thirteen intriguing mushrooms (but aren't they all...

Forest Matters Stewardship Newsletter Winter 2016

Thirteen Intriguing Mushrooms (But aren’t they all intriguing?)

Roger Monthey, U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry (All photos by the author unless otherwise indicated)

1) Silky Rosegill (Volvariella bombycina)

Why is it especially intriguing? This mushroom often grows in open wounds in trees as pictured here in a balsam poplar in Durham, NH.

Factoids This mushroom begins developing in a thin, egg-like sac that soon ruptures. The stem expands quickly, leaving the sac at the base of the stem as a volva (Wikipedia).

2) Green-Headed Jelly Baby (Leotia viscosa)

Why is it especially intriguing? A green gummy bear in the woods. You don’t say?

Factoids This mushroom is a member of the sac fungi or ascomycetes, the largest Phylum of mushrooms with over 64,000 species. According to Wikipedia, the defining feature of the group is the "ascus" (from Greek, meaning a sac or wineskin), which is the sexual, spore-bearing cell. They are commonly known as jelly babies because of the gelatinous texture of their fruiting bodies.

Silky Rosegill growing out of a balsam poplar in Durham, NH.

Photographer unknown; received from Steve Hundley, former State Soil Scientist for NRCS in New Hampshire.


3) Caesar’s Amanita (Amanita caesarea)

Why is it especially intriguing? A mushroom in a cup. Amanitas are some of our most handsome mushrooms. Photography, anyone?

Factoids Amanitas are important mycorrhizal associates with many tree species, including oaks and pines. Amanitas are famous for their deadly species—Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) and the Destroying Angel (A. virosa complex) (Bessette and others 1997).

Caesar's Amanita growing near Bath, ME. 4) Black Trumpet (Craterellus fallax)

Why is it especially intriguing? The Horn of Plenty (Cornucopia, a symbolic, hollow horn filled with the inexhaustible gifts of celebratory fruits) (Wikipedia). Maybe, but it is a cool, funnel-shaped mushroom that is avidly sought by mushroomers and frequently sold at farmers’ markets.

Factoids They resemble gilled mushrooms, but the spores are not produced on true gills; the fertile surfaces are usually blunt, gill to vein-like ridges, often forked or joined by crossveins (Bessette and others 1997).

Black Trumpet growing in College Woods, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.

5) Yellow-footed Chantarelle (Cantherellus xanthopus)

Why is it especially intriguing? A mushroom with yellow socks? Well, maybe.

Factoids The Chanterelles and their allies produce fruiting bodies that are often shaped like a funnel or vase at maturity (Bessette and others 1997). They usually grow on the ground.

Yellow-footed Chanterelle growing in College Woods, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.


6) Hedgehog Mushroom (Dentinum repandum)

Why is it especially intriguing? Have you ever seen a spiny animal called the hedgehog? (According to Wikipedia, a hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the order Erinaceomorpha. Seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera are found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand (by introduction).

To see a picture of a hedgehog, look up “hedgehog” on Wikipedia or go to a site such as http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/images. photos.asp?ss=hedgehog. Do you see the resemblance of the hedgehog to this mushroom?

Factoids The Hedgehog is in the Tooth Fungi group, which have downward pointing, spine-like teeth on which they produce spores (Bessette and others 1997). The teeth form on the underside of the mushroom’s cap.

Hedgehog Mushroom from Cumberland, ME.

7) Brown Dunce Cap (Conocybe tenera)

Why is it especially intriguing? Do you remember the reference to “dunce cap” of bygone school days? Times have changed, but the beauty of this mushroom never changes.

Factoids The genus Conocybe includes small, fragile mushrooms that grow in a variety of substrates including grass, humus, decaying wood, and dung (Bessette and others 1997). The cap of the Brown Dunce Cap is bell shaped and reddish brown to rusty brown that fades to a pale tawny when dry.

Brown Dunce Cap mushroom growing in Twinbrook Recreational Area, Cumberland, ME.

http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/images.photos.asp?ss=hedgehog

http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/images.photos.asp?ss=hedgehog


8) Netted Stinkhorn (Dictyophora duplicata)

Why is it especially intriguing? Really? A Netted Stinkhorn in your woods? It has a white, net-like flaring veil at its base and a foul-smelling spore mass that attracts many arthropods, including insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, and crustaceans (the specimen below attracted flies), hence its name.

Factoids Stinkhorns are members of the Gasteromycetes. According to Bessette and others (1997), they cannot forcibly discharge their spores and have developed alternative ways to disperse them, including wind, rain, insects, and mammals. The immature stage of stinkhorn is an egg-like structure that resembles a small puffball. As it matures, a hollow stalk with a head or arms arises from the egg. The spore mass is formed within the gelatinous slime inside the egg.

Netted Stinkhorn growing in College Woods, University of New Hampshire (left); immature Netted Stinkhorn (right). Note the immature stalk and greenish, gelatinous slime.


9) Gilled Polypore (Lenzites betulina)

Why is it especially intriguing? Who says mushrooms aren’t beautiful, especially when photographed from a small, wooden bridge above a sylvan pool?

Factoids It has pores rather than gills. Its medicinal properties include antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumor, and immunosuppressive (Wikipedia).

Gilled Polypore growing in Hidden Valley Nature Center, Jefferson, ME.


10) Lobster Mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum) and Shrimp of the Woods or AbortedEntoloma (Entoloma abortivum)

Why are they especially intriguing? Seafood in your woods, anyone? They actually smell like seafood! Both are edible.

Factoids The Lobster Mushroom is actually a parasitic ascomycete fungus that grows on certain species of mushrooms (e.g., Russula and Lactarius), turning them a reddish orange color that resembles the outer shell of a cooked lobster. The Shrimp of the Woods was thought to be a honey mushroom, Armillaria mellea, parasitizing the entoloma; however, recent research has indicated that the entoloma may be parasitizing the honey mushroom. There is still disagreement among mycologists (Wikipedia).

Lobster Mushroom (left), Cumberland, ME. Shrimp of the Woods (Aborted Entoloma) (right), College Woods, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.

11) Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) and Hen of the Woods (Grifolia frondosa)

Why are they especially intriguing? Poultry in your woods, anyone? Surprisingly, the Chicken of the Woods Mushroom has the flavor and consistency of chicken to some people.

Factoids The fruiting of the Chicken of the Woods Mushroom, a polypore, consists of solitary, overlapping clusters on hardwoods, especially oak and cherry, and occasionally on conifers (e.g., hemlock). The fruiting of the Hen of the Woods is solitary or in groups at the base of trees, especially oak and maple (Bessette and others 1997).

Chicken of the Woods (left), Hen of the Woods (right) from Cumberland Foreside, ME.


12) Woodland Agaric (Agaricus silvaticus)

Why is it especially intriguing? Many mushrooms change color when bruised. The Woodland Agaric bruises reddish. Does the picture on the right remind you of a skinned knee that you suffered when you fell off your bike when you were a kid? Ouch!

Factoids The Meadow Mushrooms (Agaricaceae) are characteristically found in humus, grassy areas or well-manured ground; several also grow in woodlands (like this one). This is said to be an excellent edible group, but care should always be taken before consuming them (Miller 1977).

Woodland Agaric mushrooms from near Alfred, ME.

13) Showy Bolete (Boletus speciosus)

Why is it especially intriguing? I have never seen a mushroom turn blue so quickly, in this case simply by just lifting it up from the ground, or exposing it to movement through air. All areas of this mushroom bruise quickly and turn a deep blue.

Factoids The cap is yellow brown or reddish brown to olive brown; the flesh is pale yellow. The stalk is yellow on the upper portion and pinkish red to purplish red on the lower portion. It grows on the ground under either beech, maple, and other hardwoods or conifers. It has a mycorrhizal relationship with oaks and other hardwoods (the specimen shown below left is fruiting under an oak).

Showy Boletes from Cumberland Foreside, ME.


References

Bessette, Alan E.; Bessette, Arleen R.; Fischer, David W. 1997. Mushrooms of Northeastern North America. Syracuse University Press. 600 p.

Miller, Orson K., Jr. 1979. Mushrooms of North America. New York: E.P. Dutton. 368 p.

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