dead Russulas on our list. I also found a generic greyish polypore that I couldn’t identify, so I posted its image on iNaturalist. Te answer came back… harbor seal. Needless to say, I didn’t put “harbor seal” on our species list. Quite a few basidiomycetes have a
gelatinous texture that permits them to deal with freezing and thawing conditions. Te jellies are the most commonly encountered of these species, and we saw lots of Tremellas and Exidias, along with a single burgeoning Dasyscyphus. We also found several healthy specimens of Gloeoporus dichrous, otherwise known as the Bubblegum Polypore, so named because its gelatinous fertile surface can be stretched from its pileus like a piece of bubble gum. Onward we went, through mixed
woods and an old growth hemlock grove. One of our participants began complaining of cold feet and left for a warmer habitat. Tis person didn’t seem to have the ability to unfreeze himself, whereas the Schizophyllums we encountered shortly after his departure possess that ability in spades. All at once Deana shouted “Hurrah!”
and bent down to photograph specimens so small that the rest of us likewise needed to bend down in order to see them. Te species in question was Porodisculus pendulus, perhaps 50 of which were happily fruiting along a large oak log. Te reader might recall that this species — the world’s smallest polypore — was featured as a Small Wonder in the summer 2019 issue of FUNGI. Te sky was darkening by the time we
returned to the Audubon parking lot. An Audubon visitor saw us and asked what we’d been up to. Documenting fungi, I informed him. “I didn’t think there were any fungi
here at this time of year,” the fellow said, echoing the club officer I referred to earlier. “We found 50 or so different species
during our five-hour foray,” I replied. Tis figure was incorrect. I needed
to subject several of the resupinate polypores and corticioid species we collected to microscopic examination, and once I did so, I sent a note to my fellow participants indicating that we had found 62 different species during this year’s Christmas Mushroom Walk. Eat your hearts out, snowbirds!
Winter 2022 FUNGI Volume 15:1 37
Tectella patellaris.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
