BC, Wells Gray, 20080326
Edgewood Blue, lichen and shelf fungi and snow photos.
Another beautiful sudden blizzard, with thunder and everything.
On cottonwood.
| | GEN | | shelf fungus, on Populus, no odor |
| | CAP | | 40-150mm wide, hoof-shaped with undersurface slanting up steeply resulting in obtuse angle at margin, crust thick cracked black, margin minutely rounded lt gray |
| | FLESH | | rich deep brown with white streaks conspicuous, clearly peren, K+ black |
| | PORE | | gray, 4-5 per mm, smooth, whiter when viewed at angle giving nice soft sheen |
| | SPORE | | found very few (~8), 4 per basidium, ellip, smooth, hyal, no setae found, basidia 8.2-9.6x5.9-6.3um (Q=1.3-1.6) (n=3), spores (5.0)5.5+/-0.48(6.1)x(3.6)4.0+/-0.35(4.5)um (Q=(1.3)1.3+/-0.065(1.4)) (n=5) |
On aspen. Identical to the naked eye, but see below.
These two species are giving me trouble. Apparently P. tremluae used to be a variant of P. ignarius even. CTD (Common Tree Diseases of BC) claims P. i. has nearly horizontal lower surface, while P. t. has lower surface at 45deg. Arora just calls P. t. a bit smaller. Also CTD says P. t. grows exclusively on aspen. Here's the rub, I saw 45deg conks on both cottonwood and aspen, not far from each other.
Phellinus ignarius is reported on maple, alder, arbutus, birch, apple, dogwood, cottonwood, locust, willow, beech, ash, walnut, cherry, plum, Douglas-fir (not in BC), pear, oak, and elm. Covering every hardwood out there practically but aspen.
Here's another subtle difference: P. i. has spores 5-6.5x4.6-6um, and P. t. has spores 4.5-5x4-4.5um. Also the "hymenial setae" of P. t. are larger and longer: P. i. 14-17x4-6um, P. t. 12-30x6-7.5um. The spore sizes of all the species in the complex are compared in I. Sell 2006, and they give mean sizes of: P. i. 5.8+/-0.2x5.0+/-0.2um, P. t. 5.1+/-0.2x4.2+/-0.2um (approximated from graph).
My only sample comes from a cottonwood. I'll have to grab some off of an aspen next time I see it.
Sources:
CTD for P. igniarius
CTD for P. tremulae
I. Sell 2006
At base of aspen.
| | GEN | | shelf fungus, on , sharp strong fungal and nasty odor |
| | CAP | | 100-150mm wide, smooth to min roughened, pale brown to dk brown to blackened, v blunt broadly rounded marg, undersurface parallel to ground, margin with lilac tinge |
| | FLESH | | pale yellowish to golden brownish, smooth, clearly peren, bruising lilac to pinkish at edge, K+ med brown |
| | PORE | | 4-5 per mm, pale golden brownish |
This is common on pines in the wetter forests on Green Mt, but apparently it also grows on hardwoods, including even aspen.
Porpidia crustulata? []
Same one I took a photo of several days ago.
| | GEN | | crust lichen, on basalt erratic |
| | THAL | | immersed, strong rusty stain |
| | APO | | black, strong raised smooth rim, non-pruinose, minute, scattered, epi blackish, hymen hyal, hypo dark, exciple black cortex fading to brown inside| para | | abundant, impossible to separate even in K, some big thick and densely tree-branched, septate, clavate tips |
very few asci with any spores, all parts stain strongly I+ blue, can't find any proper ascus to determine thollus type, exciple K+y (much stronger than epi at least), epi turning greenish in K, hymen ~50um, round outer cells in exciple (4.4)4.9+/-0.44(5.5)um (n=6) |
| | SPORE | | 8 (more?) per ascus, ellip, two oil-drops at either end making it look almost polarilocular, 9.4-10x4.8-5.4um (Q=1.8-1.9) (n=3) |
Both
Brodo and
Nash key it to
P. crustulata, but neither has anywhere close to full coverage for this area. However, the descriptions for this species match well. I really wish I could've seen this distinctive Porpidia-type ascus stain...
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