Sam's Corner
Second Quarter of 2001
Topics
A GOOD DEED REPAYS IN UNUSUAL MYCOLOGICAL DIVIDEND
MORE WONDERMENTS ON DEER DUNG COLLECTED 12/20/00
A GOOD DEED REPAYS IN UNUSUAL MYCOLOGICAL DIVIDEND
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Sara needed kindling wood so I went to the woods, among the conifers, looking for dead branches. I found two fir trees with numerous branches. I picked off the branches from one tree and started collecting branches from the second tree, when I noticed a flamingo color on the underside of a branch. "Holy Cow"!, I said, "the rare Aleurodiscus amorphus" - a leather fungus that resembles a Peziza with a white rim. There were 12 small entities in the cluster. I found this unusual uncommon mimicking leather fungus several times before, always on fir. See former Sam's Corner and my beautiful photograph in EYEWITNESS HANDBOOKS MUSHROOMS - Laessoe/Lincoff. (If you don't have this book, buy it - wonderful approach) This photograph also shows the rare parasite of this uncommon fungus - a jelly Tremella simplex. This was certainly a rewarding bonus for a good deed.
MORE WONDERMENTS ON DEER DUNG COLLECTED 12/20/00
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80 days ago I collected deer dung in my woods. I have kept it in a plastic container with moist paper. I am still finding the following fungi (and a white spiny mite) - Lasiobolus macrotrichus, Saccobolus furfuraceus, Podospora setosa - all ascomycetes.
Lasiobolus and Saccobolus shoot spores. Lasiobolus = shaggy thrower, macrotrichus = large spines
Saccobolus shoots its spores toward a light source (like Pilobolus does) Both genera of ascomycetes belong to a group called Discomycetes - fifth cousins to Peziza.
Podospora is a remarkable fungus with segmented spores. The upper part of the spore is black; the basal portion is white and resembles a stem.
The basal portion may develop long appendages, i.e.
Podospora setosa has a large ascus with as many as 200 spores. There are 3 to 5 asci in a container called an ascoscarp.
Several of the "turds" have a species of Coprinus (inky cap). It has a gray hairy cap. The cells in the cap are beautifully decorated and circular.
Three weeks ago I had about 40 Pilobolus - I got a fresh crop for two weeks. These have a 24 hour rhythm. Remember the story I told about the Pilobolus drama in 4 hour increments - spores germinate about 4 P.M. and shoot their hatful of spores about noon the following day. Pilo = hat, bolus = throw