Comox Valley Nature

Botany Group Report  : November  19^th Outing Tsolum River Road

The range of fungi for later November was still large.  Of note we identified many large Russula brevipes – short- footed russula- that heaves up moss, turf, branches etc. ( see photo + slug). We also found one Russula xerampelina  – shrimp russula  (specimens of which were in the soup).  We saw lots of Inocybe species, and the Hypholoma fasciculare – sulfur tuft – in its various stages from young button to degraded soggy  brown “mush”.  Curiosities included the Pseudohydnum gelatinosum  – cat’s tongue (see photo)  and Nidula candida -bird’s nest fungus.  I failed to find a specimen of Xylaria hypoxylon – carbon antlers, so see attached photo taken on the Tuesday.  Also, another intriguing late fall fungus that eluded me on Monday (Jocie not being with us!)  was the Auriscalpium vulgare   “earpick fungus” .   It falls into the tooth/spine morphological group and is another example of a fungus with very specific environment – Douglas fir cones – see attached photos.

Cat’s Tongue                                                                   Carbon Antlers

Lactarius w orange latex                                        Russula brevipes

The Lactarius that we found near the end of the walk turns out to be Lactarius aestivus,   not in Truedell and Amirati (where it would still be subsumed under Lactarius deliciosus var. deliciosus.)  It was larger than the Lactarius subflammeus, of which we saw hundreds, and much more robust, with orange (not white) latex (see photo).

Here is the general entry on L. aestivus  from Matchmaker ( no photo however) :

Features of Lactarius aestivus include 1) viscid, orange, zonate cap, 2) subdecurrent to decurrent, crowded, orange gills, 3) orange and whitish stem that may be scrobiculate, 4) scanty bright orange milk, 5) grayish green staining of some parts (but not extensive and conspicuous), 6) fruiting under true fir and hemlock.   (scrobiculate means pitted with indentations , in other words it is not a smooth straight -sided stalk).  All these macro characteristics fit.   See photo  attached.

It is well illustrated and described in Siegel and Schwarz “Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast”  and they note that in their opinion it is the best tasting of the “deliciosus” group.  It is less grainy and firmer, which is my experience.  I did pick and cook up more caps (the stipe is too tough).

Next Gathering : Christmas Potluck lunch  Monday Dec. 10^th, 12.30 pm

Report on October 15th walk 

For those who missed the report at our last general CVN meeting, for the October 15th gathering we had a glorious day to meander around the Paradise Meadows loops, collecting the SWI plant signs to store for the winter. In fact it was Frank N. who collected most of them while the rest of us enjoyed the fall colours of the vaccinia  etc. and investigated a number of interesting fungi.  There were still lots of berries on the bog and dwarf blueberries, and so it was not surprising to learn that one of our group who went up earlier saw wet imprints of bear paws on the boardwalk.  By the time we walked around the Boardwalk was dry. Among the fungi, Ruth identified a new bracket polypore for the Paradise Meadows list, namely Porodaedalea pini, on the trunk of a still living abies species. It is one of the species that causes white-rot in heartwood. We found a number of different species of Cortinarius – the one in the photo taken by Sharon is  Cortinarius phoenicius var. occidentalis, commonly called western red dye since the rich burgundy of both cap and gills is much prized by those who use fungi for dyeing.

Then we shared lunch with the Canada jays on the picnic table outside the Wilderness Centre.

Upcoming Botany group Meeting

First of all, our next Gathering will be on Monday November. The forecast at this point seems to call for showers.  However, we will have a walk around our woods first to see the latest crop of fungi.  This year has been good for a whole lot of species that did not even make an appearance in the past two years.  We can talk about Mushroom Identification and then for lunch there will be mushroom soup -with amongst other ingredients Russula xerampelina, which were abundant a couple of weeks ago and easy to identify (for once) using the characteristic features listed in  Siegal & Schwarz, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (which includes many species that are to be found all the way up to our coast).

·         odour slightly fishy or like shrimp ( more obvious in older specimens)

The attached photo should illustrate the stipe staining slowly yellow when scratched.  When cooked the red of the cap turned the whole flesh pink ( another reason for the common name shrimp russula?)

It would be appreciated if you let me know that you are coming, to give me a rough idea of numbers for soup , coffee and tea.