American holly (Ilex opaca) on the Cabin John Trail

After two weeks battling a sinus infection, I finally felt well enough to go for a hike. Well, more of a walk. As I’ve written before, the Cabin John Trail is treacherous: an over-used trail with poor footing in many places. But, I almost always find something worthwhile, if I take the time to poke around and really look at things.

And so it was yesterday. I knew I’d find a lot of Christmas fern, but went with the goal of finding something else – and I did, after scrambling about in a dryish seasonal watercourse. Look for a post about that fern in another few days.

After that I went to a section I call Erica Alley. It’s a very rocky slope with a high concentration of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and big stands of rock polypody. There I found several small stands of spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata, another ericaceous plant), which thrills me because I failed to find it near Carderock this year. And then, poking about, I found something completely new. And something old that required re-inspection.

I don’t carry ID books with me. Whenever I have a book, I end up plopping my butt down and reading for 20 minutes. I’m too easily distracted by “dictionary syndrome”. So I take pictures, but often fail to get the right pictures for a definitive ID. At least I’ve narrowed them down to the correct genus. Perhaps if the weather’s good today I’ll go out again, this time with the ID books, dammit.

If you see a middle-aged woman reading a book on the Cabin John Trail, say hi.