Sam's Corner
Fourth Quarter of 2005
Topics
A Mycological Miracle on Bracken Fern
Hallowell Foray, Jimmie's Pond
August 7th Foray at Ben Frenette's woods, Buxton
Zapped Snipe Flies
Mushrooms that glow in the dark
Warnings! Warnings!!
To benevolent members of MMA: - Your gift of a cord of wood will keep the home fires burning. A 100 thanks.
A Mycological Miracle on Bracken Fern
Back to top
Dot Spaulding returned from her Josselyn trip with a bracken fern that had black elliptical decorations resembling sori - Holy Cow! I found the same decorations on bracken fern at Fort Kent in July 1982. After fumbling hither and yon - a glimmer of recognition. Let's try Cryptomycina pteridida -- and there it was on page 210 of British Ascomycetes by Dennis, with my note "found at Fort Kent July 1982." Twenty-three years between discoveries!
I am offering $5 to anyone who finds a specimen! Dot will be certain this rare find will appear in the bulletin so 100 years from now someone will rediscover this remarkable ascomycete with a fascinating life history.
Hallowell Foray, Jimmie's Pond
Back to top
Back to MMA Home
This is not a complete record since we did not have a complete record of the fungi on the site before we went home. I will make some notes on the following species: Amanita citrina, flavoconia, & frostiana; Bjerkandera (= Polyporus) adusta, Boletus ornatipes, Collybia radicata, Fuligo septica, Lactarius deceptivus & piperatus; Paxillus atrotomentosus, Phaeolus (= Polyporus) schweinitzii, Phylloporus rhodoxanthus, Russula compacta, Suillus pictus & granulatus, Syzygospora (=Christiansenia) mycetophila, Tricholomopsis decora, Tylopilus eximius, Lobster mushroom, Stemonitis sp., Crepidotus, Hormomyces.
Amanita citrina with a large annulus is poisonous. Learn to identify it. See photograph and drawing in Audubon field guide. Amanita frostiana is an Amanita flavoconia look alike - but is has inamyloid spores, lines on the edge of the cap and a "rim" at the top of the bulb [base of stem]. Bjerkandera (=Polyporus) adustus is the only polypore with black pores - very common on poplar. Its look alike is Bjerkandera -----fumosa.
Boletus ornatipes is a beautiful bolete with a yellow "ribbed" stipe - see Audubon guide. Collybia radicata and its big fuzzy (=furfuraceous) stemmed look alike has a long "root" attached to wood. (Dig it up.) Phaeolus (= Polyporus) schweinitzii is found mostly on conifers - either at the base of the tree or in wounds. It starts with a yellow soft pore surface that turns greenish yellow. [An] excellent source of a dye, [it is] named after a Moravian minister who did a lot of collecting in Pennsylvania in the 18-hundreds.
Phylloporus rhodoxanthus is a beautiful red capped entity with yellow decurrent gills that is a relative of boletes.
Russula compacta is an interesting Russula that turns tan with age and belongs to a group of staining Russula which includes adusta that bruises black and remains black and dissimulans that stains red then becomes black. Suillus pictus and Suillus granulatus are both good edibles - learn both. Suillus pictus also gets zapped by a fungus. Read pages 30-31 in Sam's Corner to understand the 3 stage drama that visibly happens to this bolete that has white pine as its preferred host.
Syzygospora (=Christiansenia) mycetophila - this is a remarkable parasite of Collybia dryophila or butyracea. Sheldon and Gary Marshall found over 50 in Portland near the Greenlawn Cemetery. Tricholomopsis decora is a beautiful orange cap entity with black [fibers] like hair - always on coniferous wood. Tylopilus eximius is an atypical Tylopilus viz. pores are always dark purple and the stipe is very dark. We have had 4 poisonings from this species. There were many "lobster" mushroom - which means there should be many Russula brevipes.
Stemonitis - chocolate tubes. This is an interesting slime mold. a) The stem continues to the tip of the tube. b) The plasmodium oozes upward on the outside of the tube. In all other genera the central tube is hollow so the plasmodium oozes inside the tube. Hormomyces aurantiacus, a small pink jelly fungus appears only after rains on decayed wood. It is an imperfect fungus with spores in chains.
I hope you will take this list and find 10 of these in one of your books.
August 7th Foray at Ben Frenette's woods, Buxton
Back to top
We could put names on 55 species. Among the ascomycetes the following had stories to tell:
Daldinia concentrica undergoes a visible color asexual-sexual change. The asexual stage is gray from its asexual spores. The sexual stage is red - when the black spores are mature they coat the [red] balls black. When the "carbon balls" are sliced you note the concentric black-grey rings.
Taphrina amentorum is an interesting fungus. Its species name amentorum tells you it has something to do with aments or fruits - In this case the fruits are alder "cones". The infection produces ribbon-like "gizmos" from the scales that persist until spring. Look for these on your alder shrubs and tell me how many you find on one tree.
Trichoglossum and Geoglossum are called black "earth tongues." Look at the spores under the compound scope - they are very long, 250 microns, with as many as 15 segments!
Hypomyces on Suillus pictus - Hypomyces is a genus that parasitizes other fungi. Besides Suillus pictus viz. Hypomyces hyalinus stunts species of Amanita, particularly rubescens. H. lactifluorum transforms Russula brevipes into the orange lobster that sells for $12/lb. See my stories in Sam's Corner pp. 30-31. Buy a copy for a friend.
Among the Basidiomycetes look up the following for interesting stories. Amanita brunnescens, Amanita ceciliae, Suillus pictus, Tylopilus chromapes, Clavulinopsis fusiformis, Climacodon septentrionale, Entoloma salmoneum, Fomes fomentarius, Megacollybia (=Tricholomopsis = Collybia) platyphylla, Panellus (=Panus) stipticus, Paxillus atrotomentosis.
Russula species - [what are] 4-5 reasons a Russula species belongs to this genus?
The following species are edible - Boletus affinis, Suillus granulatus, Suillus pictus, Tylopilus chromapes, Hygrophorus cantherellus.
Zapped Snipe Flies
Back to top
This year a fungus called Empusa or Entomophthora muscae has been parasitizing flies - predominately snipe flies. The flies eat up the spores; these spores germinate in the gut of the flies and mature. The mycelium emerges externally through the abdominal sutures. It also produces a liquid that glues the fly to the underside of the leaf. This year some leaves contained 10 "glued" flies. Twelve years ago we had a similar epidemic. While I was a graduate student at Cornell in 1948, I witnessed the seed-corn maggot fly glued to twigs and barbed wire fence by the thousand.
Question: Why were the zapped flies in 1993 and in 2005 predominantly snipe flies?
Mushrooms that glow in the dark
Back to top
Some found Jack O'Lantern, Omphalotus illudens or Clitocybe illudens. I took my cluster to bed and enjoyed its faint glow in the dark. Some people mistake it for Chanterelles. Look at the photographs in the Audubon field guide. It causes a severe [reaction] one hour after you eat it. Give me 5 reasons why you should not mistake it for Cantherellus cibarius!!
Warnings! Warnings!!
Back to top
This is the season for Amanita virosa and A. bisporigera as well as Galerina autumnalis and G. marginata. These are deadly liver poisons. Symptoms may not occur for 10 hours after you eat the species. Refrigerate any extra specimens. Report to your physician or the poison control center at Maine Medical. Call Laurie Leonard and Sam Ristich.