Capturing photographs and videos on the fly using an Iphone, we visited Fillmore Glen State Park, Moravia, New York with our granddaughter, Nia. This is the sixth post of this series. Click me for the first post, “The Space Station and the Waterfall.”
Click any photograph for a larger view.

Green upon green upon green, a thousand shades of green grace the gorge of Dry Creek (“Fillmore Glen”) in summertime. Pictured above is another example of a fallen green left to return to earth. Yet the careful observer will notice spots of red.

Solomon Seal NOT
Walking the level the these red might be overlooked hanging sparsely under nodding branches. From the leaf shape you may wrongly identify this as Solomon’s Seal. This specimen, growing on a shale ledge of the glen, reveals sparse red fruit, not the plentiful dark blue of Solomon’s Seal. This is Rose Twisted-Stalk (Streptopus roseus), a member of the Lily family. The two are often found close together. I found no Solomon’s Seal this trip.

Cranberry?
The moss beneath the Rose Twisted-Stalk is plentiful here beneath the constantly dripping porous shale glen wall, mini swamps. I am not confident enough to following identification to each the red fruit. From the damp location and leaf shape I am guessing this to be mountain- cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). The first photograph of this posting is an overview.

A shallow grotto
Finely layer shale in the following photograph is sediment eroded over 50 million years from the Arcadian Mountains, washed into the shallow inland sea of the Appalachian Basin. We see here a transition between fine, fragile shale and another, harder, durable sedimentary rock, limestone. There was a stone on the otherwise flat surface of the limestone around which the sediments forming the shale grew.
We see the detail because here is a persistent, sparse spring. The trail builds created a well here to carry the outflow, preventing trail erosion.

I have never seen Rose Twisted Stalk (that I know of), it may not grow in humid southern climates, though Solomon’s seal is practically invasive it does so well here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This wiildflower needs cool, acidic soils. You might find it in mountains in the south, don’t know. Thanks for this insight, ekurie.
LikeLike
You have succeeded in taking beautiful photos of a lot of greenery, whenever I attempt to do something similar I end up with a lot of greenery that isn’t very interesting to look at!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have an abundance of interesting green stuff here in the Finger Lakes, Emma. Thanks for looking and the compliment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So green!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
a cool place on hot summer days.
LikeLike
Michael, I always appreciate your photography as well as the details you share.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comments such as this are very welcome, bigsky. Thank You.
LikeLiked by 1 person