The Urban Pantheist

I already posted this little group of mushrooms, deeming them to belong to an "unknown Amanita sp." but after some research--most importantly, looking at my own photos from the same area in previous years--I'm prepared to go out on a limb. These appear to the Amanita species complex called "the blusher." At the moment our Northeast species goes by the same scientific name as the European one: A. rubescens* but as mycology progresses, we are likely to have our own name for our own mushroom.

This mushroom has all the classic field markings of the Amanita group: a warty cap, a partial veil that becomes a skirt-like ring, white spores, gills that don't touch the stem, and a swelling at the sub-soil level of the stem. Additionally, the blusher tends toward reddish hues, becoming more so when cut or bruised. Field guides say that the European variety is edible, once the toxins are ruined by cooking. This group contains many poisonous mushrooms, including the mushrooms that have killed more people than any other, which contain poisons that are not deactivated by cooking. Prudent sources advise: just don't.



* Mushroom, becoming red.

Remember the other day when I posted that "Russula" means "reddish?" Well, they aren't all red; here's a pair of nice green ones! These have been emerging from the mycelium hidden in the soil by the door to my workplace for at least 3 years that I've noticed. They will probably continue to do so for as long as the huge red oaks that loom overhead continue to live. The green russula's mycelium is all tangled up in the roots of the oaks, and with the mycelium of many other fungus species.



Since green russulas keep appearing in the same place, at the same time of year, year after year, I feel confident that its the same species each time. If you check my "crackle top" tag, you'll see them arriving from late June to mid July. You'll also see my evolving attempts to identify them to species. Apparently the right way to do it is to consult this key. Alas, that key loses me quickly when it asks for things only visible with a microscope. My preferred method is to consult people who know more than I do, and using that method (many thanks to Dianna Smith!) I have learned that the crackle top (or "green quilted") mushroom in our area is R. parvovirescens*.

* "Small becoming green"

This rainy day, and this mushroom I found on this rainy day, marked the end of my personal drought of interesting mushrooms. Big, bold, orange, and complete with all the field markings of an Amanita*: Warts on the cap, a ring on the stem, a swelling at the base. Or if you want the proper terms, patchy universal veil remnants on the pileus, partial veil remnant in the form of an annulus on the stipe, and a clublike volva. The yellow warts and stem helped me identify it as A. flavoconia** called "yellow patches" in many field guides. The feature that earns it that name has been washed off by the rain in these other specimens--good thing there were a ton of these around in various stages of development. These mushrooms are the reproductive structure of a fungus that weaves the roots of the various trees together as a massive interconnected symbiotic superorganism. It is noted for being especially likely to form mycorhizzae with hemlock, a tree species that in our area is under serious stress from an invasive insect. Astonishingly, considering how large and common and colorful this species is, there is no definitive note on whether it is edible or not. All the guides advise caution, since this genus includes the species of mushrooms that have killed more people than any other.



* "Fungus"

** "Yellow plaster"

I saw many partial fairy rings (fairy arcs?) in Florida. I saw lots of mushrooms in general, which I consider to be a huge factor in Florida's favor.

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This Amanita mushroom is most likely A. rubescens, called "the blusher" for the pink tones that overcome it as it ages.

These crackle-top Russulas reliably appear in the same general location each summer, in the area around the zoo hospital. They are the fruiting bodies of a fungus that lives in symbiosis with the red oaks that tower overhead. There are thought to be a number of closely related species that produce crackle-tops--lately I've resorted to calling these subsection Virescentinae, for lack of a definitive species identification.

Interestingly, the keys that guide one toward identifying this mushroom use characteristics that seem to vary, in my experience, from bloom to bloom. These mushrooms, presumably (though not definitely) from the same mycelium, have ranged from gray to green, sometimes with reddish brown tones sometimes not. I'll continue to photograph the crackle-tops that appear in this area, partly to document the diversity and partly because I find them to be a very beautiful creatures.

After getting run out of the Edison/Ford house (It was xmas eve, and the staff probably wanted to get to see their families) we poked a finger at the map and found this state park. We hiked blindly, deeper and deeper into sandy soil, palmettos and scattered pines. I kept expecting to find the bay, but we headed in exactly the wrong direction. We'll have to take another whack at it next time we're in the area. Not that it was totally wasted, we saw...

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Identifying mushrooms isn't easy. That's why so many people kill themselves by doing it incorrectly. This angle tells us very little about the mushroom: it has a dry, pinkish brown cap. It's growing in a small group.

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Good lord there are so many mushrooms out there that it is impossible to keep up. This post is just those that have appeared at Franklin Park Zoo in the past week. Above is a group of hemlock reishi Ganoderma tsugae

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Back in October I took a mushroom class and took some notes. I'm writing them here--maybe not too interesting in this format but maybe there's something useful here for you.

Clitocybe robustus is an all-white mushroom with a thick stalk and a "nasty smell" (which I couldn't detect) that grows in pine duff and leaf litter (pretty sure I know of two locations where it grows at the zoo, and I probably mis-identified it). Unscrupulous foragers will store it until the smell goes away and sell it to restaurants (not poisonous but not a great edible either).

The umbrella shape of a mushroom protects the spores from drying out from the sun as well as being ruined by the rain (proper humidity levels are required for the spore-producing cell to release the spore correctly).

Fungi are better at nitrogen intake than plants are (this is one of the benefits plants receive from mycorrhizal associations).

18-20% of the photosynthates (the sugars generated by photosynthesis) are given to the fungal partner(s) in a mycorrhizal relationship.

In the autumn, plant growth stops and fungal fruiting happens.

Wood holds moisture better than soil.

Windy weather helps dry out soil and wood, resulting in fewer mushrooms.

BROWN ROT is the same as cubical rot. Brown rot fungi digest cellulose, leave lignin behind. (This fact won't seem to stay in my head).

WHITE ROT fungi digest lignin, leaves cellulose behind.

Bark peeling at the base of a tree, and leaves falling early are signs of a fungal infection. (For trees, silly!)

Lichen are more properly called "lichenized fungi."

Old man's beard lichen has no apothecia (fruiting bodies) but instead reproduces vegetatively with wind-blown broken pieces.

Some graveyard groundskeepers routinely apply bleach to gravestones to retard lichen growth.

Acid rain provides nitrogen to trees, causing trees to dismiss their fungal partners. (That doesn't seem quite right--it must be that trees nourished by acid rain are less likely to form mycorrhizae).

Lawrence Millman is working on red-listing New England fungi species. (Should have explored this further--what's involved in "red-listing?")

My identification of lilac-gray crust is probably wrong. (Check entry later). Peniophora incarnata may be what I've been calling lilac-gray crust. Larry said there's no way to confuse the two. I FOUND A WAY.

Woodpeckers help spread fungi from tree to tree.

The mushroom growing from my picnic table is probably Gloeophyllum sp., not whatever I said it was.

Mollisia cinerea is a tiny gray cup fungus.