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:  Needham82@aol.com                                     Author:     William Needham

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

                                                                                                         -  The Desiderata

New Article:  3 February 2012 Broom Moss

A. General Information and Articles Introduction Equipment Cold Weather Hiking Black-Legged Ticks and Lyme Disease Doctrine of Signatures Autumn Leaves Masting Behavior of Trees Lichens Lichens as Environmental Monitors 29 Nov. 2011 Climate - Carbon Cycle  3 Jan. 2010 Climate - The Greenhouse Effect Climate - Paleoclimate Energy Alternatives - Coal Energy Alternatives - Petroleum Energy Alternatives-Natural Gas 27 Dec 2010 Energy Alternatives - Nuclear Mushroom Chronicles B. Wildflowers Alpine Wildflowers Aster 7 Nov. 2011 Bee Balm Bellwort Black-eyed Susan & Green Coneflower Bloodroot Bluets Bulbous Buttercup Chicory Coltsfoot 21 Feb. 2010 Columbine Common Mullein Cut-Leaved Toothwort Dutchman's Breeches & Squirrel Corn Dwarf Iris Goldenrod Heal-All Hepatica Marsh Marigold Narcissus Pink Lady's Slipper Queen Anne's Lace Showy Orchis Solomon's Seal Spiderwort Spring Beauty Trailing Arbutus Trillium Trout Lily Violet Viper's Bugloss Virginia Bluebells Wild Geranium  17 Jun 2010 Wood Anemone 21 Mar 2011 Woodland Sunflower C. Trees and Shrubs American Beech American Chestnut Black Birch Black Cherry Black Locust Black Walnut Chestnut Oak Dogwood Mountain Ash Northern Red Oak Osage Orange Pawpaw Pignut Hickory Pinxter Flower Redbud Red Maple Royal Paulownia Sassafras Revised 2 Oct, 2010 Serviceberry Revised 27 Apr 2011 Shagbark Hickory Sugar Maple Sumac Sycamore Tulip Poplar Tupelo Umbrella Magnolia White Oak Witch Hazel Yellow Birch D. Evergreens and Ferns American Holly Balsam Fir Boxwood Bracken Fern Broom Moss New 3 Feb 2012 Christmas Fern Cinnamon Fern Club Moss Eastern Hemlock Eastern Red Cedar Eastern White Pine Horsetail Maidenhair Fern Mountain Laurel Norway Spruce Pitch Pine Polypody Fern RedSpruce 27 January, 2011 Rhododendron Table Mountain Pine Virginia Pine Wood Ferns E. Other Plants Black Cohosh Blue Cohosh Burdock Canada Thistle Cleavers Dandelion Devil's Walking Stick False Hellebore Fly Poison Rev 21 June 2011 Garlic Mustard Ground Ivy Indian Cucumber Root Indian Pipe Rev 5 Apr 2010 Joe-Pye Weed Kudzu 12 October 2011 Mayapple Milkweed Mistletoe Plantain Poison Ivy Purple Deadnettle & Henbit Ramp Skunk Cabbage Spotted Jewelweed Spotted Knapweed Squawroot Stinging Nettle Sweet Cicely and Aniseroot White Snakeroot Wild Ginger Wild Indigo 5 Aug 2010

F. Fungi, Lichens and Slime molds Artist's Conk Beefsteak Fungus Birch Polypore 3 Feb. 2010 Boletus Edulis 25 May 2011 British Soldier Lichen Chanterelle Clinker Polypore or Chaga Destroying Angel 17 May 2010 Dryad's Saddle Elegant Stinkhorn Fly Agaric/Amanita muscaria  18 Nov, 2010 Giant Puffball Hemlock Polypore Hen-of-the-Woods Honey Mushroom Jack O'Lantern 27 Aug 2010 Lion's Mane Many-Headed Slime Meadow Mushroom Morel Oyster Mushroom Pear Puffball Reindeer Lichen Rock Tripe Russula Revised 22 February 2011 Sulphur Shelf Revised 19 August 2011 Tinder Polypore Trametes Versicolor Revised 19 Aug 2011 Witches' Broom Witches' Butter Wood Ear G. Invertebrates American Carrion Beetle Bald-Faced Hornet's Nest Black and Yellow Argiope Spider Black-Legged Tick Brown Garden Snail Bumblebee 27 Apr 2010 Cabbage White Butterfly Cicada Crayfish Daddy-Long-Legs Dragonfly Eastern Tent Caterpillar Firefly 31 July 2011 Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly Gypsy Moth Ladybird Beetle Luna Moth Millipede Monarch Butterfly Mourning Cloak Butterfly Northern Walkingstick Oak Gall Praying Mantis Red Spotted Purple Butterfly Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Tumblebug Wolf Spider Wood Tick Woolly Adelgid Woolly Bear Caterpillar H. Vertebrates Black Bear Black Rat Snake Black Vulture Bobcat Box Turtle Canada Goose Chipmunk Common Garter Snake Copperhead Snake Cottontail Rabbit Coyote Eastern American Toad Eastern Fence Lizard Eastern Gray Squirrel Five-Lined Skink Groundhog Mallard Opossum Painted Turtle Raccoon 24 Jan, 2010 Raven  21 Mar, 2010 Red-Backed Salamander Red Fox Red Spotted Newt 5 Jul 2010 Ruffed Grouse Skunk  28 Oct, 2010 Timber Rattlesnake Turkey Vulture White-Tailed Deer Wild Turkey Wood Frog Wood Turtle I. Berries and Fruits Apple Baneberry 14 Sep, 2010 Bittersweet Black Raspberry Blackberry Blueberry Chokecherry Elderberry Fox Grape Gooseberry Ginseng Honeysuckle Huckleberry Indian Strawberry Jack-in-the-Pulpit MountainWinterberry Mulberry Partridgeberry Persimmon Pokeweed or Inkberry Russian and Autumn Olive Spicebush Strawberry Wintergreen J. Geology and Earth Science Catoctin Formation Chilhowee Group Columnar Jointing Massanutten Sandstone Meandering Rivers Needle Ice Old Rag Granite Pedlar Formation Plate Tectonics Skolithos Ichnofossil Tuscarora Formation