Snow!

Snow, and sun ...


And what could be more black than a black dog against the snow?

Grey Knight

Mushrooms are not plants. They do not have photosynthesis but are saprophytes, which means they get their energy from dead organic matter and not from sunlight. Photosynthetic organisms fix carbon from the air, heterotroph organisms like mushrooms need carbon already fixed by other organisms. Like plants they have cell walls, but those contain chitine instead of cellulose. Mushrooms are part of the large kingdom of Fungi, together with yeast and moulds and other, mostly small and monocellular organisms.



You can find the Grey Knight (Tricholoma terreum) until the first frost around pine and fir trees, and they are edible (actually, they taste good!).















Here is part of a fairy ring of Grey Knights. A tree is in the centre of the ring, and around it underground the mycelium spreads, with the spore-carrying mushrooms, the flowers of the mycelium, above ground. In the circle a lot of plants cannot grow, because the mycelium spreads poisonous substances or covers the roots of other plants. At the outside of the circle, out of reach of the mycelium, grasses grow normally. When the mushrooms disappear, the ring will still be visible.

Wet

Fallen leaves in a pond; reflection of nearly empty branches.

Car

Looking for a vintage car?


Seems you've found it ...

Black Bryony

In the West of Africa and some other tropical regions yams, the roots of some plants of the family of Dioscoreaceae are staple foods. The only member of this family in France, the Black Bryony (Tamus communis) also has a big root but it is not edible at all.


Roadsides and bushes are decorated by garlands of red-orange berries of this vine.

















The grey rag you see in the picture above has been green and glossy, a few months ago.

Common Blue

In a warm autumn this butterfly flies until november. At sunrise thousands of Common Blues (Polyommatus icarus) sit waiting for the first rays of sunlight to come to life after a cold night.


When it is asleep you cannot see where its name comes from: the bright blue of the upper side of the wings.
















Oops! Bad luck! A crab spider!

Spiral Orchid

Most orchids are visible in spring and summer, only the Spiral Orchid (Spiranthes spiralis) is flowering now in poor grasslands with sparse vegetation. A lot of plants have their flowers and leaves arranged in spirals, but in many species it is more difficult to discern this pattern.






















The spiral Orchid is small, about a decimeter, and its flowers are only a few millimeters.