Report by Alison M. circulated to the Botany/Mycology Group on January 26. Watch for part 2 (polypores) coming later. Click a photo to enlarge it.
Notes on colourful fungi in the Comox Valley, late fall into winter 2023-2024
To add to the bright yellows, oranges and purples of Jocie’s report on the group’s visit to Kitty Coleman Park…. Who said that winter shrooms were all dull?
First, the mystery shroom from the Kitty Coleman report – it looked most like a Nolanea holoconiota, so photos 1A and B show a specimen (a little more pointed that the mystery specimen), complete with its base, which is typically quite fuzzy. Photo 1B shows the spore print of the Nolanea on the right – a strong deep pink. The spore print on the left is from a Pluteus exilis (deer mushroom) which is a more salmony pink colour. The mystery shroom, given its size, might have been the latter, though the cap was paler than often seen, and the usual streaking on the stipe not clear.


Waxy caps
In October I circulated a photo of the bright scarlet Hygrocybe coccinea (or possibly miniata if one follows MacKinnon and Luther) from our forest (photo 2). In late December we found the yellow Hygrocybe flavescens (photo 3).


On a walk along Rosewall Creek on January 7 we found the seldom noticed parrot waxy cap, Gliophorus psittacinus (formerly Hygrocybe psittacina) (photos 4A and 4B). The cap of this fungus starts out a brilliant green (hence “parrot”, psittakos being the Greek for parrot), but the cap within a day will fade to a dingy yellow-beige. In photo 4A there is a young cap in front, and an older cap behind, the former not easy to spot in the moss on the shaded forest floor. In photo 4B the cap on the right still retains some of its green colour. The photo in MacKinnon and Luther, p. 87, has been illuminated with a flash.


One Mycena
Photo 5A shows the somewhat dingy cap of Mycena aurantiomarginata, but underneath the brilliant orange edges of the gills show up against a white ground (photo 5B).


Fragrant fungi
Some waxy caps are scented; Hygrophorus bakerensis (photos 6A and 6B) has a lovely almondy fragrance (as do some of the Clitocybe species).


However, probably the most memorable scent (excluding the spicy old socks of the pine mushroom – Tricholoma murillianum) is that of the Aphroditeola olida (photos 7A and 7B). The very strong fruity perfume of this pink fungus gives rise to its common name, pink bubblegum mushroom, though its new genus name associated with Aphrodite and the perfume ought to suggest a more elevated label. The fungus was formerly in the Hygrophoropsis genus, its form, with vase shape and decurrent gills very like the false chanterelle, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca.


One toothed fungus
Hydnellum fuscoindicum (formerly Sarcodon fuscoindicum) has a dark scaly cap that blackens with age. The cross-section of this old specimen shows the still blue flesh clearly, along with the profile of the spines. Hard to make out on the forest floor, the cap showed up better using the camera’s flash although that does alter the colour. This fungus is one of the few from which one can obtain blue colours for wool in an alkaline bath.

