Mushrooms out of control

[urbpan]

Good lord there are so many mushrooms out there that it is impossible to keep up. This post is just those that have appeared at Franklin Park Zoo in the past week. Above is a group of hemlock reishi Ganoderma tsugae




Here's an unknown Amanita; I dug around the base because that's one of the important identifying features of this kind of mushroom. These are some of the many mushrooms which are produced by fungi that have a symbiotic (mycorrhizal) relationship with oaks.


Over in the planters, wood chips and mulch have produced a multitude of mushrooms--these appear to be in the coprinoid group.


These were nearby, and may be the same species (and if so, are close to Coprinellus micaceus).


In the same mulch bed this handsome gnarled polypore emerges from a buried stump. Probably the Coprinellus mushrooms are growing from the rotting roots of the same stump.


In another mulch bed (the one at the bottom of this post, in fact) bird's nest fungi are so densely packed that they can't all open properly.


This impressive fruiting inspired me to attempt a spore print, but after leaving the severed caps under a plastic cover over night, all I got was fungus gnat maggots.


I found this pair of gray-headed twins back under the red oaks. These are probably Russula viriscens/crustosa see this post for a discussion of this species and it's name(s). If I'm right about this identification, this is the first time I've seen a gray variety of it--usually it is green, but is known to vary.


Just a few feet is this attractive cousin to the Russulas.


Flipped over and cut with my knife, it bleeds white latex, an identifying feature of the Lactarius mushrooms.


Also popping us this week are these wonderful life forms. Despite their sudden ghostly appearance, Monotropa uniflora are not mushrooms. These are parasitic plants which specialize on stealing from the sugars released during the association between fungi in the Russula family and the oak trees.

Comments

[lemonlies.livejournal.com]

Monotropa uniflora are probably my favourite plant. Thanks so much for the picture.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Every year we'd get ghost flowers (Monotropa uniflora) in the yard. And Russula. Well, now I know why!