Comox Valley Nature

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on November 18.

Here’s a note from Sharon that will be of interest, along with a lovely photo of gumweed, a “late bloomer” [click the photo to enlarge it]:

The Kamloops Wildflower Project and especially Clapperton Ranch have some interesting winter/fall photographs on their Facebook page.  I shared one of their posts on the Comox Valley Nature Facebook page also.

I walked through Kin Beach Park a few days ago and was struck by the winter colours and how striking the silvers and rusts were against the green of the mosses. 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on November 14.

Cortinarius is the biggest genus of gilled mushrooms in the world, with thousands of species. The Pacific coast is a hotspot for “corts,” with a rich abundance and diversity. A few distinct features of this genus:

• Many have a “cortina” (from the Latin word for curtain) that forms a cobweb-like veil over the developing gills. Traces of the veil often appear as a ring-like band of fibrils on the stipe (stem).
• Spore prints are typically rusty-brown.
• All grow in soil or humus (never on wood) and are ectomycorrhizal.

Species in this genus come in a variety of sizes and colours. Some have brightly coloured gills (yellow, orange, red), and others have shades of green, lilac or purple. In a shaft of sunlight the gills can be spectacularly bright and satiny. Many more species are brown & dull, and these have a more subtle beauty.

Here are some examples of Cortinarius that I have seen this fall. These are all from four locations: Buttle Lake area, lakes north of Campbell River, the Merville Woods, and Miracle Beach Park. Note that #6 & 7 are a review of the lilac and purple corts discussed by Alison earlier in her debrief on green, blue and purple shrooms.

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]

1. This yellow-gilled cort might be Cortinarius croceus.

2. An orangy-gilled cort, possibly Cortinarius cinnamomomeus.

3. A red-gilled cort, likely Cortinarius smithii.

4. Close-up of the red gills of the above.

5. A beautiful “viscid” cort that looks like it is covered in a glaze (which reflects the canopy above!) Possibly Cortinarius vanduzerensis. Note the purple blush at the base of the stipe.

6. A lilac-coloured cort (there are many different lilac-toned species, which all look very similar!). Note the cortina on the stipe, which shows nicely here.

7. Violet cort (Cortinarius violaceus).

8. A brown-gilled cort…of some sort!

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on November 10.

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]

Here are some fly agarics (Amanita muscaria) growing in an unusual spot! (More down the hole, but I didn’t look too closely.) You never know where this cosmopolitan shroom will pop up!

I have seen a variety of button forms of this iconic species…some studded with warts, some hot-orange without warts, and others the size of an orange. Always interesting! Here are photos of some fly agaric forms:

• Warty button

• Wartless button

• Orange-sized 

• Classic amanitas (from the edge of a Comox parking lot)

There is nothing else that really looks like the fly agaric, though I was almost fooled by a tricholoma (I think this might be Tricholoma zelleri which in some books is the same thing as Tricholoma focale) at Merville Woods the other day. It was large and bright orange, but had a more slimy cap, and scaly stipe.

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on November 8.

The “shroom season” is winding down, and we will move on to other topics soon, but not quite yet!

Here are a few fungi in the genus Tricholomopsis. As far as I know, there are only 2 species in this genus in our area.  Both of these usually grow on rotten conifer wood.

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]

1. and 2.  Plums & custard (Tricholomopsis rutilans). From a beach log on the upper shore at Seal Bay. The plum-coloured cap and stipe and creamy-yellow gills complement each other nicely.

3. Decorated mop (Tricholomopsis decora). This fancy yellow fungus has fibrils and scales on the cap that become dark brown at the centre. Photographed here from the Rosewall Creek trail.

4. An older specimen of the decorated mop from the Buttle Lake area. This one was almost ready to keel over and looks quite different from the young version, but the yellow colour and brown fibrils in the centre of the cap are distinctive. 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on October 31.

During these days of social distancing it’s heartening to see troops of gregarious fungi gathering in the woods…quite heedless of human disasters.

Here are some groups and clusterings I’ve come across this fall in various locations: Miracle Beach Park, Rosewall Creek trail, Ralph River campground & Shepherd’s creek trail, and Bevan trails (along the upper Puntledge).

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]

1. Pholiota terrestris.

2. Sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare).

3. Fried chicken (Lyophyllum decastes).

4. Lake’s boletus (Boletus lakeii).

5. Honey mushroom (Armillaria sp.).

6. Xeromphalina sp.

7. Yellow foot (Craterellus tubaeformis). I think this is right, though this one looks more brightly yellow than any I’ve ever seen. 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on October 24.

There are some spectacular displays of “big laughing gym”, also known as “western jumbo gym” (Gymnopilus ventricosus) at Seal Bay Park. You can find it about 3/4 of the way down the main beach trail (on the right) that descends down the ravine. Just before the beach, fork to the right and just past the little bridge (just before the beach) there are several more clumps on the left.

The common name comes from the hallucinogenic properties that some other members of this genus have. However, Gymnopilus ventricosus is actually not psychoactive.

This shroom grows in bright yellow clusters on rotting logs, snags and stumps. Older specimens have a distinctive ring.

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]