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Fungi

There's no doubt you've stumbled across a mushroom or toadstool in the woods or even in the park. But this large kingdom of plantlike organisms has many species, some with very unusual characterisitics. Fungi lack chlorophyll, like saprophytes, and reproduce by cell division or by spores.

Mushrooms are probably the most well-known type of fungus. The poisonous variety are commonly called toadstools. The following varieties of mushrooms are found in The Cook Forest.

Bracket Fungus - Common throughout all of Pennsylvania, bracket fungus looks like little clams or shelves attached to the outside of stumps and trees. They are tough but much lighter than they look. Brackets can range from only a single row of a few caps, to dozens of rows of caps that can weigh several hundred pounds.

Fly agaric - This woodland mushroom is commonly found throughout Cook Forest. You can identify it by its shiny, spotted, red cap. The fly agaric mushroom was once used for fly poison, hence its name.

Amanita - You can recognize this type of poisonous mushroom by the volva, or swollen bag, at the base of its stalk. Amanita mushrooms bond with the roots of trees and certain plants in order to grow. Amanita is actually a classification encompassing a wide variety of mushrooms, including the death angel.

Lichens - These organisms have a simple, yet unusual structure. They are composed of green algae and of fungi living together in a symbiotic relationship. It's usually green or gray in color, but it can be red or brown. Because it possesses chlorophyll from the algae, but its fungi characteristics are saprophytic, it nourishes itself from cells that in turn aid in photosynthesis. Lichens commonly grow like moss, covering rocks and trees.

Flowers

Rhododendron - A common, flowering shrub found in many gardens in the East, the rhododendron is actually at home in the forest. R. maximum, or the great laurel variety, is native to Pennsylvania and Cook Forest. Pennsylvania's state flower, the mountain laurel, is very similar. The rhododendron is generally a taller variety than other species and is characterized by generous clusters of rosy-pink flowers.

Finding a large bush encompassing the trunk of a white pine can be a spectacular site, especially if the plant is in bloom. The rhododendron can be large or small, depending on age and climate, and possesses large, shiny evergreen leaves and thick, woody branches.

Indian pipe - If you've never seen the unusual, colorless indian pipe flower, you're in for a rare treat. At first, you may think it's a mushroom, but at second glance, you'll see it's truly a wildflower. The indian pipe, so named because it resembles a tobacoo pipe, is a primarily leafless, white, saprophytic plant, which means that it doesn't use photosynthesis to produce energy, but rather lives off dead plant or animal tissue, more like animals than most plants. Its solitary white flower droops toward the ground when young and slowly opens to the sky as it produces seeds. You'll find a singular indian pipe pop up beneath a dead log or a patch of them growing around dead roots. Like fungi, they prefer a very moist environment and favor the shade of a tree.

Jack-in-the-pulpit - Another unusual flower that enjoys the shady, damp center of the forest is the jack-in-the-pulpit plant. Its curious name is derived from its structure, which is composed of a spadix, or jack, and a spathe, or pulpit. The jack is a fleshy spike of tiny flowers that sits inside of the purplish leaves of the pulpit. Native Americans, who named the plant indian turnip, used it and other plants of the arum family for medicinal purposes. Jack-in-the-pulpits first appear in late spring. The tiny flowers of the jack turn into a mass of red berries in summer.

The Cook Forest exemplifies how a system of plant life grows for thousands of years to development an environment that feeds, shelters, and protects the other life within it today. By protecting this valuable resource, we're not only preventing the extinction of many species of plants and animals, but allowing an important part of the past to continue to thrive for generations to come.

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