Fruit on the Forest Floor, Part II

 I had another post topic planned for this time, but for various reasons, it will have to wait a bit longer. So in the meantime, without a lot of birds to report on now that Christmas Bird Counts are over and winter has settled in, I will catch up a bit on this fungi topic. The first part of this topic, which explains a lot that I won't repeat here, can be found at this link. 

On to fungi! 

The ones featured here were photographed in the fall of 2023, as winter isn't exactly prime time for fungi. Some might still be visible, but with the snow and cold of course, they just aren't going to be in good fresh looking condition.

This first one is a member of the Bonnet group, based on the shape of the cap.

Next is the Ochre Bracket.

It is always useful to get an overview of a fungus, as well as a closer view of the underside. These next two show an Oysterling.

A fungal group that really caught my eye is this next one. It is likely the Pestle Puffball, although it might just be a Puffball. There were well over 100 of these scattered across a well rotting log, and even on the ground, undoubtedly growing on rotting wood just below the surface. This huge cluster was along the Black Oak Trail of Rondeau.

Next is a type of Ramaria, a coral root.

Here is a Ringless Honey Fungus. It grows so close to the ground that I couldn't get any idea of the underside without breaking pieces off.

 

This next one with the bright, colorful cap is a member of the Russula group.

Clearly there are critters in the wild that like feeding on mushrooms, as this slug is doing.

Next is probably another type of puffball, in its early developing stage......

...as it matures, the covering will start to dry and open. It is at this time that a drop of rain, or some other slight disturbance, will result in a little 'puff' of the spores inside to release into the atmosphere, to drift off and find a suitable growing surface, hence the name of puffball.

Some names are quite descriptive. This one is probably a Stinking Orange Oyster......

...as is this one, photographed as late as December 30!

Next shows the upperside of Trametes gibbosa, a type of shelf or bracket fungus.....

...and this is the underside view. It shows little round holes where the spores disperse from, rather than gills of many other types of fungi.

Next is Trametes pubescens.....

....and a species of Tricholomopsis, which due to the hole on the top, shows both the shelf type of form as well as the gills.

Turkey Tail, shown next, is one of the most common members of the Trametes group.

Less common, at least where I have been, is this White Jelly Fungus.....

...and last, but not least for this post, is the quite delicate, but attractive Woolly Oyster Fungus, not common at all in my experience. The upper side has a fuzzy/wooly look....

and this angle shows the gilled underside and the delicate parts of the edge and upperside.

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com

Fruit on the forest floor, Part 1

 No, I am not talking about walnuts, or acorns or something like that scattered on the forest floor. I am referring to fungi.

There are many, many types of fungi, and the part that we see growing on the forest floor, or a rotting log, is the fruit of the fungus plant. The main part of the fungus is underground, or in the rotting log, in the form of extensive mycelial threads that act to decompose the rotting log. But more than that, the threads cover extensive areas and travel for huge distances underground. These mycelial threads are actually known to 'communicate' with each other, and share energy, and they are critical components of what makes a forest healthy.

So the actual fungus is just the fruit which bears the seeds or more correctly, the spores, which are dispersed by the breezes. The names and shapes of such fungus are highly varied.

Aborted Entoloma

I have spent a fair bit of my time roaming about forests in the late summer and fall, on the lookout for fungi. They are busy doing their thing under ground, or in a log, for a good part of the year, and seem to be the most visible during the more humid periods of the season when they get to the fruiting stage, although some fruit even in spring. Sometimes I consider my outing to be part of a fun, fall, foray for fungi!

They aren't all colourful, like many warblers or wildflowers, but are fun to find and photograph regardless.

These 'fruits' release their spores, through their gills. Gills are often shown like this following fungus, known as member of the Agaricomycetes group of fungi. The type of gills aren't always visible from the top. In looking at the first photo above, the gills are not noticable unless you break off or look underneath the fungus. Given that most fungi grow quite low and on the ground, looking underneath is challenging, so some mycologists, the name for persons who study fungi, break off the fungus to see the type of gill.

Other fungi have hidden types of gills, such as this next one, known as the Bear's Head Tooth fungus.

This next one, illustrated by the next three photos, is fairly common, at least in forests where American Beech are common. It is known as the Beech Rooter fungus.

Note to the reader: while I have attempted to put a name to the fungi that are in this post, and I believe many of them are correct, I am anything but a specialist when it comes to fungi. I rely fairly heavily on the Computer Visualization capabilities of the database on iNaturalist, where there are thousands of examples of various species which it will compare to, in order to come up with a strong possibility. Over time, specialists in the mycological field will take a look and either confirm or correct its name. So while I believe most identifications here are fairly accurate, there is no guarantee that 100% of them are at this point.

Back to some fungi.

Some are small, looking like a small parasol. This next one is a member of the Bonnet's group.

They can be quite colourful, such as this Chantarelle Waxcap, next.....

...or are typically less colourful as these next ones demonstrate,

Deer Mushroom

Deer-colored Mushroom

Closeup of Deer-colored Mushroom

Most of the fungi shown above, were growing out of the ground, or a moss covered log. One fungus that I came across was growing out of the end of a Tulip Tree log which had been cut to clear a path. It was a bit larger than normal and quite distinctive. I got a couple of photos with the camera I had in hand. It is known as the Destructive Pholiota.

I went back to the fungus a couple of days later with a different camera/lens combination. The fungus had changed a bit...

....a closer look at the underside showed the gills as well as the brownish ring at the upper side of the stem. It didn't last long, however. The fruits of fungi seldom last in good condition for any more than a few short days. As soon as the spores are released, the fruit head deteriorates quickly.

I don't know who comes up with the names of fungi. This next one is called the Dog Vomit Slime Mold. While some fungi are edible, just the name of this one is enough to turn one off! I have no idea of whether it is edible or not......

Not all fungi grow out of the ground. This next one is known as Dryad's Saddle, and typically grows out of the side of a dead tree trunk.

A fungus that is fairly widespread and visible is this next one, the Chicken-of-the-woods.

A lot less colourful is Hen-of-the-woods, shown next.

As mentioned, looking underneath the 'cap' shows the gills, as this Honey Waxcap shows.

This next one is a member of the Hygrophoraceae group. Yellow ones like this do not seem to be all that common.

This next one is the Lion's Mane Mushroom.....

....and this next, colourful one is one of my favourites, the Mycena leaiana, or Orange Mycena.

As mentioned at the beginning, these fungi are exceedingly important in the transfer of energy not only to other fungi. Trees and non-woody plants obtain significant amounts of energy from the mycelial threads that are extensive underground. It is what helps to keep a forest healthy. When one part of a forest is disturbed, that disturbance can be communicated to other parts of the forest via these mycelial threads and end up causing problems. And that is why forests that are logged or otherwise have the soil disturbed decline in health. Their connection to the multitude of other plants is severely disrupted. It is also why attempts to establish a plantation on a previously worked up agricultural field is seldom very healthy, at least not for many, many years. The constant work-up of the soil through cropping, as well as the application of so many chemicals to benefit the agricultural crop, has destroyed the mycelial threads and severely limits the trees growth and development. It may take many decades for the soil to become more natural with mycelial threads for the transfer of energy to the multitude of the forest inhabitants.

That's it for this post, but I expect to feature more fungi in a future post!

 

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com

Fall Forays for Fungi Fotography...fun and fascinating!

 Fall is a great time to find fungi, especially when it has been warm and wet like it was over the last few weeks. I have been out at various wooded areas specifically to find and photograph fungi, with a fair bit of success. I also wanted to put my newest Canon camera, the R6 mirrorless body, to work using its impressive sensor along with the tilt viewing screen which enabled me to get ground level photographs without having to lie on the ground to see through the view finder.

A type of Honey Mushroom

Back in my university days, I elected to take a course on fungi, a.k.a. mycology, which I thought would help round out my education a bit more and be useful in the early stages of my interpretive naturalist career. My professor was none other than Dr. George Barron who, unbeknownst to me at the time, was a very distinguished mycologist who received various national and international awards for his research and contributions to mycology. After he retired, he wrote an exceptional book entitled Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada, published by Lone Pine Press. It is useful for all of the provinces and states that touch on the Great Lakes and downstream.

 Another useful source of information is this link.

Identification to the species level is not easy. Some may be identified by their macro characters, such as the morels, but many are only identified for certain through an analysis of their spore prints or through dissection. Therefore many of the ones I feature on this post are not identified to species, and some of those that are, are my best guess based on the reference sources I have, or via iNaturalist. Even iNaturalist will only give a general indication of what species it is, since identification based on a single photo is not nearly the same as spore prints and/or dissection, especially since the above ground parts of the fungi are quite short-lived and change considerably. Some may only be visible in good condition for a few hours or days, and disappear once their purpose of dispersing spores has been completed.

Fungi aren't everyone's favourite elements of nature, I get that. But the world would be a much different place if it weren't for the million and a half or so species of fungi that are known across the world. They are at work underground, on leaves, as well as in dead or living wood. Some are the wood-decaying fungi, such as those bracket fungi you see growing on dead or living trees.

There are others that grow from the ground, and are key to providing moisture, nourishment and protection to the tree roots in exchange for some sugars they get from the tree's photosynthetic activity. In fact a mature living tree will have hundreds of thousands of kilometres of hyphae, or mycorrhizae, wrapped around the roots. Those fungal threads in reality make up the bulk of each individual fungus. That is why fungi are critical to a healthy forest, and even when plantations are attempted in agricultural lands, do not do well since the mycorrhizae in the soil have been destroyed through repeated disturbance from tilling and chemical application. The part of the fungus we see above ground is only the fruiting body of the fungus whose sole purpose is to disperse thousands of tiny spores from the gills or pores, to continue the process.

They can be valuable as a source of food for creatures of the forest, including rodents, but also for invertebrates such as this slug, which may in turn be a source of food for something else. Of course we know that some fungi are sought out to be eaten by humans as well, even though many are not edible. 

With that, I will feature some of my most favourite photos that I have taken over the past week or so. All were taken at either Rondeau or Clear Creek Forest provincial parks, or at the municipally-owned McKerrall Woods.

Some are quite distinctive, such as this Bear Head's Tooth, shown first....

....and the Crown Choral fungus, next.

This next one is the White Jelly Fungus.

Sometimes one encounters just a glob, which is probably the Abortive Entoloma. It is a fungus which is parasitic on other fungi, typically on one of the Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria spp.)

Bracket fungi are fairly common. Some have gills such as the first couple show.

Common Fibre Vase

Some are quite colourful, especially members of the Ganoderma genus, which often show a shiny lacquered surface.

One of the more common bracket fungus types is the Turkey Tail, which has quite a variety of patterns.

Others have tubes instead of gills, such as these, from which the spores are released.

Occasionally you may find a fungus with another other fungus growing on it, as these next two photos show, with the second photo showing a close-up of a fungus growing on the other. I have seen this occurrence on occasion, but haven't got many photos to show.

Some are quite colourful. One of my favourites to find and photograph is this next one, the Orange Mycena.

Another colourful one, but more subdued is this Cinnabar Chanterelle.

Scarlet Waxy Cup

There are numerous small, less colourful ones, which are attractive in their own way. The first two are probably members of the Honey Mushroom group, sometimes called Bonnets.

One you may find on lawns is the Fairy Ring Mushroom. This was in the picnic area of Rondeau, and it commonly occurs in a ring, appearing fairly quickly overnight, hence the reference to a fairy visiting and creating this arrangement.

This is a close-up of one of the mushrooms in the fairy ring.

This next one is possibly called Angel's Wings.

And some are very small, spreading across the cut surface of a log.

There are quite a few in the slime mould group. The one below is a type of Stemonitis, also known as a Chocolate Tube Slime. It has numerous feathery strands that disperse powdery spores with the slightest breeze.

A fungus that may be better known to some readers is the Giant Puffball. When it is fresh and edible it is almost pure white, with an interior that is solid white. But it doesn't remain in that condition for long, as its prime purpose is to disperse spores, so it quickly deteriorates by turning a yellowish brown, and as the outer layer is damaged or falls apart, releases thousands and thousands of spores.

Much smaller puffball types are this Pear-shaped Puffball.

Some mushrooms are deadly poisonous. Some of the most deadly are the Amanita group, which may have a colourful scaly cap. I don't have any recent photos of them, but I did come across this Golden Pholiota on one of my outings, which has a scaly cap as well. It apparently is edible.

The world of fungi is definitely fun to explore, and there are so many great photo ops!

If you want to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to prairietramper@gmail.com