NC, Smokies, 20060724
CabinCove, JP etc, mostly fungi.
Jason's Path to little side loop at big mossy rock.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms! A veritable paradise of weird tongues and fans and corals, as well as several interesting proper mushrooms. I ignored all the golden and scarlet waxy caps (as usual), several brown amanitas, yet another yellow patches, the interesting stocky dull orange-red bolete, the scads of tiny brownish funnel-caps, the large funnel-caps, the pale brown and bright orange LBMs, several cordyceps, lots of black earth tongues, tons of red and purple and yellow and white russulas, even the eartstar, etc. What did I take???
Agaricus "brown fibrillose skirted jobby" []
Far on left, overlooking Phillips/Messer Branch, near big pile of goodyeras.
| | GEN | | tall mushroom, at base of live maple, solit, wonderfully pleasant mild odor |
| | ST | | 120x6-9mm, thickest at base but also abruptly thickening at v top, brown but shiny white-fibrillose making it look white from some angles above the ring, predominently white bel ring but also shiny fibrillose and changing colors at diff angles, twisted, finely conspic striate, whitish cottony at base| ring | | skirtlike, fragile, v d cottony bel, v finely tom ab, yellish bel to creamy white ab, thickish, smooth even marg, crisped, stuffed to solid, v fibrous and not breaking at all just splitting, min inconspic white scurfy at v top |
|
| | CAP | | 70mm, flat, brownish white, smooth w conspic v fine long dk brown fibrils coallescing into solid med brown patch 15mm wide in center, a bit pale min scurfy near edge, bruising brown, K- v faint blueish or greenish to sl yellish |
| | FLESH | | to 5mm, pale, cottony, soft, brittle but cortex v fibrous, and toughish, this is source of pleasant odor |
| | GILL | | pinkish turning choc brown, totally free, perfectly clean straight unbr, about 2 per mm, 7mm long, v thin |
| | SPORE | | print dk choc brown, tiny, 5-5.5x2.5-3um, lt brown, smooth, 1 cell, wet, oblong bean to min apic |
Here we go again. Is the odor significant? Is the K reaction significant? Are the fibrils purplish at all? Seems it could be in the
A. praeclaresquamosus or
A. micromegathus groups or even
A. rhoadsii, but I can't tell.
Astraeus hygrometricus []
Just took a photo. Old and vigorously sporulating.
Clavulinopsis fusiformis []
On side-loop.
| | GEN | | coral fungus, in moss, scattered in loose group |
| | CAP | | 60x3mm, sev brs from v base (under ground), unbr above, rounded tip, sl thinner bel, some fine black webby stuff covering base (parasite?), pale yellow, covered w minute whitish dusting of spores all over top half (barely visible at 30x), v fragile, solid |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, colorless, ellip-oblong bean, conspic small knob, 1 cell, smooth, 6-7.5x3-4um, v wet |
See color "chart" below. Also going by size and stature. Spores are too thin according to
Lincoff maybe it really is
C. laeticolor.
Clavulinopsis miniata []
Many on and to left of path just before side-loop.
| | GEN | | coral fungus, in mixed woods, distantly scattered |
| | CAP | | 120x3-5mm, pastel vivid sl yellish orange, fradile, hollow, irreg grooved, man brs from v base forming dense clump, unbr ab, not straight (twisting and wavy whole length), d golden to white mycelial fuzzy near base (part below leaf litter), v faint dusting of whitish spores visible all over at 30x |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, colorless, round, conspic knobbed, wet rafts, smooth, 1 cell, 5.5-6um |
There are quite a few species differing v subtly in color: (apricot describes mine extremely well)
C. laeticolor small orange-yellow
C. fusiformis pure yellow
C. appalachiensis creamy yellow
C. miniata pink-orange to apricot
C. aurantiocinnabarina pink-orange to blood red
Hygrophorus marginata green []
Wow! With those golden earth tongues near the agaricus.
| | GEN | | small mushroom, under mixed woods, solit |
| | ST | | 60x8mm, fragile, hollow, orangish at top to bright yell at mid to pale whitish at base (where it was hidden under grape vine), smooth to even more v finely fibrillose, slick waxy feel |
| | CAP | | dunce-cap, thickish, 15x15mm, orangish olive green, waxy feel but min orange fibrillose, marg curled under and turning gill-orange at v edge |
| | FLESH | | < 1mm, greener to whitish, brittle |
| | GILL | | brilliant orange fading to olive near cap flesh, attached, thickish, waxy looking, maybe 2 per mm |
| | SPORE | | print ?, colorless, round, smooth, immersed conspic knob, 5um |
Spores are wrong. But how can one mistake those orange gills??
Hygrophorus unguinosa []
On base of tree on side-loop.
| | GEN | | tiny mushroom, on moss at base of hardwood, solit |
| | ST | | 50x2.5mm, even, v slimy (hard to pick!), brownish but paler |
| | CAP | | 10mm, conic to convex, sl sharp umbo, v slimy drying sticky tacky, rich brown, striate |
| | GILL | | snow white to sl greyish, distant, unbr, sl decur, thick, waxy |
| | SPORE | | print snow white, colorless, ellip, v wet, smooth, v conspic apic/knobbed, 1 cell, 5-6x3-3.5um |
Microglossum rufum? []
Near the agaricus.
| | GEN | | earth tongue, under mixed woods, few-clustered to solit |
| | ST | | 35x2mm, scurfy, paler yell, no orange, twisty |
| | CAP | | 25x8x4mm, oblong to oblance, sl depressed down ctr, vivid orangish golden, perfectly smooth, min whitish spores barely visible covering it densely at 30x |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, colorless, sausages, perfectly smooth, 1 cell, often bent, dry rafts, 20-35x4-4.5um |
Neolecta irregularis []
Just off to left midway down.
| | GEN | | coral fungus, in mixed woods, just a few |
| | CAP | | vivid golden, irreg grooved to club-shaped, few cm by 5 or so mm, rounded, perfectly smooth, vivid deep golden, dusting of whitish spores visible all over in tiny groups of fours |
| | FLESH | | whitish or scurfy, brittle |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, colorless, round, conspic min knobbed, wet rafts, 1 cell, smooth, 5-5.5um |
Could also be the smaller paler
N. vitellina? Spores are wrong.
Nolanea "violet brown fibrillose" []
On right near big rock; even nearer to that clump of Cladonia.
| | GEN | | med-large mushroom, under mixed forest, solit, pleasant mild odor |
| | ST | | 90x8-9mm, straight, v striate, twisted a bit, min white fibrillose, lilac tinge esp at top fading to mere brownish tinge toward base, conspic tight snow white mycelial conttony base, solid, brittle but v fibrous, flesh yellish |
| | CAP | | 75mm, flat w v sl tiny umbo, purplish, conspic dk fibrillose over whitish base, lilac tinge in both fibers and base esp near marg, min flap of skin hanging over edge (v inconspic) |
| | FLESH | | 2-3mm, dingy, thin, brittle but v fibrous |
| | GILL | | v notch, distant (< 1 per mm), unbr, sl wavy, to 9mm long, sl wavy-erose marg, pinkish brownish to maybe sl lilac tinged, fragile, v thin, spores conspic and whitish at 30x |
| | SPORE | | print sl brownish pink to salmon, v lt brown?, small crumpled paper balls, overall round, 5-7.5um, stick dry irreg tower |
Yikes, this is a difficult family.
Spathularia flavida []
Scattered but v inconspic all over to left and far left of trail.
| | GEN | | small fairy fan, scattered to loosely clustered, mixed woods |
| | ST | | reddish pinkish tan fading to black at base, mealy to thinly fibrillose but def not velvety, scurfier bel, conspic min grooved, bright orange root-like tuft at v base protruding from under rounded black base |
| | CAP | | pale tawny to yellish |
| | SPORE | | print whitish, colorless, v narr lin to sl tapering to either end, smooth, 1or 3 little bubbles evenly distributed inside like septa, tangled, wet, some coiled, 37-45x2.5um |
Trichoglossum velutipes []
Covered in funky white mold.
Cordyceps militaris
Flowers
Elliottia racemosa? []
The bush is finally in bloom.
| | GEN | | shrub, v aromatic flower |
| | LF | | oblance, obtuse to abruptly acum, serr ab mid, shiny dk green, glab except for strig bel veins |
| | INFL | | term raceme, lin curved scale-like bracts at base of pedicels, pedicel spread 70-80deg & d short strig-bristly |
| | SEP | | 5, free or nearly, strig like pedicels, spread but appress |
| | PET | | 5, nearly free, white, 10mm or so, spread |
| | STAM | | 10, white, glab, flattened a bit bel |
| | ANTH | | brown, U-shaped, 2 large term pores, tapered to other ends |
| | OV | | 1, sup, ov, v long silky strig, 4 chamb, many ovules per chamb |
| | STYLE | | 4-brs at tip, white, glab, about eq stam |
It's
got to be an elliottia, but the leaves are not supposed to be serrate (according to
Petrides).
Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides pycnanthemoides []
A few scattered bushes near pond on both sides.
| | GEN | | tall peren, v aromatic plant, v canescent (at least above) |
| | LF | | lance, 65x22+8mm, dist serr, petiolate, gold sess gland punctate ab, canesc all over bel and spreading hairy bel veins, becoming more and more canesc on top surface as you approach ends of brs or top of plant |
| | INFL | | dense branched subsess cyme at ends of brs, several small lf-like bracts subtending, v d canesc |
| | SEP | | 5 lobed, lobes much < tube, nearly sym (2 lobes longer), canesc, tube 2.5-3mm, short lobes about 0.8mm, long lobes 1.5-1.8mm & acute delt to acum, sev long straggly bristles from each tip |
| | PET | | 2 lipped, 5 lobes, white to overall lilac tinge w lots of purple dots and markings all over, canesc and gland punctate outside, 8-10mm long total, up lip 4mm, low lip 5mm, hairy in patch inside lower lip, long hairy in tube |
| | STAM | | 4, v excl, glab, att to upper tube, somewhat purple hairy at v base (may be petal that's hairy), anth glab |
| | OV | | 1, sup, 4-lobed at tip, short clear hairy at tip |
| | FR | | conspic min rugose, d tuft of short clear curly trichomes at top |
Goodyera pubescens
Goodyera repens []
Monotropa uniflora []
Lichens
Rhizocarpon "verruculose hochstetteri" [] [voucher]
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | verruculose, grey to greenish, diffuse brownish prothallus if any, K-, C-, KC- |
| | APO | | lecideine?, black, often in somewhat concentric circles, prom black rims, hypothecium colorless, epi dk greenish brown, exciple pure? black |
| | SPORE | | ellip-football, 2 cell, colorless, smooth, even thin walls, 15-16x6-8um, I see a faint thick halo around all the spores that have been ejected (by me squashing the crap out of my poor cover slip!) |
Keys to
R. hochstetteri, but that is supposed to have a smooth thallus. Could also be
R. badioatrum if the spores were to turn dark when they mature, but they don't seem to be interested in doing that. Other genera: could be
Catillaria or
Tonina but they both have too small spores according to key. The halo (if real) seems to fix the genus.
Xanthoparmelia conspersa []
In rock garden by elliottias.
| | GEN | | foliose lichen, on rock |
| | THAL | | shiny yell-green, conspic long br'd cyl isidia |
| | MED | | white, K+ deep yell (stictic acid) |
| | APO | | to 2mm, deep cups, shiny rich deep brown inside, bumpy to sl isidiate marg |
Adding these tiny fragments of apothecia to
voucher CC84 (see
20060707). Oops! Apparently
X. conspersa contains varying amounts of norstictic acid (including none). Now the black undersurface leads me to it instead of
X. plittii which I'd assumed before because of the lack of norstictic acid (but which has browner undersurface, a character I thought was less reliable).
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