Father Pitt thinks this large bracket fungus looks like Polyporus squamosus, the Pheasant’s Back or Dryad’s Saddle. He would be delighted to be corrected by someone who understands the fungus world. It was growing on a fallen log in the Kane Woods Nature Area, Scott Township.
The Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel is named for the vast drifts of trilliums that grow in the woods there. There are two species: the Great White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum, and the Wake-Robin, Trillium erectum. The Great White is, as you might expect, white (though occasionally pale pink); the Wake-Robin has several color forms, of which red is the usual in most of its range, but white dominates in the Pittsburgh area.
Father Pitt’s best pictures of wildflowers always end up at Flora Pittsburghensis, which you should certainly see right now if you like spring flowers.
Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum).
White, red, pink, and yellow forms of the Wake-Robin (Trillium erectum).
It requires very little imagination to see why young fern leaves are called “fiddleheads.” This one was unrolling in late April along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
A last glimpse of bare trees; in a week or so they will all have leafed out.
A small cave in a hillside in the Allegheny Cemetery. The worn path from the entrance indicates use by some animal—and indeed it would seem to be an irresistible shelter.
