Fungus Fact Friday

Category: Archived

#021: Pleurotus ostreatus, The Oyster Mushroom [Archived] 6

Archived

#021: Pleurotus ostreatus, The Oyster Mushroom [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. Read the current version of this post here. The oyster mushroom is one of the few species of mushroom that you can routinely find at a grocery store. This is due to the fact that it is saprobic (it degrades dead plant material) and is easy to cultivate across a range of substrates.  P. ostreatus will decompose pretty much anything with cellulose: from logs to sawdust to straw to toilet paper.  Oyster mushrooms are often sold in grow-at-home mushroom kits, usually with a substrate like sawdust.  In nature they are usually found on logs or standing dead trees.  Occasionally you will find them growing terrestrially from buried wood.  The Oyster prefers hardwoods, but can also be found on conifers.  The name “Oyster Mushroom” refers to their shape and color, rather than taste.  The fruiting bodies are semicircular to shell-shaped or fan-shaped, with a short or...

#020: Aleurodiscus oakesii, Smooth Patch Disease of Oak [Archived] 0

Archived

#020: Aleurodiscus oakesii, Smooth Patch Disease of Oak [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post.  You can read the current version of the post here. How to use a trees to identify a mushroom (without seeing the actual mushrooms): If you are more than a casual observer of trees you have probably learned that oak trees often have smooth patches in their normally rough bark.  What you may not know is that these smooth patches are caused by the fungus Aleurodiscus oakesii.  This fungus only feeds off of the tree’s bark, so it does not cause any damage to the tree.  However, it does result in patches of bark that are more smooth than usual.  These patches are known as “smooth patch disease.”  As the fungus is not harmful to the tree, the main impact of the disease is the undesirable cosmetic effect it has on trees in peoples’  The disease is common on oaks, especially on white oaks,...

#019: Apiosporina morbosa, Black Knot of Cherry [Archived] 0

Archived

#019: Apiosporina morbosa, Black Knot of Cherry [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post.  You can view the current version of this post here. And now for something completely different: identifying trees from a long way away. If you’ve ever tried to identify deciduous trees in the winter, you know how hard it is to identify a tree based on its bark.  However, thanks to the fungus Apiosporina morbosa, identifying cherry trees in winter becomes a walk in the park.  Apiosporina morbosa is an ascomycete that parasitizes cherry and plum trees.  Commonly known as “black knot,” the fungus forms black, dry, cracked, irregular swellings on branches which grow to surround the branch.  According to Michael Kuo, these knots look like “dried cat poop on a stick.”*  Although this is not the most attractive-looking fungus, it is very helpful for identifying cherry trees from hundreds of feet away, especially in winter when the knots are not hidden by leaves.

#015: Characteristics of Phylum Glomeromycota [Archived] 1

Archived

#015: Characteristics of Phylum Glomeromycota [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. The Glomeromycota are all fungi which form arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM). Mycorrhizae are a type of mutualism with plants where the fungus gets sugars and gives up hard-to-extract nutrients (especially phosphorous).  AM fungi accomplish this by forming structures within the plant’s root cells while not causing a disease reaction.  Most land plant species form AM, and only a few families are considered non-mycorrhizal.  AM fungi tend to be generalists, colonizing a variety of different plant species.  Each plant is usually colonized by multiple AM species.  This mycorrhizal network has a variety of different roles in an ecosystem.  It supplies nutrients to plants, determines what species make up an ecosystem’s plant community, and allows other plants (like orchids and Indian pipe) to parasitize larger plants via the network.  A recent study has also suggested that plants...

#013: Characteristics of Phylum Basidiomycota [Archived] 19

Archived

#013: Characteristics of Phylum Basidiomycota [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. Phylum Basidiomycota accounts for about 35% of all described fungal species.* This phylum contains the fungi that people are most familiar with. The classic “Mario mushroom” (based on Amanita muscaria), the grocery store button mushroom and other varieties of Agaricus bisporus, shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, and even the major “magic mushrooms” are all basidiomycetes.  However, basidiomycota also includes rusts and smuts, which are economically important plant pathogens, some yeasts, and a few lichenized fungi.  Like the ascomycota, the basidiomycota fill a variety of different ecological roles.  Many form mycorrhizae with plants (amanitas, chanterelles, russulas, etc.), others parasitize plants (rusts, smuts, honey mushrooms, etc.), a lot decompose organic material (cultivated mushrooms, yeasts, etc.), and some live in a variety of symbioses with insects (this includes some interesting mutualisms with leaf cutter ants and termites).

#011: Characteristics of Kingdom Fungi [Archived] 61

Archived

#011: Characteristics of Kingdom Fungi [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post.  You can read the current version of the post here. This post begins to answer the age-old question, “What is a fungus?” Fungi are a monophyletic group—meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor—and therefore share a number of traits.  Everyone has their own list of important traits common to all fungi, and I have come up with one that agrees with as many as possible.

#007: Omphalotus illudens, the Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom [Archived] 4

Archived

#007: Omphalotus illudens, the Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post. You can read the current version of this post here. Fungus Fact Friday #007: Spotlight on Omphalotus illudens, the “Jack-O-Lantern mushroom”. If the spirit of Halloween were a mushroom, it would be O. illudens.  This mushroom is commonly known as the “Jack-O-Lantern mushroom” for a couple of good reasons.  First, it is bright orange, like the pumpkins that decorate doorsteps all over the United States in October.  Not only is the cap orange, but so are the gills, the stipe, and the interior.  Second, the mushroom’s gills glow in the dark, especially when the mushrooms are young and fresh.  There are stories of this glow being bright enough to use a clump of mushrooms as a torch.  Again, this is reminiscent of the jack-o-lanterns carved out for Halloween.  Furthermore, the mushroom often has a sweet smell and is poisonous.  Nothing says Halloween like something...

#005: Xylaria polymorpha, Dead Man’s Fingers [Archived] 2

Archived

#005: Xylaria polymorpha, Dead Man’s Fingers [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post. You can read the updated version here. October is Creepy Fungus Month on Fungus Fact Friday! To start this month I have chosen to highlight Xylaria polymorpha–Dead Man’s Fingers. When you look at this fungus’ fruiting bodies in the summer or fall it is easy to see how it got its common name.  The mushrooms are more or less straight, though often bent or warped.  Their exterior is black, wrinkled, and bumpy and becomes cracked with age.  The individual mushrooms often grow close together and may become fused at the bottom, forming a “hand” with several “fingers.”  X. polymorpha is a wood decomposer, but can often appear to grow from the ground when decomposing buried wood.  Thus, this mushroom often resembles a burnt, dead hand reaching out of the ground to grab unwitting passers-by and drag them down into the depths of the earth. ...