Comox Valley Nature

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on October 9.

The fun of fungi is never knowing what will turn up from one year to the next…every year I seem to find fungi that are new to me. This is a vast and difficult group of organisms to study—humbling but inspiring!

Here are a few highlights of things I’ve seen lately:

1. Strawberries and cream, also known as the blood fungus  (Hydnellum peckii): spectacular when fresh, a favourite!

2. Cauliflower (Sparassis crispa): edible, but too beautiful to eat. 

3. Angel wings (Pleurocybela porrigens): edible, and likewise too beautiful to eat!

4. Round-headed truffle club (Tolypocladium capitatum): these strange little shrooms grow from an underground truffle, Elaphomyces. Note the pimply texture of the cap.

5. Slippery jack (genus Suillus).

Lastly is a slime mould (not a fungus) that I stumbled upon while fungi-looking. Coral slime (genus Ceratiomyxa) is tiny, with finger-like clusters that look like miniature anemones. On a rotting log.

Most of these are from an area of small lakes north of Campbell River, where I was hunting for chanterelles (sorry, can’t disclose the exact location!).

The strawberries and cream and slippery jacks are from the Merville Woods (Williams Beach Road).

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on October 2.

Sharon N. sent in these lovely lichen pics from Miracle Beach Park. [Click photo to enlarge.]

1. I think this is one of the beard lichens (in the genus Usnea)
2. Budding tube lichen (Hypogymnia enteromorpha)

Note by Alison M. to the Botany Group, distributed by Jocie on October 2.

Sticta limbata

This is a lichen Loys found on the aging fibreglass “window” on our garage, about 100 feet from the house. Amazing what is right under our noses. [Click photo to enlarge.]

Global Status “Vulnerable” G3G4; Canada “N3N4”;  BC “S3S4”.

Sticta limbata is rare in the Appalachians, and it is rare from the Californian Santa Cruz Mountains northward into Oregon in the North Coast Ranges. Additionally, this foliose lichen is known from Alaska southward and rarely inland to British Columbia. The species also occurs in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The lichen grows on bark (on beech trees – Fagus sp. – in the high elevations of the Appalachians) or over mosses on trees.

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on September 26.

Jan S. passed along these wacky looking chanterelles!

Also, some close-up photos from Sharon N. of slime moulds from Nymph Falls.

While looking for chanterelles last week I found dots of tiny orange slime on some Oregon beaked moss (Kindbergia oregana). I haven’t ID’d it yet…if any of you know what this diminutive slime is, let me know.

Since we are in shroom season…send in your fungi pics! I might not be able to ID them for you; if not, our local expert Alison might give it a shot. 

Contributed by Alison M. Click an image to enlarge it.

Amanitas are amongst the most stunning, but toxic fungi.

In general, most species in the Amanita genus are easily recognizable through the following features (see illustration 1): a cap with “warts” which are the remnants of the universal veil that encased the embryonic fruiting body; at the base a distinct volva out of which the fruiting body grew, a ring around the upper part of the stem/stipe, again part of the universal veil; white spores.

First, the most commonly observed Amanita muscaria (fly agaric, photo 2) with its bright red cap and white warts. There is not total agreement on the varieties we have in the Pacific Northwest including A. muscaria var. flavivolvatus and A. muscaria var. alba (see MatchMaker for details).

Common to our area is also a brown species with white warts, Amanita pantherina (photo 3), as well as two with yellow caps and white warts – Amanita aprica and Amanita gemmata (photo 4). The former tends to appear in the spring, the latter in the fall. There is a broad colour range from bright to dull, apricot shades to pale lemon (photos 5 & 6). To add to the confusion, very young A. muscaria can be quite yellow in appearance.

Two white amanitas in our area:

• Amanita silvicola (photo 7), which has a short stubby stipe emerging from a round volva and is covered with lots of cottony tissue.

• Amanita smithiana, which by contrast has a long stipe, emerging from a bulbous base that tapers towards the “root” end (photos 8 & 9). Hence the latter might be mistaken for Tricholoma magnivelare (pine mushroom, photo 10) which of course has no warts, and is recognizable by its sweet cinnamon smell. As always, PICKER BEWARE.

This September, Kate and Gary found an early stage Amanita pachycolea (western grisette) on a path in their woods (photo 11). We located a mature example on the trail to McKenzie Lake in the Park. The cap is striate, often without warts, and the stipe is quite slender, emerging from a volva that is constricted half way up (photos 12 & 13).

A final word on the two most prominent amanitas with lethal amatoxins (the photos here are scanned from Siegel and Schwarz, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast):

• Amanita ocreata,(western destroying angel), spring fruiting, with hardwoods (including various oak species) in California; not to my knowledge this far north (photo 14).

• Amanita phalloides (death cap), fruiting possible year round, with hardwoods (photo 15). It was introduced from Europe on the roots of the cork oak, and has become naturalized in California. It has spread north mostly through the movement of nursery ornamentals, and has reached Victoria and south Vancouver Island & Salt Spring Island (?), but has not been observed in the Comox Valley. [Editor’s note: Subsequent to this post, death caps have been observed here; see this later post.]

Notes and photos provided to the Botany Group by Alison M. Click a photo to enlarge it.

Part 1: Fungi with veins and folds

As you will have noticed with the cooler wetter weather, fungi are starting to appear.  Jocie has already presented the much sought-after golden chanterelle along with a delicious looking soup.  In the list below are a few good edibles, but most of the fungi to be found in the woods, whether in the valley or up in the subalpine, are best admired in their environment. And always remember “when in doubt…leave it out .”

One of the distinctive features of Craterellus formosus  (golden chanterelle) is the blunt vein-like folds (not gills) on the underside of the cap where the spores reside (see this previous post).   This is one of the 14 major morphological groups of fungi (in the list used by the Pacific Northwest Key Council ). Below are other fungi that have similar fertile surfaces.  

One of these is the Gomphus clavatus , commonly known as pig’s ears, also a good edible, if you get to it before the fly larvae tunnel through the flesh. The blunt veins are a purplish colour contrasting the dingy beige of the cap. In terms of flavour it is not unlike the chanterelle, although it has been known to cause gastrointestinal upset in some people.

The so-called woolly chanterelle Turbinellus floccosus (formerly Gomphus floccosus) also has blunt veins and a vase shape. It starts out as a series of cylindrical tubes as in seen in the lower centre of the second photo and is a brilliant red colour on the cap when mature. In texture it is extremely tough, and so inedible.

The underside of the so-called lobster mushroom – Hypomyces lactifluorum – also has the appearance of blunt ridges. It is the product of a parasitic take-over of a Russula brevipes by the hypomyces. The blunt ridges are the only trace left of the original gills of the russula. The lobster is a good edible, even though its original form, like most russulas, is bitter and unpalatable.

Finally a word on look-alikes in the first photo below. Seen from afar, Chroogomphus tomentosus (on the left) can fool you into thinking “chanterelle”, but its cap is rounded (middle photo). not flat or depressed, and as soon as you turn it over (last photo) you will see sharpish deep gills, ending just below the cap, not the blunt veins of the chanterelle, and a hint of the dark spore (chanterelles have a white spore). The fungus on the right in the first photo is Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, which  has sharp gills (sorry, not the best specimen here). It is a lurid orange in colour with thin flesh and thin stipe. So always look closely under the cap of your putative chanterelle.

Happy foraging! 

From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on September 25.

It’s that time of year again, when the fruiting fungi start to magically appear after the rain.

Here’s a few photos of the Pacific golden chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus). They often have a lovely vase shape with a fluted cap…very decorative! I recently went for a short foray and found enough to make soup….

[Click a photo to enlarge it.]