Myco Monday: False Tinder Conk

False Tinder Conk pokes its nose through a Sunburst of Lichens

This picture shows the trunk of a living aspen (Populus tremuloides) hosting a diversity of ectocommensal Sunburst Lichens and a heart rot.

Xanthomendoza cf fallax

The lichens are members of the genera Xanthoria and/or Xanthomendoza - the latter recently removed from the former - and get their name for an obvious reason. The endoparasitic heart-rot fungus (Phellinus tremulae) is only showing its 'nose' or conk - a woody structure composed of an array of downward pointing tubes that release spores and an upper 'crust'. Presumably the False Tinder Conk is no good for making tinder, but it does make aspen poor neighbours - likely to break and fall on your head in a strong wind.


In Australia, whenever I asked about a 'conk', people would look at me like I'd just kicked a bucket. Apparently, its use for the fruiting bodies of woody polypores is a strictly North American thing. 'Conk' also is slang for a nose or sounds similar to a 'punch on the nose', but derives from  the Greek for a mussel shell (and our word 'conch'). Conks do bear a vague resemblance to both a nose and a mussel shell, and if one of these infested trees broke and landed on your head, the least of your worries would be being conked out.

Myco Monday: Just another Russula

Russula, possibly emetica

Mushrooms of the genus Russula are relatively easy to identify by their brittle bodies - the stems will snap like a piece of chalk. I suppose that used to be a good character when most people had experience with chalk, but I wonder if so now? Alas, although easy to id to genus, species identification is very difficult, some cause gastrointestinal upset, and some taste very bitter or acrid. Given the poor reputation of most species as an edible (e.g. to quote David Aurora: 'better kicked than picked', 'better punted than hunted', 'better trampled than sampled' etc. or 'Unequivocally inedible and possibly poisonous'), I suppose it is best to leave these to adorn the yard.

I think this mushroom is part of the Russula emetica complex, because of its red, peeling cap, and its mycorrhizal association with the roots of the White Spruce in the front yard. If I needed an emetic, I suppose I might be tempted to try it, but I think I will restrict myself to appreciating its colourful and reliable appearance.

Myco Monday: Cladonia diversity in minature

Six species of Cladonia reindeer lichen

This image is of a small clump of reindeer lichens (Cladonia spp.) on a log in an open spot of aspen parkland. We thought there were several kinds of lichens, but when we showed the picture to a specialist, she recognized 6 tentative species (chemical tests are needed to be certain):
Cladonia gracilis ssp turbinata – smooth cupped, no soredia, brown tips (apothecia and pycnidia), little squamules (leaf-like structures) coming off of stalks
Cladonia botrytes – pale brown apothecia, upper right hand corner
Cladonia mitis – branching species, (subgenus Cladina)

Cladonia cristalla or bellidiflora – smooth  slightly branched specimen with red apothecia

Cladonia crispata var crispata – upper right hand corner by botrytes with wide open cup, can see directly down into podetium/stalk

Cladonia coniocraea – sorediate unbranched podetia in lower part of picture

That's quite a bit of diversity for a few square centimetres of forest floor.

Myco Monday: Myxomycete Maybe

Fuzzy myxomycete aka slime mould

'Fungus' is from the Latin for a mushroom, but traditionally the word has been used for any kind of organism that shares some structural similarities with the true fungi (Eumycota). This includes several groups that are now known to be bizarre communal amoebae and not at all related to fungi: the Slime Mo(u)lds. Various slime moulds slither around as acellular amoebae, threads, or slug-like masses of slime engulfing bacteria, yeasts, and other small bits of organic matter. One species, Dictyostelium discoideum, even carries around its own bacteria and 'farms' them.

 When food or moisture becomes limiting, the slimy amoeboid forms turn into what look like mini-mushrooms with a stalk and 'frutification' containing spores. Many are strikingly attractive and all bizarrely interesting. We think these pictures are of the sporulating bodies of a plasmodial slime mould (Class Myxomycetes), possibly in the genus Physarum. One thing that makes us not sure is that none of the pictures that we've seen are as furry as ours. But may it may be that a true fungus has been growing over the slime mould.

Marbled Feather-hair Springtail 

What is for certain is that a very handsome springtail, Ptenothrix marmorata (Packard, 1873), is munching on the furry bladders. The species name, marmorata, means 'Marbled', which is certainly apropos, and the genus name means 'Feather-hair', presumably referring to ornate body setae.

Myco Monday: Scaly Pholiota

Probably Pholiota squarrosa

We think this is a cluster of Scaly Pholiota (Pholiota squarrosa) sprouting from the base of an aspen. We think this mostly because we have a mycologist friend who said that's what he thinks it is and because it more or less seems to be doing what Scaly Photiola is supposed to do. When younger (e.g. here) the 'scaly' bit of the name is easier to understand, but these are mature, possibly over mature, mushrooms and probably well on their way to becoming fungus gnats.

According to David Aurora "Pholiota is the largest genus of brown-spored, wood-inhabiting agarics" and with over 200 species, some poisonous, some apparently not, it's probably not the kind of mushroom you'd want to take to dinner. Leave these for the flies, beetles, and microphotographers.

Myco Monday: Eyelash Pixie Cup

Scutellinia scutellata

As part of my continuing efforts to serve my vast (imaginary?) readership, and also demonstrate that I can just shut up and blog, I introduce another new and semi-regular feature: Myco Monday. And what better way to start off than with a lurid red wink from a Eyelash Pixie Cup Scutellinia scutellata (L.).

Black 'eyelashes' on margin of cup

Don't expect too much from these posts - just a pretty fungus or two and maybe a comment from the mushroomer's bible - "Mushrooms Demystified" - by David Aurora. In this case he doesn't say much re their edibility "much too puny to be of any importance". That's because they are only about a centimetre in diameter. Although ascomycetes, like the morels, these are not on anyone's list of delectables. I don't know of any insects or mites that eat the Pixie Eyelash Cups either, but you can find them on moist, rotting logs. Although small, they are larger than many cup fungi and always a pleasure to find.