Specimen AB#25 Earthstar

Now this little beauty was a gift from a fellow collector, and what a gift it was.

Figure 1. Astraeus Hygrometricus all opened up

Name: Astraeus hygrometricus

Family: Diplocystaceae

Collection Date: 10/15/2011

Habitat: Growing on the ground at the base of a tree.

Location: Cleveland Metroparks- South Chagrin Reservation

Description: “Outer walls splitting at maturity into 6-15 pointed rays; 1-5 (8) cm broad when fully expanded. Rays hygroscopic (unfolding in wet weather and closing up over the spore case in dry weather) … tough and leathery when moist, hard when dry… upper surface (interior) at first smooth, but often developing numerous cracks…Spore case 0.5-3 cm broad…sessile (without a stalk)…Spore mass brown to cocoa-brown and powdery when mature” (Arora, 1986).

Collector: Jennifer Friedler

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps: 

Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi… p.52

Puffballs & Earthstars… p.677

(Lycoperdales & Allies)

1a. Outer layer of fruiting body splitting into several starlike rays which unfold to expose the inner skin or spore case…p. 699, Geastrum, Astraeus, & Myriostoma

1a. Spore case typically rupturing through a single apical pore (mouth at top)…2

2a. Rays distinctly hygroscopic (i.e., folding over the spore case in dry weather to protect it and unfolding when moistened); spore case usually sessile (not seated on a short stalk)…3

3b. Fruiting body smaller [than 5-15cm] and/or rupturing through an apical pore or slit...4

4a. Apical pore often irregular or poorly defined or merely a slit… p. 705, Astraeus hygrometricus

Correlating Links:

http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Astraeus_hygrometricus.html

http://eol.org/pages/1029271/media

Specimen AB#3 (White TARDIS Coral)

This was one of the first "unusual" fungi I found on my trip into the Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin Reservation. At first I thought it might be a little white grass growing on the side of the path, but looking closer I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact a fungus.

Figure 1. Tremellodendropsis Tuberosa

Figure 2. Close-up of branched tips

Name: Tremellodendropsis Tuberosa
Family: Tremellodendropsidaceae

Collection Date: 9/15/2011

Habitat: Growing beside walking path under tree cover, among fallen leaves and twigs.

Location: Cleveland Metroparks-South Chagrin Reservation

Description: “Branches 2-7 cm high, erect, tough, whitish to buff…tips often paler and brighter (whiter) when actively growing” (Arora 1986).

Collector: Andrew Burns

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps: 

“Coral & Club Fungi” p.630

Clavariaceae

1b. Fruiting body profusely branched from a stalk or common base…4

4b. Not hairlike, white, not colored…5

5b. Fruiting body not flattened or wavy…7

7b. Fruiting body not yellow or orange…8

8b. Branch tips not crownlike…9

9b. Fruiting body not yellow or orange…11

11b. Branches not flattened, no apparent odor…12

12b. Fruiting body rather small to medium sized, white…base typically not large and fleshy…p.640, Clavulina & Allies

Clavulina & Allies

1b. Usually growing on ground…2

2b. Mycelial mat absent and/or fruiting body brittle…3

3b. Fruiting body not lavender or purple…4

4a. Overall color white…found mainly under hardwoods in eastern North America… p.643, Tremellodendron Tuberosa

Specimen AB#10 (Shaggy)

This little one cheered me up on a dreary morning. I was walking to class actually worrying about this assignment and wondering if I was going to get enough specimens. Then all of a sudden I noticed a few of these shaggy little lads growing up beside the sidewalk, looking up at me as if to say "relax, we've got this."

Figure 1. Coprinus Comatus fresh from the sidewalk

Name: Coprinus Comatus
Family: Agaricaceae

Collection Date: 9/26/2011

Habitat: Growing in grass beside sidewalk

Location: Hiram College Campus

Description: “Cap 4-15 cm tall, cylindrical or columnar… white with a brown to pale cinnamon-brown or buff center, soon breaking up into shaggy white to brown scales (universal veil remnants)…flesh soft, white…stalk 5-20 cm long…cleanly separable from cap” (Arora, 1986).
Collector: Andrew Burns

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps:

Agaricales

1b. Spores forcibly discharged…2

2b. Spore print dark…10

10b. Spore print a darker shade, not pink/reddish…16

16b. Spore print not green or olive…19

19a. Spore print deep brown bordering on black…20

20b. Gills free…21

21a. Gills and/or cap turn to inky black mass at maturity…spore print black…p.341, Coprinaceae

Coprinaceae

1a. Mature gills (and often the cap) digesting themselves…either turning into an inky black fluid or withering away…p.342, Coprinus

Coprinus

1b. Growing on ground, wood chips, wood, or indoors…9

9a. Cap cylindrical…shaggy…entirely white or with a brown center and/or brownish scales…p.345, Coprinus Comatus


Correlating Links:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinus_comatus.html
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/may2004.html

Specimen AB#14 (Dead Man's Fingers)

I was really excited to find this particular fungus. Originally I had gone over to the overturned tree because I saw something a little brighter growing on it. I didn't notice this one until I was right next to it, it looked just like another root sticking out of the dirt-covered mess. I stopped what I was doing because I knew exactly what it was, and you know the science classes are getting to you when you're excited to recognize a fungus.

Figure 1. Xylaria Polymorpha growing from upturned roots

Name: Xylaria Polymorpha
Family: Xylariaceae

Collection Date: 10/04/2011

Habitat: Growing on upturned roots of a downed tree

Location: West Woods

Description: “Fruiting body 2-8 cm tall, 0.5-3 cm thick, very tough and hard or carbonaceous; erect, club-or finger-shaped to somewhat irregular or twisted, the tip usually blunt or rounded… Outer surface hard and crustlike… black when mature” (Arora 1986).

Collector: Andrew Burns

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps: 

“Coral & Club Fungi” p.630

Clavariaceae

1a. Fruiting body unbranched…2

2a. Fruiting body entirely brownish-black to black… p.782, Ascomycetes

Ascomycetes

1b. Growing on wood…2

2a. Growing on wood…3

3a. Fruiting body usually black…fingerlike to clublike …and very tough or hard…p.878, Pyrenomycetes

Pyrenomycetes

1a. Growing on wood…2

2b. Fruiting body black…p.885, Xylaria & Daldinia

Xylaria & Daldinia

1b. Fruiting body erect, clublike (unbranched)…2

2b. Fruiting body not branched or covered with white powder…3

3a. Fruiting body very tough or hard, up to 3 cm thick…Xylaria Polymorpha


Correlating Links:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/xylaria_polymorpha.html
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE&query_src=photos_fungi_sci&where-genre=Fungi&where-taxon=Xylaria+polymorpha&title_tag=Xylaria+polymorpha

Specimen AB#13 (Chandelier)

This beautiful creature came out of nowhere while I was walking through the woods. A large tree had fallen over, and there on the exposed inside of the tree hung this magnificent specimen. An ornate chandelier to complement the majestic and palatial forest.

Figure 1. Hericium Americanum in all its beauty

Name: Hericium Americanum 
Family: Hericiaceae

Collection Date: 10/04/2011

Habitat: Found growing on the exposed face of a fallen tree

Location: West Woods

Description: “Fruiting body 10-75 cm or more broad and high at maturity, consisting of an open to compact branched framework from which tufts of icicle-like spines hang…white to creamy… spines soft but brittle, arranged in clusters that are mainly grouped at the branch tips” (Arora, 1986).

Collector: Andrew Burns

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps:

Begin with “Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi” (p.52), sent to “Teeth Fungi”

“Fruiting body bearing its spores on downward-pointing spines or ‘teeth’… suspended like icicles… on ground or wood.”

 Hydnaceae “Teeth Fungi” p.611

1b. Not growing on cones; stalk if present usually thicker…2

2b. Not as above [brownish cap]…3

3a. Growing on wood…4

4a. Fruiting body a branched framework… from which spines are suspended (i.e., icicle-like); lacking a distinct cap… p.613 Hericium

“Hericium” p.613

1b. Fruiting body branched, the spines hanging from the branches or branch tips…2

2b. Growing mainly on hardwoods; fruiting body white when fresh…3

3b. Spines often long…arranged mostly in tufts or clusters, especially at the branch tips…p.614  H. Coralloides

Pure white, found on hardwoods in Eastern America. It is suggested that the name H. Coralloides be given instead to H. Ramosum, and that the name of this specimen should be changed to H.Americanum.


Apparently this particular mushroom is also edible. As Arora puts it "Eminently edible, delectably delicious." As much as I'd hate to remove one from its natural habitat I'll have to keep my eyes open for another of these gorgeous fungi.

Correlating Links:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hericium_americanum.html

Specimen AB#7 (Family Reunion)

Now this little beauty hails from the Hiram College Field Station. I was coming back from a class when I saw them. A mushroom family reunion; from tiny little upshoots to the big grown up caps flexing up into the air. I couldn't resist taking a look at this.

Figure 1. Amanita Muscaria (Yellow Variety) en masse at the Hiram Field Station

Figure 2. Amanita Muscaria (younger form)

Figure 3. Amanita Muscaria (opened cap)

Name: Amanita Muscaria (Var. Formosa)
Family: Amanitaceae

Collection Date: 9/22/2011

Habitat: Growing below pine trees among grass, clover, and pine needles

Location: Hiram College Field Station

Description: “Cap 5-30 cm broad, round becoming convex and finally plane or slightly depressed…color variable… bright yellow-orange to yellow, then fading (var. formosa)… covered at first with a dense coating of universal veil fragmens (warts) which are usually white… Universal veil friable, forming a scaly volva at apex of bulb…spore print white” (Arora, 1986).

Collector: Andrew Burns

Key Used: Arora. D., (1986) Mushrooms Demystified 2^nd Edition, Ten Speeds Press, New York, NY

Keying Steps:

Begin with “Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi” (p.52),

Sent to “Agarics (Gilled Mushrooms)”

Agaricales p.59

1b. Spores forcibly discharged, hence a spore print obtainable. Gills exposed at maturity…2

2a. Spore print white to buff…3

3a. Universal veil enveloping young specimens and forming a volva at base of stalk when it ruptures and/or leaving numerous remnants (warts or flat patches) on cap… p.262 Amanitaceae

“Amanitaceae”

1a. Volva present at base of stalk as a sack, free collar, or series of concentric rings…Amanita

“Amanita” p.266

1b. Volva collarlike (i.e., intergrown with base of stalk but with a free rim)…cap often with many small pieces of universal veil tissue (warts)…15

15b. universal veil remnants not yellow; cap may or may not be whitish…22

22b. Not as above…23

23b. Not as above…24

24a. Cap brightly colored (red, orange, or yellow); partial veil present, usually forming an annulus (ring) on stalk…25

25a. Volva usually a series of concentric rings at apex of bulbous stalk base, but sometimes only a simple ring or collar; cap medium sized to large…yellow form…common in Sierra Nevada and most of eastern North America…p.282, A. Muscaria

Bright Yellow …Var. Formosa

Correlating Links:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_muscaria_formosa.html
http://www.erowid.org/plants/amanitas/amanitas_muscaria_formosa.shtml