365 Urban Species. #203: Chicken Mushroom

Photos by urbpan. Location: The Riverway, at the base of a red oak.

Urban species #203: Chicken mushroom Laetiporus cincinnatus

A word about the scientific nomenclature of this species. Currently, molecular identification techniques are causing a revolution in mycology. Mushrooms that are familiar among those who collect and eat them, are turning out to be complexes of species that have different ecologies. The chicken mushroom is one of these. Mycologist Tom Volk advocates using the name cincinnatus for those chicken mushrooms that have a white spore-bearing surface (as opposed to yellow) and grow from the base of the tree they are feeding on. The urban-ness of the species name is, of course, most appealing to me as well.

Chicken mushrooms are among the most sought-after of the edible mushrooms. They are named for their textural resemblance to chicken flesh when cooked (raw, like many mushrooms, they cause stomach upset). When I discover a chicken mushroom, I have to photograph it immediately, before some urban forager harvests it.


The white, spore bearing surface.
( click for more )

Work pictures

I'll take the fact that I forgot my camera two days in a row as a sign that I need to post pictures I took at work last month. I skipped them by mistake because the silver fox took up a whole photobucket page by himself.


( open, please )

Guess what?

Nymphal grasshoppers are not gross. It's because we are babies!


Also, early instar tussock moth caterpillars are cute.