Sam's Corner
Third Quarter of 2002
Topics
LOG PROWL AT PRATT BROOK - March '02
Frommea on Cinquefoil and Aleurodiscus oakesii on Hophornbeam Bark
A Miracle - Morels!
Nematodes Eating Fungi
Clavaria vernalis Rediscovered!
LOG PROWL AT PRATT BROOK - March '02
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Caryl, Dudley, Kendra, Carol and I had a mycological bonanza. Here is a list of some of the discoveries: Gloeoporus (Polyporus) dichrous, Stereum sanguinolentum, Bjerkandera adusta, Stereum complicatum, Dacrymyces palmatus, parasitized, Polyporus squamosus, Fomes pinicola, Fomes fomentarius, Trichaptum biformis, Trichaptum abietinus sclerotia on the remains of a black Russula, Piptoporus betulinus, lots of Ganoderma applanatum and the rare Crinula caliciiformis. We also found a beautiful growth of the lichen Graphis scripta.
Let me tell some of the fascinating stories about these mycological wonderments. G. dichrous is a unique poroid in several ways. It is the only nonstipitate red pore polypore. Tubes are rubbery when fresh and can be plucked like a rubber band. See my spectacular photograph in the Audubon Field Guide.
B. adusta, as the name indicates, the adjective adusta means black. Its look alike B. fumosus is the only other non stipitate poroid with black tubes.
P. betulinus is always found on birch and is a brown rotter -viz, it has an enzyme that digests only the less complex polysaccharides, leaving the complex lignins.
The rare Crinula caliciiformis is the imperfect = anamorph of Holwaya mucida - a black stipitate ascomycete. See photograph at both stages in Bessette's book, Mushrooms of Northeastern North America. This photograph was taken by my friend Emily Johnson in 1979 after I helped her identify this fascinating fungus.
Frommea on Cinquefoil and Aleurodiscus oakesii on Hophornbeam Bark
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Gary Marshall gifted me with an orange powder on the leaves of cinquefoil (Potentilla). It was a rust, Frommea obliqua, now known as Pucciniastrum potentillae, which is specific for cinquefoil. Since it has only one host, it is called an autoecious rust. Rusts like Gymnosporangium clavariiforme that have two hosts are designated a heteroecious rust.
Aleurodiscus oakesii belongs to the leather fungi Corticiaceae. It resembles a thin cup fungus with buff-pink surface and white fuzzy underside. Its pale warted ovate spores are amyloid and its cylindrical cystidia have lateral branches.
See my photograph #511 in the Audubon field guide as Hophornbeam Disc. Let me know if you find this on another host.
A Miracle - Morels!
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My daughter, Ruthie, called me from Allentown, PA where she stopped to find the famous Joe Czarnecki mushroom restaurant. Find it she did not since the fabulous father/son "eatery" had closed its doors.* While she toured the neighborhood, some strange objects caught her attention under a tree. As she approached the tree, she yelled at Pam, "A miracle, morels!" She got a bag and picked 65 morels.
She didn't recognize the tree so she called from a pay phone. She couldn't reach the branches but the tree had large clusters of somara (dry fruit resembling propellers with the seed in the center) "Tree of heaven", I said!! The Ailanthus was imported and planted along the streets of Brooklyn. Since it could survive very dry soils and endure cold temperatures. It became known as "the tree that grew in Brooklyn".
Why here, Ruthie, asked? But I could not help her since this was my first experience with a plethora of morels from heaven, around a tree of heaven.
*Ed note - I read somewhere that Joe's Mushroom Restaurant had moved someplace out west. Anyone know where, in case Ruthie continues her travels?
Nematodes Eating Fungi
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I am doing another project with Pilobolus, the "hat thrower", on deer droppings I collected in January. I wanted to recheck the anatomical changes more critically. The pellets were in the refrigerator 80 days. I was surprised to see Pilobolus growing after 8 days in the petri dishes.
Two weeks into the experiment, I got zillions of nematodes doing their "undulating" dance on the deer droppings (nematodes: nema = needles). Nematodes are thin white unsegmented worms. Many species are parasites on plant roots and in intestines of mammals. Two weeks later the nematodes disappeared. At about the same time hundreds of tiny white fungi appeared on the droppings. In Ann Bell's book, Dung Fungi, An Illustrated Guide To Coprophilous Fungi in New Zealand , they keyed out to Arthrobotrys oligospora. Laurie and I found these nematodes on porcupine dung also. Spores were unequally 2 - celled, ovate, oblong -25 microns borne in clusters on peg-like denticles.
Arthrobotrys is an imperfect fungus = Deuteromycete. Other genera that are closely related are Candelabrella, Dactylaria and Genicularia. You can find these genera in Illustrated Genera of Imperfect Fungi - Barnett/Hunter. Laurie and I have copies.
Clavaria vernalis Rediscovered!
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On May 5, 1989, I found a tiny (0.5") orange clavaria growing in a disturbed area among my alders. It was growing with a rare liverwort, Solenostoma (Nardia) crenulatum. There were sundew plants = Drosera and algae in the wet areas. It persisted in the area for 5 years. On 6/10/90, I found a beautiful growth in a road cut in Kennebunkport. Dot Spaulding discovered a specimen 6/10/97 at Eagle Hill in a sand pit. Pat Ledlie found the recent cluster on Streaked Mountain (Buckfield) sometime around May 21. The small clavaria-type fungi was abundant, growing in disturbed soil areas primarily among the protonema of the moss Pogonatum.
Coker, in The Club and Coral Mushrooms of the US and Canada (Dover, 1974), says the following - earliest clavaria, 7 - 12 mm high X 2 mm wide - orange. Spores smooth, 2 - 3 X 8 - 11 microns, clamp connections in flesh. Grows with green algae, the bluegreen alga Gleocapsa and protonema of the moss Pogonatum. He also mentions there were sundew in the area.
Bessette in Mushrooms of Northeastern North America calls it Multiclavula phycophylla - Leather. He says it may be symbiotic with algae and mosses like Multiclavula mucida, which grows profusely on logs covered by algae. Look for this tiny, rare, early Clavaria in wet areas covered by algae.