I Forgot To Mention, This Species Of Fungi Is Actually Edible When Young.

I forgot to mention, this species of fungi is actually edible when young.

Beefsteak mushroom - Fistulina hepatica

Which slasher got to this mushroom? Michael Myers? Ghostface?

Fruitbody

The cap is 7 to 20 centimetres across and 7 to 14 centimetres deep, it is irregularly shaped but often semicircular, fan-shaped, or tongue-like, with a lobed and wavy margin. The surface is wet and sticky when fresh, finely bumpy and bald. The cap has a liver red, reddish orange, or brownish red colour.¹

The pore surface is white to pale pinkish in colour, becoming yellowish and eventually reddish brown in age, bruising brown. The tubes are up to 1.5 centimetres long and distinctly separated with circular mouths.¹ This is unlike most polypores in which the pores are bonded together.²

The stipe is absent, or rudimentary and lateral. It is colored like the cap above, covered with the pore surface and firm in texture.¹

The flesh is whitish, streaked with reddish areas. It has a thick, soft and watery texture, exuding a reddish juice when squeezed.¹

Microscopic features and spore print.

The spores (seen below) are ovoid, smooth and about 4.5-6 x 3-4µm.² The spores are also hyaline to yellowish in KOH. The basiadia are 4-sterigmate, the hyphal system is monomitic and clamp connections are present.¹

The spore print is pale pinkish to yellow in colour.²

Ecology

This species saprobic and sometimes weakly parasitic on the wood and deadwood of oaks and other hardwoods, causing a brown rot. Fistulina hepatica is annual, growing from summer to fall. It grows alone or in small groups near the bases of trees and on stumps.¹

Distribution

It is widespread throughout Britain and Ireland and is found throughout the mainland of Europe and is widely distributed throughout North America.²

Note: the links to the images are in the image discription.

References

1.

2.

Mutuals

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This music is amazing! I'll probably listen to this the whole autumn! To this and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

This song is so good! I'm dying! I love the halloween vibes! I'm legit counting the days 'till halloween.

Fossil Shark Teeth ID Project - Part 1

I am currently working on a shark teeth ID project. It is a personal project I am working on because I got gifted a multitude of fossil shark teeth of various species.

I am fairly sure that the teeth (seen in the two pictures below) belong to the family Lamnidae and are from the species Cosmopolitodus hastalis.

If these teeth are in fact the teeth of Cosmopolitodus hastalis they ought to date back to the Miocene and Pliocene (which are the two epochs of the Neogene). Although the species was still alive during the Pleistocene, fossils found of Cosmopolitodus hastalis in Cadzand (in the Netherlands) date back to the Miocene and Pliocene.

One of the shark teeth (the left picture below) gifted to me is so severely eroded that I cannot visually identify it, however it is still a gorgeous fossil.

Between the various shark teeth I also found what I suspect to be a part of a fossilised chela (claw/pincer of a crab) (seen in the right picture below). Considering the location of the find I think it might be from Carcinus maenas and could date back to the Pliocene.

I painted a plant pot today! It was awesome!

The beetles were based on pine chafers a.k.a. Polyohylla fullo, but because of the colours and the vertical stripes on the wings they don't really look like them.

Below a photograph of a pine chafer I made some time ago:)

Black elfin saddle - Helvella lacunosa

Another post for the spooky season . . . the black elfin saddle's chambered stipe gives it a skeletal and a somewhat spooky appearance. It might be found in burnt or disturbed grounds.

Fruitbody

The cap is 2 to 4 centimetres across and about 4 to 10 centimetres high.¹ The saddle-shaped cap is irregularly lobed and convoluted, attached to the stipe in several places and has a black to dark brown colour.² It is the smooth outer surface of the cap that bears spores, while the inner surface is sterile.¹

The stipe is 1.5 to 4 centimeters long and 5 to 15 millimetres thick. It might have a whitish colour when young, but soon turns a gray to dark gray colour. The stipe is deeply and ornately ribbed and pocketed, the ribs are rounded, or sometimes sharp and double-edged.²

The flesh of the fruitbody is thin, brittle and chambered.²

Microscopic features

The asci (seen on the bottom left) are typically 340 μm long x 16 μm diameter, each ascus contains eight spores. The paraphyses are about 5 μm diameter, cylindrical¹ and hyaline.² Some paraphyses have capitata apices.¹

The spores (seen on the bottom right) are smooth², ellipsoidal, 15 - 19 x 10 - 13 μm and hyaline. The spore print is white.¹

Ecology

Black elfin saddles can typically be found among leaf litter in all types of woodland, they are often found on burnt ground or in otherwise disturbed woodland clearings.¹ The species is probably mycorrhizal, growing alone, scattered or gregariously.² Helvella lacunosa grows between summer and autumn.¹

Distribution

This species can be found throughout Britain and the throughout the mainland of Europe, it can also be found in North America.¹

Note: the links to the images are in the image discription.

References

1.

2.

Mutuals

@squidsandthings

@fungus-gnats

@fairy-tales-of-yesterday

@flamingears

@lameotello

@lovelyalicorn

@writingraccoon

@edukincon

@emmakapla

Ghost pipe - Monotropa uniflora

I made this post about Monotropa uniflora to kick off the spooky season! While this post is not about a type of fungus, I could not resist writing about it. Besides its ghostly (lack of) colour, its dried out seed heads also look akin to pumpkins, which is just awesome!

Monotropa uniflora or ghost pipe does not contain chlorophyll (which gives most plants a green colour) and forms symbiotic relationships with fungi.

Description

The plant is waxy white with some black flecks, but some specimens have been described as having a pale pink colour and verey rarely having a deep red colour. The white variants have black flecks on their stems.

The ghost pipe ranges in height from 5 to 30 centimeters, sheathed with highly reduced leaves 5 to 10 millimetres long, which look akin to scales. These structures are small, thin, translucent and do not have petioles but instead extend in out of the stem.

The stem bears a single flower, which is 10 to 20 millimetres long, with 3 to 8 translucent petals, 10 to 12 stamens and a single pistil. The fruit, an oval capsule-like structure, grows and becomes upright when the seeds mature. After reaching maturity the stem and capsule look dark brown or black with a brittle texture.

The seeds of M. uniflora are small, ranging between 0.6 to 0.8 millimetres long. Once the plant has been pollinated, the seeds are pushed through the petals in a tiny slit and dispersed by the wind.

Unlike most plants, it is white and does not contain chlorophyll. Instead of generating food using the energy from sunlight a.k.a photosynthesizing, it is parasitic, and more specifically a mycoheterotroph. Most fungi are mycorrhizal and through the fungal web of mycorrhizae, M. uniflora roots ultimately tap food from where the host fungi are connected to the photosynthetic trees. The roots of this plant are covered in hairs called cystidia, which allow easy attachment to fungi hyphae. Its hosts are in the Russulaceae family.

Distribution and genetics

M. uniflora is found in three general distribution areas: Asia, North America, and Central and northern South America. DNA analysis has shown that these three populations are genetically distinct from one another. The species has 48 chromosomes.

Ecology

M. uniflora as a mycoheterotrophic plant asscociates with a small range of fungal hosts, all of them members of Russulaceae. It is often found growing neer beech trees in clumps of two or more with its fungal source nearby. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it can grow in very dark environments like in the understory of dense forests.

It flowers from early summer to early autumn, often a few days after rainfall.

The flowers of the ghost pipe are frequented by various species of bees and flies, most commonly bumblebees. By crawling into the flower for pollen, bumblebees play a role as an important pollen dispersal agent.

References:

1.

en.wikipedia.org

Monotropa uniflora - Wikipedia

2.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/mycotrophic/monotropa_uniflora.shtml

Images:

1.

jungledragon.com

MONOTROPA UNIFLORA. - by mossy rock studio - JungleDragon

MONOTROPA UNIFLORA.. Indian Pipe

2.

en.wikipedia.org

Monotropa uniflora - Wikipedia

Mutuals

@squidsandthings

@fungus-gnats

@fairy-tales-of-yesterday

@flamingears

@lameotello

@lovelyalicorn

@writingraccoon

@edukincon

@emmakapla