This is a new venue for the club thanks to a new leader, Fordham University adjunt professor of biology and well-received COMA lecturer, Jacqui Johnson. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to attend this walk as I had total hip replacement surgery the previous day and was relaxing in a hospital bed. Fortunately for all of us, new COMA members, Lisa Solomon and Mary Gagliotti, responded to my request that someone take photos of finds on walks I am temporarily unable to attend while on the mend. Both did a great job as you can see. Thanks, fellow photographers. I almost feel as if I was there too!

As you can see, the most unusual find was a gorgeous fruiting of extremely large Daldinia concentrica. Commonly called 'King Alfred's Cakes' or 'Carbon Balls', Daldinia concentrica is an Ascomycete in the same family as 'Dead Man's Fingers'(Xylariaceae) that grows on bark of fallen and decaying branches. In the earlier stages it appears to be a reddish-pink hard blob that darkens with age to brown and eventually black. The black color is actually a result of the released spores landing on and around the fungus. When this common fungus is sliced through with a knife, the interior reveals a series of concentric 'growth' zones.