I was out walking in a favorite park and noticed that a downed madrone had sprouted a huge collection of small shelf fungi. I looked up in my guide at home and think it may be Trametes Versicolor. (If someone knows different, please let us know.) Regardless, I was surprised a little because I hadn’t seen fungi on a madrone before. And this variety certainly liked what it found on this decaying log. For reference, below is a healthy specimen of Madrone located a short distance away.
Most of the forest in western Washington is Doug Fir and Hemlock … they typically have a pretty vertical growth pattern. On the other hand, is the Pacific Madrone, winding its limbs in sinuous patterns. Maybe that’s why they attract my attention.
Above is one of my favorite trees. It’s a madrone that is at Fort Worden State Park (one of my favorite locations for photography). I really like this tree for its symmetry and fully formed shape. So many madrone have non-symmetrical shapes due to their neighbors blocking light. This one has been able to grown in an open area for years and years.
Below is a magnificent Douglas Fir that is along the Ira Spring Wetlands trail in the Bogachiel Rainforest, just outside the Olympic National Park. You can barely see the opening into the interior of the trunk … too small for an adult, but I’m sure small kids and animals frequent the small area. I was sorry that the opening was such that I couldn’t get a good view of it.
Late fall has the madrone around Fort Worden losing their bark (well, they are losing something all year round, it seems). It adds some variation in the colors.
Images shot on Kodak Portra 400 with a Nikon F100.
I really like Madrone … as long as they are in the park, like this one. I have a couple small ones in the green belt along my yard and they are continually dropping leaves or bark into the yard. It isn’t just in the autumn … seems to always be something. Better they live in the park and don’t generate so much raking.
They are pretty, though.