Sep. 28th, 2009

urbpan: (mazegill)
On the off chance that someone who has gone on a Fungi Field Walk with me is reading this, I thought I'd bring up some relevant mushroom information. Other people might like it too.

One of the mental notes I've left for myself and misplaced several times is "Research how the mushroom called 'carbon balls' distributes its spores." Carbon balls (Daldinia concentrica, also called 'coal fungus') are the fruiting bodies of a wood-digesting fungus. They are dark brown to black, and hard and dry to the touch. If you crush them between your thumb and finger, it's feels similar to crushing a well-burnt piece of wood. If you slice them with a knife, you can see concentric rings of growth inside (you may also, as I did, see insect larvae hiding inside, as Tom Volk did).

What I didn't know (until I consulted Tom Volk's page) was where the spores were in this fungus. It looks kind of like a puffball, but the inside of puffballs turn to spores, and that doesn't appear to be what's happening with carbon balls. The concentric rings are the clue. The spores are produced by cells on the surface of the mushroom. The mushroom is perennial, and with each season of growth, it adds another new layer of spore-producing cells.

If I find some in the city, I will write up a More Urban Species entry for them.

This mushroom is closely related to Dead man's fingers.

Profile

urbpan: (Default)
urbpan

May 2017

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
1415 1617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 1st, 2025 10:05 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios