365 Urban Species. #251: Oak Maze-gill

[urbpan]

Urban species #251: Oak maze-gill Daedalea quercina

In temperate places where oak trees grow, they die and their wood is decayed by the oak maze-gill. Other fungi may do it, too, but it's the only thing that Daedalea quercina does. This mushroom will not appear on other dead trees, though a thin-fleshed look alike, Daedaleopsis confragosa, will grow on dead birches and willows. Though called a maze-gill, the spore-bearing surface technically consists of pores, and this fungus is in the same family as the "polypore" mushrooms, such as Polyporus squamosus (dryad's saddle). The pores are elongated into a distinctive maze-like pattern. Its scientific name alludes to Daedalus, the designer of the labyrinth, and the "quercina" part refers to oak itself (Quercus is the Genus name for oak trees). Oak maze-gill is leathery and perennial, and can be found year-round for many seasons, until it finally turns black and rots away itself.

Comments

[cavalaxis]

Do you have a specialty in mycology or is it just another interest?

I really enjoy all the fungi stuff.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

It's just another interest, but one that gets me more excited than many others. This time of year in New England there are a ton of fungi fruiting.

[cavalaxis]

Here in Southern California, we're mostly desert, so we don't get to see the moisture and decay related fungi. We get a few mushrooms in the rainy season, but mostly we have lichen (red and grey green) and treemoss (usnea).

Really, they're both fascinating, one for showing life out of death, the other for showing life in harsh conditions. And so many different structures, ways of capturing and moving moisture and finding food (lichens by a symbiotic relationship with algae in some instances). Just plain cool.

/mycogeekery