The answer to my previous post
Jul. 20th, 2008 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanIf you haven't seen the question yet, go to the previous post first.
I was surprised so many of you got it! It's the cap of a mushroom growing in front of the zoo hospital. There was a little group of them, green-capped Russulas, the smallest ones the most green. I am reasonably certain that this is Russula virescens, sometimes given the common name "green quilted Russula." It's noted as a common species of northeast woodlands, and this chunk of Franklin Park certainly qualifies. There's a chance that it's Russula crustosa, a similar mushroom with a more variable cap color. Either way, if I had been tempted to eat them, they are both considered good edibles, R. virescens seeming to be somewhat better regarded. I haven't tried to eat any Russulas, because much of the literature is cautionary, probably because the most prominent member of the genus is called "The Sickener."
Russulas are one of many genera of fungi that are obligate symbiotes with plants. They are always found in association with hardwood trees, in this case some ancient kite-eating oaks that loom around the park. The Russula fungus helps itself to surplus starches that the oaks make with photosynthesis, while the tree's roots become more efficient at absorbing water and nutrients in the partnership. R. virescens is known to thrive in acid soils, a condition common to urban parks due to fire suppression and air pollution. Russulas are beautiful mushrooms, usually characterized by colorful caps contrasting with chalk-white stalks and gills.
I was surprised so many of you got it! It's the cap of a mushroom growing in front of the zoo hospital. There was a little group of them, green-capped Russulas, the smallest ones the most green. I am reasonably certain that this is Russula virescens, sometimes given the common name "green quilted Russula." It's noted as a common species of northeast woodlands, and this chunk of Franklin Park certainly qualifies. There's a chance that it's Russula crustosa, a similar mushroom with a more variable cap color. Either way, if I had been tempted to eat them, they are both considered good edibles, R. virescens seeming to be somewhat better regarded. I haven't tried to eat any Russulas, because much of the literature is cautionary, probably because the most prominent member of the genus is called "The Sickener."
Russulas are one of many genera of fungi that are obligate symbiotes with plants. They are always found in association with hardwood trees, in this case some ancient kite-eating oaks that loom around the park. The Russula fungus helps itself to surplus starches that the oaks make with photosynthesis, while the tree's roots become more efficient at absorbing water and nutrients in the partnership. R. virescens is known to thrive in acid soils, a condition common to urban parks due to fire suppression and air pollution. Russulas are beautiful mushrooms, usually characterized by colorful caps contrasting with chalk-white stalks and gills.
