Bud Log 2017-03-19 #2

Alternating between observation and writing has been a challenge in this place.

Xanthoxenite deposits were found not far from camp.

Though I’m educated in Biology, I’ve always held close that Geology holds an exceptional level of importance in frontier lands and transitory habitats.

Even the readings I pour through in my spare time occasionally give me reason to bust out my pocket mineral dictionary.

I don’t know why but I keep feeling that there’s something underneath each new oddity we discover.

Not to say I have a solid hypothesis on what is beneath the malformed root systems and out-of-place minerals, but regardless of logic I feel the urge to grip and tug new anomalies that I stumble across.

Oleander is oddly proliferated around the camp and it creates an uncomfortably idyllic environment that only serves to contrast with the very real and present dangers that exist in this place.

I’ve sampled both the Oleander and Xanthoxenite as per protocol.

No telling when if and when it will ever be looked at by eyes other than mine.

Here’s to hoping.
Angiosperms seem to be the most critical to the ecosystem directly surrounding the camp but they’re nestled among many other varieties similarly uncommon to the region.

It had a nostalgic effect on me to see the variety of flora, reminding me how crucial family has been to me and to us all.

Since I’ve arrived, I’ve noted outcroppings of achinostachys germanii intermingled with trichocolea tomentella lingering in shady areas.

Juniper leaf also manages to find itself dominating the coastal flatland where rocks covered in what could only be echinodium savicziae.

Cowtail pine is more inland often covering ricinus communis which inhibits any substantial growth.

Ginkgo biloba are located in the more fertile lands approximate to the coast and compete with lactoris fernandeziana for sustenance.

Rotala indica peeks from the shallows in the marshlands while takakia lepidozioides permeates on the banks.

Araucaria araucana are visible in the treeline.

It’s pertinent to note the proliferation of stinging nettles and their harrowing effect on less-than-protected members of our expedition.

Luckily one sting is all it takes for them to realize my warnings were not only pertinent but crucial.

There was an odd grove with four malformed microcycas calocoma, the oddity of the Cuban tree in this place almost distracted me from the beautiful prunus amygdalus which provided a wonderful respite from the more hostile flora.

Dendroceros grows on the bark of most fallen trees here, those highly decomposed are visible by the presence of healthy herbertia pulchella.

Elms are a significant part of the more dense woodland and serve to create shady nooks
 for the cryptobasidium to grow exponentially on the musa ornate.