipmunk

  8. Common Garter Snake

  9. Copperhead Snake

  10. Cottontail Rabbit

  11. Coyote

  12. Eastern American Toad

  13. Eastern Fence Lizard

  14. Eastern Gray Squirrel

  15. Five-Lined Skink

  16. Groundhog

  17. Mallard

  18. Opossum

  19. Painted Turtle

  20. Raccoon   24 Jan, 2010

  21. Raven  21 Mar, 2010

  22. Red-Backed Salamander

  23. Red Fox

  24. Red Spotted Newt 5 Jul 2010

  25. Ruffed Grouse

  26. Skunk  28 Oct, 2010

  27. Timber Rattlesnake

  28. Turkey Vulture

  29. White-Tailed Deer

  30. Wild Turkey

  31. Wood Frog

  32. Wood Turtle

 

I. Berries and Fruits

  1. Apple

  2. Baneberry 14 Sep, 2010

  3. Bittersweet

  4. Black Raspberry

  5. Blackberry

  6. Blueberry
  7. Chokecherry
  8. Elderberry
  9. Fox Grape
  10. Gooseberry
  11. Ginseng
  12. Honeysuckle
  13. Huckleberry
  14. Indian Strawberry
  15. Jack-in-the-Pulpit
  16. MountainWinterberry
  17. Mulberry
  18. Partridgeberry
  19. Persimmon
  20. Pokeweed or Inkberry
  21. Russian and Autumn Olive
  22. Spicebush
  23. Strawberry
  24. Wintergreen

J. Geology and Earth Science

  1. Catoctin Formation

  2. Chilhowee Group

  3. Columnar Jointing

  4. Massanutten Sandstone

  5. Meandering Rivers

  6. Needle Ice

  7. Old Rag Granite

  8. Pedlar Formation

  9. Plate Tectonics

  10. Skolithos Ichnofossil

  11. Tuscarora Formation

 

 

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