Duff Park

I heard that Duff Park in Murrysville is a great spot for wildflowers. So my son and I headed there on May 4 to see what we could see. We did a loop hike to the summit of Round Top. It was lovely!

We did not see a ton of variety. It might just have been the day or the trails we chose. But we did see blankets of trilliums, lots of glamorous millipedes, and many large clumps of bear corn, which was a first for me! 

This unusual plant is a parasite that gets its nutrients from fungi, which in turn get nutrients from the roots of oak trees. Since it does not need to do photosynthesis, it does not produce leaves. It does send up flower stalks, and these are pretty strange. Because of their dependence on oak root fungi, they can't be transplanted. They won't just grow anywhere and they would inevitably die if their trees were cut down. So they are perhaps more vulnerable to habitat loss than many other plants. 

Bear corn.

Orchard orbweaver spider.

Wake robin.

Mayapple.

This red velvet mite so captured my eye, I didn't notice until I looked at the photos later that there was a millipede in the picture too! I think it's a juvenile Apheloria virginiensis. 

Golden ragwort.

Trillium.

Bear corn.

Wake robin.

False Solomon's seal.

Wake robin.

Dead bear corn.

Wake robin.

Apheloria virginiensis,  cyanide millipedes.

Spring beauty seed pods.

Violets.

This looks like a flower, but it's a violet going to seed.

Golden ragwort.

American giant millipede.

I just loved the texture of these leaves.

Lovely lichen.

Insect galls.

Apheloria virginiensis, a cyanide millipede.