Free Pictures of Textures

An acorn (Quercus sp.) floats in a "crater" it opened up when it fell into the floating duckweed (Lemna minor) on the Mill Pond. In late summer and early fall, the forest can be downright noisy with the shower of acorns clattering through the branches and plopping into the pond. Most acorns sink, and I suspect those few that float are rotten. Summer, Mine Falls Park.

A blossom of water milfoil (Myriophyllum sp.) rises above a patch of duckweed (Lemna minor). Summer, Mine Falls Park.

Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota). This picture illustrates very well my recent "discovery" that the florets at the edges of the flower cluster of Queen Anne's lace are much larger than those in the interior, and they are asymmetrical. Summer, Mine Falls Park.

Dense patches of duckweed (Lemna minor) cover the sheltered coves of the Mill Pond. This is among the world's smallest flowering plants. It has short roots, but they just trail in the water. It produces nearly microscopic flowers, and it sets seeds which can germinate, but most of its reproduction is by budding. Summer, Mine Falls Park.

Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota). Summer, Wildlife Pond Loop Trail, Beaver Brook Association, Hollis, NH.

This slug has a bit more of an orange tint than the usual yellow ones I see in the White Mountains. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

A tuft of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica) growing in a crack in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

The cracks in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson were decorated with a dense growth of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica). It seems that it does not bloom in such profusion every year. I visit Mount Jackson at least once a year, and often twice, and I can only recall seeing this much diapensia once before, at least ten years ago. It is a perennial plant, so the plants are always there, but not always the flowers. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

The cracks in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson were decorated with a dense growth of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica). It seems that it does not bloom in such profusion every year. I visit Mount Jackson at least once a year, and often twice, and I can only recall seeing this much diapensia once before, at least ten years ago. It is a perennial plant, so the plants are always there, but not always the flowers. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

The cracks in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson were decorated with a dense growth of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica). It seems that it does not bloom in such profusion every year. I visit Mount Jackson at least once a year, and often twice, and I can only recall seeing this much diapensia once before, at least ten years ago. It is a perennial plant, so the plants are always there, but not always the flowers. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

The cracks in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson were decorated with a dense growth of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica). It seems that it does not bloom in such profusion every year. I visit Mount Jackson at least once a year, and often twice, and I can only recall seeing this much diapensia once before, at least ten years ago. It is a perennial plant, so the plants are always there, but not always the flowers. Summer, Webster-Jackson Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

The cracks in the bare granite peak of Mount Jackson were decorated with a dense growth of diapensia (Diapensia lapponica). It seems that it does not bloom in such profusion every year. I visit Mount Jackson at least once a year, and often twice, and I can only recall seeing this much diapensia once before, at least ten years ago. It is a perennial plant, so the plants are always there, but not always the flowers. Summer, Webster-Jackson Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest.

A dead leaf floats face-down among the duckweed (Lemna minor) on the Mill Pond, its water repellent undersurface collecting silvery beads of rainwater. Spring, Mine Falls Park.

A dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from last year. This is the one that I had seen with green alga growing on it just after the snow melted, but the spring sunshine has killed off most of the alga. The mushroom at center is the one I cut off for positive identification. Spring, Mine Falls Park.

A dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from last year, turned upside down to show the porous underside that gives this family of fungus its name (Polyporaceae). Here it is lying on top of the oak log it had grown on. At the "top," which had been the inner edge, closest to the surface of the log, you can still see some of the green alga that had covered the fungus. Spring, Mine Falls Park.

Ground cedar clubmoss (Lycopodium complanatum) at the foot of an oak (Quercus sp.) remains green among the leaf litter. It will remain green under the snow all winter long. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

A queen bumblebee (Bombus sp.), probably the last survivor of her hive for this season, crawls through the leaf litter in the autumn chill. Her burrow is the circular hole at the bottom of the picture, a little left of center. Fall, Mine Falls Park

Leaves, mostly oak (Quercus sp.), litter the forest floor. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

I had never seen anything like this "green bracket fungus" that appeared as the snow melted away from a long-dead log, so I invited mycologists to explain it to me. Dr. Seidl at EMLab P & K tells me, based on the pictures and my description, it's almost certainly a dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from the previous year, overgrown with a green alga. Dr. Seidl says it's a fairly common phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest, but I've never noticed it before here in New Hampshire. At Dr. Seidl's urging, I reluctantly cut off one of the mushrooms to identify it positively, as pictured above and as described in the story, "Fungus and Fishing". Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

Another view of the puzzling "green turkey tail." It's actually a dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from the previous year, overgrown with a green alga. Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

Another view of the puzzling "green turkey tail." It's actually a dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from the previous year, overgrown with a green alga. Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

Another view of the puzzling "green turkey tail." It's actually a dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from the previous year, overgrown with a green alga. Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

Another view of the puzzling "green turkey tail." It's actually a dead turkey tail bracket fungus (Trametes versicolor) from the previous year, overgrown with a green alga. Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

Last summer's cattail (Typha latifolia) disintegrates in the late winter, scattering its fluffy seeds across the Mill Pond. Late winter, Mine Falls Park.

A maple seedling (Acer sp.) putting on fall colors. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

A wet, bedraggled bumblebee (Bombus sp.), rescued from drowning in the Mill Pond, crawls through the leaf litter to find the entrance to her burrow. She just might survive hibernation to start her hive all over again in the spring. Fall, Mine Falls Park

Cloudscape in the late afternoon sunshine in fall. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Cloudscape in the late afternoon sunshine in fall. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Cloudscape in the late afternoon sunshine in fall. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Cloudscape in the late afternoon sunshine in fall. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Cloudscape in the late afternoon sunshine in fall. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

A blanket of partridge berry (Mitchella repens) spread around an oak tree (Quercus sp.) and sprinkled with autumn leaves. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Partridge berry (Mitchella repens) and fallen oak leaves (Quercus sp.). Fall, Mine Falls Park.

Leaf of a fern turning yellow in autumn. Fall, Mine Falls Park.

A granite boulder covered with mosses and lichens, including an odd pinkish lichen. Summer, Webster Cliff Trail, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest

A lichen-covered boulder is split neatly into three segments, cracked along planes that were once the floor of the Iapetus Ocean. Spring, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Close-up of Arethusa Falls in spring thaw. Spring, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Close-up of Arethusa Falls in spring thaw. Spring, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

At the base of Arethusa Falls, the outflow of Bemis Brook carves a channel through the rotting spring snow. Spring, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Mountain cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) barely rises above the mosses in the big meadow north of Crawford Notch. It has been green under the snow all winter long, like the mosses. Early spring, White Mountain National Forest

Mats of mountain cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and mosses are liberated by the melting snow. They will soon be overshadowed by taller herbaceous plants that will dominate the meadow north of Crawford Notch. Early spring, White Mountain National Forest Downloaded 105 Times.

Arethusa Falls locked in ice. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Footprints of a red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). This shallow impression in dusty snow on top of a hard crusty snow shows the details very clearly. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 120 Times.

Tracks of a red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) record the rodent's busy, energetic foraging. Notice that the tracks record the way the squirrel moves: He hops, rather than walks. The snow is littered with winter-fallen twigs and the empty husks of beech nuts (Fagus grandifolia). Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 138 Times.

A twig and cone of a red spruce (Picea rubens) lies on the snow. In late winter, the snow is littered with cones, twigs, and needles of spruce and fir. They may have been cut by a squirrel who then forgot to collect them, or simply blown down by the wind. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 127 Times.

Many meadow flowers hold their seeds all winter, dropping them in the spring. I don't know the species of these. Late winter, White Mountain National Forest

Many meadow flowers hold their seeds all winter, dropping them in the spring. I don't know the species of these. Late winter, White Mountain National Forest

Granite boulder covered with various lichens and surrounded by snow. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Granite boulder covered with various lichens and surrounded by snow. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 20 Times.

Granite boulder covered with various lichens. Late winter, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 26 Times.

Orange-brown polypore fungus (family Polyporaceae), with a little bit of leafy ("foliose") green lichen, on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Mine Falls Park

Moss, which remains green all winter and photosynthesizes any time there is enough light, pokes through the melting snow of late winter. Winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 103 Times.

Orange-brown polypore fungus (family Polyporaceae) and leafy ("foliose") green lichen on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 136 Times.

Orange-brown polypore fungus (family Polyporaceae) and a dense blanket of green moss on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Mine Falls Park

Orange-brown polypore fungus (family Polyporaceae), leafy ("foliose") green lichen, and a little dark green moss on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Mine Falls Park

Leafy ("foliose") green lichen on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 26 Times.

Tracks of a red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). You can see where the squirrel's tail brushed the snow as it hopped along. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

A mouse, either a white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) or a deer mouse (P. maniculatus), left its tracks in a thin dusting of new snow atop the older, crusted snow. You can tell the tracks of a mouse from those of a shrew because mice hop, but shrews walk. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 102 Times.

Bemis Brook peeks out from its winter sarcophagus of snow and ice. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Ice slowly grows its way upstream to cover a hole in the winter covering of Bemis Brook. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Gray granite ledge can still be seen on the bed of Bemis Brook through a hole in its five-foot-thick blanket of ice and snow. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Gray granite ledge can still be seen on the bed of Bemis Brook through a hole in its five-foot-thick blanket of ice and snow. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

A leaf-like green lichen spreading on the trunk of a dead tree. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 124 Times.

Branches of a red spruce (Picea rubens) sapling overhang two seelings of red spruce peeking out from the snow. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Myriad species of fungus and lichen coat a broken stump, and are themselves coated with snow. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

Lichen growing on a dead twig. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park

A white birch (Betula papyrifera) with an injury in the process of healing. When the bark is cut, the tree first grows smooth, reddish bark like this, similar to the bark of a very young white birch. Later, this bark will become grayish and furrowed, almost like the bark of a maple. After many years, the bark will return to the usual chalky white. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 104 Times.

Bare hardwoods, mostly white birch (Betula papyrifera) and some American beech (Fagus grandifolia) stand in stark contrast against the dark hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) and the steely blue winter sky. Winter, Bemis Brook Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 202 Times.

Close-up of a dead hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) infested with a white polypore fungus. Winter, Mine Falls Park

Close-up of a dead hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) infested with an orange fungus. Winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 101 Times.

Horizontal layers of rock have sagged over the eons into curved layers, but cracked under the strain in more recent geological time. Spring, Wapack Trail, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 321 Times.

A single brown leaf in an oak (Quercus sp.) catches the cold sunshine of a winter afternoon. Winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 183 Times.

A large bracket fungus of the family Polyporaceae on a rotten log, fall, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 168 Times.

Frankenstein Cliff is lightly dusted with new-fallen snow, winter, Crawford Notch Downloaded 280 Times.

Tracks of a shrew (probably a northern short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda) lead to a perfectly circular tunnel in the snow. Winter, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 195 Times.

Imprint of a fox's (Vulpes vulpes) body, where it bounded into the compacted trail, then back out again. You can see the round outline of the animal's chest, and light drag-marks where its feet brushed the snow as it jumped out. (The circular holes and drag-marks running parallel to the trail are from a hiker's walking poles.) Winter, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 243 Times.

Tracks of a fox (Vulpes vulpes) making its way through the thicket beside the Ammonoosuc River. Winter, White Mountain National Forest Downloaded 164 Times.

A tiny seedling maple (Acer sp.) holds onto its fall colors amid the brown litter of earlier fallen leaves. The laurel will remain green all winter. Fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 493 Times.

Footprints of a muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in a thin dusting of snow atop the ice on the Mill Pond, late fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 187 Times.

Tracks of a mink (Mustela vison) in the late-fall snow. You can see where the little carnivore loitered, possibly to investigate a scent or to leave its own scent-mark on a dead branch. Late fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 214 Times.

Close-up of the base of the same pine tree growing in a crack in the boulder. Fall, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 158 Times.

Oak leaves (Quercus sp.) locked in the ice until spring. Late fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 119 Times.

Ice on the Mill Pond has taken on a pattern that looks almost like leaves. Late fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 617 Times.

I count at least 30 annual growth rings in this 8-inch slice of red spruce (Picea rubens). Late fall, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 362 Times.

I haven't counted very precisely, but there are clearly well over 100 annual growth rings in this 18-inch slice of red spruce (Picea rubens). Late fall, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 269 Times.

Lightly falling snow glitters among the trees in the weak morning sunshine. Late fall, Arethusa Falls Trail, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 232 Times.

Ice crystals rise through red mud. Fall, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 124 Times.

Oak leaf (Quercus sp.) on a water-smoothed glacial erratic. Fall, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 479 Times.

An abandoned hornet's nest. Fall, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 456 Times.

This dripping wet monolith offers cool shade and dampness on a hot summer afternoon as you descend Frankenstein Cliff. Spring, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 3,304 Times.

The same cliff is a hazard of falling icicles on a winter morning as the sun warms the night's ice. And the seep below is perilously slick with inches of solid ice. Late fall, Crawford Notch State Park Downloaded 295 Times.

Close-up of bog vegetation on Mount Jackson includes red leaves of sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), summer, Presidential Range Downloaded 180 Times.

Mixed undergrowth on the sunlit northern bank of Bemis Brook above Arethusa Falls, including stiff aster (Aster linariifolius), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium), and numerous ferns and grasses, late summer, Crawford Notch Downloaded 178 Times.

A little garden of ferns on a granite boulder, late summer, Presidential Range Downloaded 372 Times.

A little garden of ferns on a granite boulder, late summer, Presidential Range Downloaded 330 Times.

Bakeapple berries (Vaccinium macrocarpon). This is actually a wild cranberry, also called bear berry, and distinct from the bakeapple berry of Newfoundland (Rubus chamaemorus), also called cloud berry. But it tastes like a baked apple, complete with cinnamon. They grow in the bogs on the northern slope of Mount Jackson, and this was a banner year. Most years, I only find two or three ripe berries. Late summer, Presidential Range Downloaded 193 Times.

Water spider (family Cybaeidae). The surface he's standing on is actually water with a dense growth of tiny duckweed (Lemna minor) floating on it. Summer, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 401 Times.

Underside of a fern leaf, summer, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 159 Times.

Patch of wood sorrel (Oxalis montana). This is the native North American type. The common wood sorrel on your lawn or in your city park is more likely O. europaea, an invasive form. Early summer, Crawford Notch Downloaded 218 Times.

Layered rock cliff face, summer, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 382 Times.

Various lichens and algae on a large granite outcrop, summer, Pack Monadnock Downloaded 418 Times.

Footprint of a moose (Alces alces) in the middle of Arethusa Falls Trail, early spring, Crawford Notch Downloaded 171 Times.

Mouse tracks in the snow, winter, Crawford Notch Downloaded 201 Times.

Close-up of ferns and mosses, mid-spring, Crawford Notch Downloaded 159 Times.

Moss, ground pine clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum), lichen, and hemlock seedlings (Tsuga canadensis) on an undercut bank, late winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 155 Times.

Ground-pine clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum), late winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 138 Times.

Can't identify the species, or even genus, of most fungus, but I know this is of the family Polyporaceae. This is the "wallpaper" of one of my virtual computers. Late winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 227 Times.

Moss-covered roots, winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 136 Times.

Lichen on red pine, winter, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 150 Times.

Nearly-bare branches of oak against the steely sky, late fall, Mine Falls Park Downloaded 336 Times.