Sam's Corner
Third Quarter of 2004
Topics
A bonanza of Morchella and a gargantuan Gyromitra!
Twin Brooks Foray 5/6/04
A bonanza of Morchella and a gargantuan Gyromitra!
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Holy cow! Look what Kendra found! yelled Cheryl - 28 Morchella esculenta. These were located together - some measured 9"! There was a giant ash and white pine nearby. Were these mycorrhizal? Everyone went home with morels to eat.
Dot called to show me a giant Gyromitra. When she took it out of the bag I yelled - Bingo! Biggest Gyromitra fastigiata in 65 years. It was 9" tall with a 4" convoluted stipe. Under the scope the spores were fastigiata and contained 3 bubbles. It is poisonous but its look alike, korfii, is not.
Other fascinating finds in May included orange Mycena leaiana. The edges of the gills were dark orange because of the orange cystidia - check under the scope. Favorite host is beech. The base of a 4' sugar maple looked burned, but it was the charcoal fungus, Ustulina deusta. Its first cousin is dead man's fingers, Xylaria polymorpha. When these entities are young the color is light grey which is the imperfect stage. Check the conidia under the scope. This is a fascinating drama to watch. You can visually see the transformation from the imperfect (anamorph) to the perfect (teleomorph). And under the scope see the shape of two kinds of spores - a magic 2:1, something like the transformation of Hypomyces chrysospermus from the white imperfect stage (Verticillium) to the yellow "resting" stage (Sepedonium chrysospermum) to the perfect stage, (Hypomyces chrysospermus). Magic! Magic!
And the last remarkable tale is about the "gluing fungus", Hymenochaete corrugatus. Cheryl wanted to know why so many twigs of the hazelnut were glued together as if the mycological fairies were building "erector" models!! We don't know all the answers to the gluing phenomenon but we know the following - if a twig containing Hymenochaete corrugatus comes in contact with another twig it produces a "gluing" substance that sticks the twig with the fungus to the other twig. H. corrugatus is common on hazelnut. Hazelnut shrubs were very common in this area so we saw an abundance of glued twigs, which I call "fairy erector sets"!!
Twin Brooks Foray 5/6/04
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Agrocybe spp., Cerrena unicolor, Chlorosplenium (Chlorociboria) aeruginascens, Chondrostereum purpureum, Chroomelsoporium aurantiacus or Hormomyces callaroides, Collybia dryophila, Coprinus atramentarius, Crepidotus mollis, Entoloma vernum, Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis cajanderi, Fomitopsis pinicola, Fuligo septica, Ganoderma tsugae, Gyromitra esculenta, Hymenochaete corrugata, Hymenochaete tabacina, Lenzites betulina, Lycogala epidendrum, Mycena haematopus, Nectria or Tubercularia, Oxyporus populinus, Piptoporus betulinus, Pleurotus sapidus or ostreatus, Pluteus cervinus, Polyporus conchifer, Polyporus mori, Phaeocalicium polyporaeum, Polyporus squamosus, Scutellinia scutellata, Stereum complicatum, Stereum striatum, Tremella mesenterica, Trichaptum biforme, Xylaria hypoxylon.
What is interesting about these fungi?
Crepidotus (fuluomentosus) mollis - Crepidotus is a brown spored genus with a lateral attachment. Its species name describes its brown scaly pileus.
Stereum (sericeum) striatum has silky fibrils. Its only host is ironwood = Carpinus.
Mycena haematopus is one of the red "bleeding" species on wood. The other species, sanguineolenta, grows on the ground and has a long "rhizomorph".
Ganoderma tsugae - this species is only found on conifers, predominately on hemlock. Fascinating species - it produces a varnish like substance that provides a varnished texture. The young sporocarps are unvarnished. Stamets sells this species and Ganoderma lucida as a therapeutic tea.
Oxyporus populinus always grows in wounds of red maple.
Daedalea (Cerrena) unicolor is a very strange daedaleoid fungus resembling Trametes versicolor.
Chlorociboria aeruginascens is a blue discomycete that stains wood blue.
Phaeocalicium polyporaeum is a unique ascomycete that parasitizes Trichaptum biforme and abietinum. It looks like tiny thin black needles. These grow on the top of the pileus. Look for them. The prefix phaeo means black. Previously it was placed in the genus Calicium which is a lichen that is associated with an alga.
Hormomyces is another remarkable fungus which resembles pink jelly and appears on rotting logs after a rain. Under the microscope the ovoid spores occur in chains. It belongs to a genus of imperfect fungi for which the perfect or teleomorph has not been found.
Tubercularia looks like flamingo colored small pustules on twigs of maple, poplar and other genera. It is the imperfect stage (anamorph) of the ascomycete Nectria. Follow the stages and treat yourself to a transformation wonderment!!!