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Nature up close

Small wonders beside the trail

Look closer at berries, seed capsules, clubmosses, lichens, fungi and the small creatures beside highland paths.

16 photographs

Red fruiting bodies top small Cladonia lichen cups among pale lichen scales and dry vegetation.
Red-tipped Cladonia lichen
Small white Lycoperdon puffballs covered in conical spines grow on soil among dry twigs and grass.
White spiny Lycoperdon puffballs
A brown-capped Agaricus mushroom grows beside moss, exposed roots and leaf litter.
Brown Agaricus mushroom on mossy ground
Brown Suillus mushrooms lie among grass and pine litter, with a yellow sponge-like pore surface visible on a damaged fruit body.
Brown Suillus mushrooms in grass
Thin overlapping Stereum brackets form orange-brown bands on a tree trunk, with smooth orange undersides.
Orange-brown Stereum brackets on a trunk
Clustered Phlegmariurus clubmoss shoots branch repeatedly above páramo plants, with dense tiny leaves covering each stem.
Phlegmariurus clubmoss shoots in páramo
Upright reddish Phlegmariurus clubmoss shoots, densely covered in tiny overlapping leaves, grow among wet páramo moss.
Reddish Phlegmariurus clubmoss in wet moss
A hanging cluster of blue, waxy-coated Berberis berries grows beside stiff, spiny-edged leaves on a woody shrub.
Blue Berberis berries on a spiny shrub
A dense cluster of dark blue-black Miconia berries grows at the end of a branch among green leaves with three prominent veins rising from the base.
Dark Miconia berries among veined leaves
Pink-white Gaultheria fruits cluster among small leathery finely serrated leaves. The fruits retain a five-part calyx.
Pink-white Gaultheria fruits
A brown Bomarea capsule has split open to expose a cluster of fleshy red seeds on a narrow-leaved climbing stem.
Red Bomarea seeds in an open capsule
Ripe yellow Cucumis dipsaceus fruits hang from a tendrilled vine, their oval surfaces densely covered in soft bristles.
Yellow Cucumis dipsaceus fruits
Upright reddish clubmoss stems rise from wet moss beside a small rock pool. A Phlegmariurus identification remains tentative.
Red clubmoss beside a rock pool
A dark, long-legged harvestman rests on lichen-covered rock. Finer identification is unresolved.
An armored harvestman on lichen
A dark insect with yellow stripes rests among damp páramo stems. Its finer identification remains unresolved.
A yellow-striped insect among wet plants
A weevil with pale scales, a dark head and reddish legs rests on woven fabric. Family-level Curculionidae is a tentative identification.
A pale-scaled weevil on woven fabric

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