The Urban Pantheist

Some people don't like parasites, but what if the parasite is large and colorful and delicious? Many people seem to love Laetiporus sulphureus*, especially foragers who may scan forests looking for their beloved "chickens," perched high on an oak tree. The oak tree, if it could express a preference, probably would rather not have this fungus in its heartwood, breaking down hemicellulose and cellulose and digesting the results. By the time the mushrooms have appeared, the fungus has been in the wood for years. The fungus continues to feed even if the tree falls down and dies.

This species has the distinction of holding the record for most massive single mushroom--actually a fused collection of shelves--more than a hundred pounds. The forager who found it managed to cut some 70 pounds down to bring home.


* Laetiporus means with bright pores and sulphureus means the colour of sulphur.

This is the chicken mushroom on August 11


And this is the exact same mushroom on August 13

Be careful with those field guides, mushrooms are not static. They change over time and with weather conditions.

These chicken mushrooms Laetiporus sp. grew from a tree in a part of the zoo that very few people see. I see almost everywhere, and I didn't discover these mushrooms until they were done releasing their spores and beginning to decompose. As far as the fungus that produced them is concerned this is exactly as it should be--the mushrooms have fulfilled their purpose.

People who like to eat wild mushrooms will see this as a tragedy, a missed opportunity. One of the most sought-after kinds of mushroom, allowed to wither on the tree, instead of grilled or fried and in some ape's greedy belly.

These pictures were taken while I was doing some work in the "Hooves and Horns" section of the zoo. Here I'm looking through the perimeter fence at the intersection of Blue Hill Ave and Seaver Street. The big log has some chicken mushrooms (Laetiporus) growing from it.


These attractive little LBMs caught my eye. At first I thought they might be Mycena but that genus always produces white spores, and the dark undersides of these suggests dark spores.


I dug around them to see what they were growing from, and discovered they had surprisingly long stems.

One of a pair of freshly sprouted chicken mushrooms. I cut a hunk off and ate it the next night. The day after that both mushrooms were gone, collected by another mushroomer.


Earlier in the week we found this odd thing. I touched it and it was dense but moist. After looking around the area and puzzling over it, I realized it was a freshly sprouted hen-of-the-woods.

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 )