Jack Berninger provides this writeup of the Non-flowering Plant Hike he led on June 28.

The day started out wet but that was fortuitous. The Slime Molds and Fungi were reproducing. It was great to view these unusual organisms with both animal and fungi characteristics. We viewed some of the Green Algae found in the pond, under the microscope, and found several types. The ancestors of these Alga are the evolutionary parents of the Plant Kingdom that we see everyday. A short walk down the driveway led us to the Gymnosperms and a Ginkgo. A few of the small male cones were still on the Pines along with the larger female cones people collect. The Gingko, which was planted by Carl Wilms, is a beautiful maiden hair leaf, living fossil tree, once thought extinct until some cultivars were found in China. I hope it is a male tree as the female Ginkgo's seed cases smell quite undesirable.

We then entered the Wildflower Trail and found many of the ferns located at Mary Gray. The ferns are second only to flowering plants in species numbers. The reproductive spores were located on many of the ferns. These are not seeds, but are part of the unusual reproductive cycle of ferns. The Mosses were abundant and many were reproducing again by spores, not seeds. The stalk with a capsule grows from the female moss plant and the capsule contains the spores. Following lunch and good conversation we went in search of the three fern allies found at Mary Gray. The two Equisetums and the Lycopodium called Running Ground Pine were located.

The Sun was out and warming up by the end of the hike. We all experienced and learned a lot at our wonderful sanctuary.

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