Flora & Fauna of Korea #32

Korea.net publishes a series of articles, “Nature You Meet in the Mountains,” about the peninsula’s mushrooms, insects, trees and herbs & flowers.


Insects

Name: 유지매미, Yujimaemi
Scientific name: Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata (Motschulsky)
Distribution: Korea, China, Japan, New Guinea

This large brown cicada is about 34 to 36 millimeters long and has a wingspan of about 50 to 60 millimeters. The back of its body is black or black brown with randomly arranged reddish brown patterns. White powders are found on many parts of its body, concentrated in the areas that surround the tergite and the connecting part between the abdomen and tergite. The wings are very colorful where some cloud-like shapes are arranged in green, brown and black. The wing veins are yellowish brown, and the wings look like they're wet from oil. The abdomen is black and a little glossy.

Ecology: It inhabits mountains and forests. The adults appear only once a year, between early July and the middle of September. It takes around five years to grow from larva to fly. They start chirping in a deep low voice and make sounds gradually faster and higher to some point, and then revert to their original sound.





Trees

Name: 상수리나무, Sangsuri namu, Acorn Tree
Scientific name: Quercus acutissima Carruth.
Type: deciduous broadleaf tree
Blooming season: May
Bearing season: October
Distribution: mountains nationwide

This sawtooth oak grows to between 20 and 25 meters tall with a trunk of about 1 meter in diameter. The bark is black gray and can crack easily. The leaves are elliptical, obtuse or blunt acute. There are multi-cellular short hairs and needle-shaped, sharp, sawtooths on the underside. The monoecious tree gives bloom to flowers that have wind-pollinated catkins. The fruit is an acorn, maturing about a year after pollination.


Mushrooms

Name: 빨판애주름버섯, Bbalpanae jureum beoseot
Scientific name: Mycena stylobates (Pers.) P. Kumm.
Type: saprophile spore
Print: white
Inedible

Known as the bulbous bonnet, this inedible mushroom grows alone on fallen leaves. It produces a whitish to gray fruit body with a bell-shaped cap sized at about 0.5 centimeters. When dried, it shows radial patterns on the surface of the cap. The gills are sparsely spaced. The stipe is about 1.5 centimeters long and 0.5 millimeters thick. Its color turns to pinkish gray with age. The basal disc, ranging in size from 1.5 to 2 millimeters, is at its root.



Herbs & Flowers

Name: 꿩의다리, Legs of Pheasant
Scientific name: Thalictrum aquilegifolium var. sibiricum Regel & Tiling
Full bloom: July to August
Distribution: mountains nationwide

This flowering plant, commonly known as the greater meadow-rue, is about 50 to 100 centimeters high. The main stem is empty inside, and its color is green and purple with a hue of grayish white. The leaves alternate and develop bi- or trifoliate leaflets. The leaves are separated again into three to four parts, each in a heart shape and 1.5 to 3.5 centimeters long. The flower is white and is 1.5 centimeters in diameter. It develops corymbose flower heads at the tip of the main stem. It bears a capsule with clusters of 5 to 10 seeds. The fruit stack is bent facing downward.

*This series of article about Korea’s insects, trees, mushrooms and herbs & flowers has been made possible through the cooperation of the Korea National Arboretum.