NC, Smokies, 20060715
CabinCove, Asbury, mostly lichens and fungi.
Asbury, from TT to Cove Creek Rd.
Flowers
Monarda clinopodia []
Another patch is blooming (the one just as you rejoin the ridge after contouring that first hill after leaving yellow gate road.
| | ST | | glab w one or two v inconspic curled hairs on angles |
| | LF | | opp, delt-lance, 100-110x40-50+15-25, petiole puber on angles of groove ab, dist reg serr, acuminate, trunc to rounded to wedge base |
| | INFL | | 1 term verticel, 15mm wide (excl corollas)| bracts | | many, to 20x5mm, lt yellish near base but otherwise green |
|
| | SEP | | 4, join, reg, 7mm, lobes tiny delt scales, d short straight clear gland-bristly ouside and on lobes, long bristly inside, lobes < 1mm |
| | PET | | 2 lips, white, 22-25mm long, upper lip about 8mm, lower lip not lobed, short evenly puber outside, both straight gland-bristly and curly, not tufted at all at end of either lip |
The other patch (see
20060621) w distinctly colored bracts (but admitedly otherwise the same) is long done blooming. Different blooming times and different bracts led me to question if this were a different species. But no.
Aureolaria laevigata []
Few on uphill side just past Hoglen.
| | LF | | opp, lance, v faintly serr, 42x12+12mm, v min pap-scab ab, tiny clear sess gland bel |
| | INFL | | term cyme, pedicel 3mm |
| | SEP | | 5, join, funnel, 5x2-3mm, lobes 1.5x1mm or so, glab |
| | PET | | 5, join, bright pale yell, 28x22mm total, lobes rounded 7x10mm and approx equal, tube abruptly expand at bottom to 8x6mm in x-sect (sl comp top to bot), lobes spread 45-90deg, glab inside and out |
| | STAM | | 4, no ster, all shaggy hairy at bot, two longer ones hairy all the way up, longer ones barely excl, shorter ones equal tube |
| | STYLE | | 1, equal longer stam, glab, slender |
Can't key to family in
Weakley yet, but assuming the genus is right from
Wofford, then
Weakley agrees with the species.
Silene stellata []
Scattered between the two Monarda patches on Asbury.
| | SEP | | inflated, lobes < tube, glab or nearly so |
| | PET | | white, free, fimbriate, showy |
Lichens
| | GEN | | jelly lichen, on bark near base of scaly oak |
| | THAL | | no cortex, alg dist evenly, nearly black (sl greenish maybe), dull to matte-shiny, sl wrinkled, some round to elongated low pustules, d covered w oblong to cyl to br'd isidia on surface and marg, smooth bel, broadly att |
Fuscopannaria leucosticta-like [] [voucher]
On big oak on Asbury. Exactly the same as the one on 20060630, but I don't see the pruina, the white fringe under the apothecia, or the lobulate apothecial margins. Spores, coloration, lobe size, etc. all the same.
Hypogymnia physodes []
Our Asbury. Oak. Tube lichen with lip-shaped soredia borne under lobe tips, and medulla white inside tubes. Same thing.
Bottom of mossy big oak, past where trail rejoins ridge after Hoglen.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on mossy oak trunk |
| | THAL | | fairly flat, even vivid med-dk green, smooth to v sl crumpled-wrinkled, pale tom bel w scattered short unbr rhiz, loosely att, lobes somewhat ascending, no isidia soredia etc., lobes 7-8mm wide, K- and C- and KC- (or too dk to see reaction) |
| | MED | | white, K+ v faint yell, C+ pink, KC+ pink? |
| | APO | | some, raised flat disks, disk bright red-brown, 1.5mm |
Aha! Here's one that looked different... and
was different!
Physconia subpallida? [] [voucher]
Our Asbury. Oak.
| | GEN | | foliose-squamulose lichen, hardwood bark |
| | THAL | | shingled lobes, lobes splaying and radiating at v edge, 1-3mm wide, flat, even med-dk vivid green (wet), even dull grey to brownish-olive-grey (dry), scattered white pruina at edges, abundantly squamulose-lobulate inside, white bel w v abundant pale to dk squarrose rhiz, K-, C-, KC- |
| | MED | | white, v scant, K-, C-, KC-? |
| | APO | | many, lecanorine disks, marg bumpy to sl lobulate, constrict, 1-2mm wide, brown (w black pruina??), marg raised |
| | ASC | | rather thickened tip, square to round inside |
| | SPORE | | smooth, ellip, dk brown, 2 cell, thin even wall, sl constrict at septum, filled w tiny bubbles, 42-50x22-28um, 8 per ascus |
| | PARA | | v narr, thickening sl at oblong tips, tips lt brownish, at least some br'd |
Seems it can be either
Physconia subpallida or
Anaptychia palmulata. See description from
20060630 the spores, for example, are precisely the same. That one seemed to match
A. p. pretty well.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on very thin bark of dead birch or something |
| | THAL | | v thin, whitish w olive-green irreg patches, smooth, whitish areas covered w tiny black pycnidia, a few broadly raised warts in white spots, two with distinct black perithecia, ostioles < 0.5mm, black, carbonized, not pit-like, peri totally immersed, white layer is composed of pallisade of thick oblong cells |
| | ALG | | apparently made of strings of beaded tiny olive-green cells? |
| | SPORE | | can't find any as usual |
I can only go by gross morphological characters, namely the irreg smooth olive patches. If it
is this species, then it is probably dead because it relies on the green growing layer beneath the bark. Maybe this is why I can't find any spores (as usual).
Tuckermannopsis ciliaris []
Fallen on ground on Asbury.
| | GEN | | fruticose-foliose lichen, on hardwood |
| | THAL | | v crisped and ascending lobes, even olive green all over, pale bel w wrinkles or veins and sp scattered rhiz, v loosely att, prominant black pycnidia on large sections of marg and fairly densely scattered on some parts of surface |
| | MED | | white, C+ conspic pink |
| | APO | | common, large, irreg saddle to cup shaped, marg lobulate or something, dker oliver olive green, smooth and shiny |
Comparing to
20060621 and
20060710: very different overall habit and aspect, but yes, it is the same thing.
Mushrooms
grey mold
| | GEN | | fungus, on rotting hardwood bark |
| | CAP | | grey powdery with white powdery marg, v smooth and gracefully mounding over substrate, producing resinous yellish droplets |
| | SPORE | | print pale grey?, 5.5x2um, cyl, colorless to overall darker, smooth, often somewhat bent, sticking in dry irreg towering masses, basidia transversely septate |
white mold
| | GEN | | mold, on the fungus above |
| | CAP | | fine long white threads, making dense cottony covering, tipped with min white spores |
| | SPORE | | pale buff, spindle to ov, colorless, v light, smooth, 6.5x4um, sticking in wet rafts |
Calocera cornea []
| | GEN | | small coral fungus, on conifer logs |
| | CAP | | gelatinous, pale orange-yell, slender erect brs sometimes forked, 10-20x1-2mm |
| | SPORE | | borne all over brs, visible as elevated whitish specks at 30x, colorless, smooth, 1 cell, oblong, bent, conspic knobbed, 9-11x3-4um, sticking v liquidly impossible to make out except when separate, apparently very soft |
I wouldn't have called them "club shaped" but I guess they do tend to be a bit wider ab the base...
Clavulina cristata-group []
On trail in few places well past Hoglen. Not all were necessarily the same, but I wanted to limit the amount of time wasted in frustration trying to ID the damned things.
| | GEN | | small coral fungus, on disturbed ground, mild odor |
| | CAP | | 30x20mm, well br'd from a thick central trunk, trunk 5-6mm wide, final brs < 1mm, pts sharp, brs maybe somewhat flattened, even pale watery tan w v weak fine min white and black hairs at base (a parasite apparently), soft and brittle but firm |
| | SPORE | | print white, ellip, colorless, smooth, 1 cell, knobbed or apic, 7.5x5um, sticking in sl wet rafts, borne in 2's |
Clitocybe inversa []
On ground just before leaving our property on TT.
| | GEN | | small mushroom, under hardwoods, odor and taste earthy (and very persistant!) |
| | ST | | 50x6mm, white to tinged yellish or brownish, straight, even to abruptly bulb-like at base due to d loose white mycelial webbing, soft, flexible but not breaking and springing back weakly, solid |
| | CAP | | 30mm, depressed, marg curled down, finely tom, pinkish brown, v faintly striate near marg, v edge curled under |
| | FLESH | | 1-2mm, white, soft and flexible but somewhat brittle |
| | GILL | | 3 per mm, v pale brownish, adnate to sl decur, straight to sl wavy, unbr, clean |
| | SPORE | | print white, colorless, 3-5x2-3um, ov-ellip, smooth, sticking in vast great wet quantities, 1 cell, few knobbed, no noticable cystidia |
Keys best to
Leucopaxillus, but that has rough spores, and it fails to key there.
Clitocybe seems a safer guess, in which it keys to this, but the described color doesn't impress me. (Spores are right, though, as well as everything else.)
Cordyceps militaris []
Prissy Bear's; not far above first stream crossing.
| | GEN | | finger fungus, on insect larva |
| | CAP | | 60x2-4mm, club-shaped, fertile part oblong and wider is 25mm at top, pale yell to med yell-orange at top, fert part visibly but finely warty w min pyramids (4-5 per mm with interstices > pyramids), min tufts of hairs from tops of some pyramids (spores!), pyramids are the short acutish tips of otherwise oblong perithecia, peri are hard and swollen so that they are hard to cut but then explode when you succeed |
| | SPORE | | print white, tangled mass of rugose threads, colorless, visible at 30x as little hairs!, breaks up into minute narr rectangular segs 3-5x1-1.5um, ejected explosively all over my darned slide messing up all the other spore prints |
Very distinctive; exciting to find one so perfect.
Laetiporus persicinus? []
| | GEN | | clustered shelf fungus, on base of rotting stump, mild unpleasant chlorine-like odor |
| | CAP | | 200-400mm wide (guess), many caps, irreg cluster, irreg bumpy lumpy surface, min white fuzzy over yellish orangish brownish |
| | FLESH | | 10-20mm, pale tan, mealy, brittle, firm but springy |
| | PORE | | 3-4 per mm, min scurfy, pale buff to tan |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, 5x3um, smooth, oblong, colorless, depressed, sticking in wet rafts or masses |
Not even sure of genus. Also considered
Meripilus giganteus, but
Lincoff describes a rather different color. It
looked like a
L. sulphureus when I first saw it, but when I checked the underside was surprised not to see the signature sulfur yellow. Is it just old? Or is it this different species? It sure doesn't look like the one I saw on
20060711, looked at side-by-side.
Oudemansiella "pale rooter" []
In small cluster at edge of trail on slope w lots of herbage understory on "our" section of Asbury near Hoglen.
| | GEN | | med-large mushroom, clustered on disturbed soil |
| | ST | | 5-10mm wide, thickest at ground, tall, whitish like cap, smooth, v fibrous, soft and v flexible, breaking w snap where thick and not breaking above where thinner, extending into long tapering taproot |
| | CAP | | 50mm or so, broadly but distinctly umbonate, pale creamy w tan tinges, watery-looking, smooth, slick (maybe viscid when wetter) |
| | FLESH | | 1mm or so, soft, v flexible but not breaking |
| | GILL | | whitish, thickish and even waxy-looking, notched, unbr, 1 per mm or more widely spaced |
| | SPORE | | print white, colorless, smooth, somewhat angular, knobbed, ellip-ovate, 8-10x6-7.5um, sticking in wet masses |
Spores match neither
Caulorhiza umbonata nor
Oudemansiella radicata. Obviously it shouldn't be the former, as it's been a while since I've seen a redwood in these parts, but I was figuring the spores would be a similar size if mine were
C. hygrophoroides. Hmmm. The one I saw on
20060702 had much larger spores, although the spores look very similar in overall appearance
thick walls, blunt-pted end, weak almost-texturing, etc.
Polyporus badius? []
V top of yellow gate road.
| | GEN | | med mushrooms, clustered to scattered on hardwood log that's not really rotting yet |
| | ST | | nearly lat, 30x7mm, white except for dk brown and min tom at base |
| | CAP | | 35-50mm, convex, smooth, even med brown, sl dker at marg and lter in ctr, sl depressed near stalk, v shiny-fibrillose, beautiful |
| | FLESH | | 3mm thick, soft, flexible but not brittle, pale, K- (or v weak yellowing) |
| | PORE | | smooth white, invisble except at 30x, 10 per mm or so(!), v short (much < 1mm), v decur |
| | SPORE | | not sure only found a few mixed w tons of spores from the Cordyceps above, ellip, smooth, colorless, 1 cell, some knobbed, 5x3um |
This can't be right, but it clearly keys here.
Trametes versicolor []
A perfect group of specimens. Sharing mossy rotting hardwood log with Ganoderma applanatus.
Trichaptum biformis []
30-40% up TT.
| | GEN | | small-med shelf fungi, densely scattered on base of standing dead hardwood |
| | CAP | | 60+mm, flat to v sl convex, d scurfy-hairy, subtly zoned, brownish tannish greenish |
| | FLESH | | < 1mm, pale tan, flex, rubbery, tough, K- |
| | PORE | | tooth-like, buff-tan to pale tan, violet tinged near margin when fresh, 2-3 per mm, to 2mm long |
| | SPORE | | print invisible, maybe saw a few, oblong-ellip, smooth, colorless, 1 cell, no knobs, 5-6x2.5-3um or so |
Tyromyces galactinus? []
Near bottom of TT, on old oak stump.
| | GEN | | med-large shelf fungus, cluster of two caps, on rotting hardwood stump, mild odor |
| | CAP | | 60mm or so (guess based on small fragment I brought home), lt grey, v d white tom, lumpy irreg verrucose surface, marg blunt |
| | FLESH | | 8mm thick or more, watery greyish pale, K- |
| | PORE | | 4-5 per mm, dingy whitish, uneven lumpy, 1-2mm long |
| | SPORE | | print snow white but spotty and scanty, 4.5-5x3um, ellip, smooth, colorless, 1 cell, sticking in sl wet rafts |
Not enough info to be confident. Genus seems likely, though. The more obvious choice,
T. chioneus (or even
T. caesius if you remember the bluish tint when still dry and fresh a few days ago) has too narrow spores. I'm basing everything on the comment "hairier cap and ellip spores" in
Arora.
More photos
Amanita inaurata []
Bacidia schweinitzii
Physcia pumilior
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