Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: mushroom

#136: Inonotus obliquus, Chaga Mushroom 1

Fungus Fact

#136: Inonotus obliquus, Chaga Mushroom

Chaga (produced by the fungus Inonotus obliquus) is considered by many to be the most potent medicinal mushroom. Its popularity is on the rise and a quick internet search returns mostly websites offering to sell Chaga or sites touting its medicinal benefits.  Chaga purportedly has cancer-fighting properties, stimulates the immune system, reduces inflammation, and prevents aging.  The part of the fungus that people use is not quite a mushroom.  Instead, it is a sterile conk that looks like a large block of charcoal stuck to a birch tree.  This structure can be chopped off the tree, ground up, and steeped in hot water to make a tea.  Chaga tea is the usual way to take advantage of the fungus’s medicinal properties.

#134: Auricularia auricula-judae, the Jelly Ear Mushroom 3

Fungus Fact

#134: Auricularia auricula-judae, the Jelly Ear Mushroom

This distinctive, ear-shaped mushroom is brown in color and gelatinous in texture. Auricularia auricula-judae is a common find in North America and Europe and has a close relative in Asia.  As a result, the fungus has accumulated a variety of common names.  The two most commonly used names in English are “Jelly Ear,” “Wood Ear,” and “Tree Ear.”  Other popular names for this mushroom include “Judas’ Ear” or “Jew’s Ear.”  In most European countries, the regional common name translates to “Judas’”  Indeed, the species name for this mushroom translates to “Ear of Judas.”  English translations of Asian names for this mushroom include: “Wood Ear Mushroom” and “Cloud Ear Mushroom.”

#133: Russula virescens species group 3

Fungus Fact

#133: Russula virescens species group

Mushrooms come in all different colors, even green! Although green is an unusual color for mushrooms, certain mushrooms sporting green colors are common.  The most frequently-encountered green mushrooms are from the Russula   Of these, my favorite ones are the Quilted Green Russulas (also called Greencracked Brittlecaps), which belong to the Russula virescens species group.  R. virescens can be found in North America, Europe, and Asia.  However, preliminary DNA studies suggest that specimens found in North America actually belong to a few different species and should not be lumped in with R. virescens.  Unfortunately, mycologists have yet to formally classify these American species.  As a result, the North American species in the group can be called R. virescens for now.

#129: Phellinus igniarius and its use as a Tobacco Additive 7

Fungus Fact

#129: Phellinus igniarius and its use as a Tobacco Additive

Phellinus igniarius is probably the most dangerous regularly-consumed mushroom. By itself, the mushroom is pretty much useless.  However, many Native American groups discovered that the ashes of igniarius will increase the buzz of chewing tobacco.  Today, this practice is particularly widespread among Native Alaskans.  Despite attempts by health agencies to discourage this practice, usage rates are still above 50%.

#126: Xylobolus frustulatus, the Ceramic Fungus 1

Fungus Fact

#126: Xylobolus frustulatus, the Ceramic Fungus

Xylobolus frustulatus is one of my favorite fungi. It’s not particularly interesting, but there is just something surreal about the way it covers the surfaces of logs.  From a distance, the fungus looks like a thin layer of weathered paper or parchment covering the surface of a log.  Upon closer inspection, however, the fruiting bodies look more like a mosaic composed of tiny, white, ceramic tiles.  Thanks to its unique appearance, frustulatus is often called either “the Ceramic Fungus” or “the Ceramic Parchment.”

#125: Hypholoma sublateritium, the Brick Cap 3

Fungus Fact

#125: Hypholoma sublateritium, the Brick Cap

“Is this mushroom edible?” What a difficult question to answer.  The world of edible mushrooms is littered with lookalikes, various degrees of edibility, mushrooms that are edible only under certain conditions, and mushrooms that no one has assessed for edibility.  For Hypholoma sublateritium, the question is even more complicated.  There is no consensus on whether or not Brick Caps are edible.  North American field guides are divided on the issue and European field guides usually list these mushrooms as inedible or poisonous.  In my local mushroom club, they are considered edible and are a welcome find in the late fall, when it is usually slim pickings for mushrooms.  Because of this ambiguity, community is an essential part of mushroom hunting (despite its culture of secrecy and competition).  If you are serious about mushroom hunting, you should be involved with a local mushroom club to ensure that you learn information about...

#124: Galerina marginata, the Deadly Galerina [Archived] 2

Archived

#124: Galerina marginata, the Deadly Galerina [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post.  Read the current version of this post here. If you are collecting for the table, this is one little brown mushroom (LBM) that you should definitely be familiar with. Most LBMs go unnoticed because they are heard to spot and are usually too small to consider worth eating.  The “Deadly Galerina” is therefore usually not dangerous on its own.  The real danger from this mushroom comes when it is accidentally collected along with a group of edible mushrooms.  Galerina marginata contains amatoxins, which are also found in such infamous species as Destroying Angels (Amanita virosa complex, FFF#050) and Death Caps (Amanita phalloides, FFF#051).  In England, G. marginata goes by the beautifully ominous name, “Funeral Bell.”  Unfortunately for me, people in the United States prefer the much blander common name, “Deadly Galerina.”

#123: The Candy Caps 1

Fungus Fact

#123: The Candy Caps

Mushrooms come in some surprising flavors. Probably the most unusual flavors are found in the group of mushrooms known as “Candy Caps.”  These mushrooms taste/smell like maple syrup, butterscotch, camphor, burnt sugar, or curry.  Thanks to their pleasant odors, these edible mushrooms are usually used in dessert dishes!  I recently had the opportunity to taste some Candy Cap ice cream and was astounded by the intense maple syrup flavor provided by the mushrooms!

#122: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Artillery Fungus [Archived] 2

Archived

#122: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Artillery Fungus [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post. You can read the current version of this post here. Happy New Year! To celebrate, I decided to use some fungal cannon fire to start 2016 off with a bang!  Although it is tiny, Sphaerobolus stellatus gets just about as close as a fungus can to actually being a firework.  The tiny, star-shaped fruiting bodies are designed to launch a spherical sac of spores high into the air.  This unique spore dispersal strategy has resulted in a variety of common names, including: “Artillery Fungus,” “Cannonball Fungus,” “Cannon Fungus,” “Sphere Thrower” (which is a literal translation of its Latin name), “Shotgun Fungus,” “Shooting Star,” and “Bombardier Fungus.”

#121: Amanita muscaria, Part 2: Connecting to the Divine 1

Fungus Fact

#121: Amanita muscaria, Part 2: Connecting to the Divine

Across the globe, Amanita muscaria (the “Fly Agaric”) is the go-to mushroom for connecting humans with the divine. I will forego describing this mushroom, since I have already done that in FFF#069.  Fortunately, you are familiar with this toadstool.  It is the mushroom with a red cap covered in white dots, with white gills underneath, and supported by a white stipe.  Probably about 90% of mushroom art is based on this mushroom, so you have definitely seen it around (for example: in Mario games, Disney’s Fantasia, lawn decorations, and Christmas ornaments).  Aside from the visual aesthetic the mushroom provides in your daily life, muscaria has had a deep and lasting impact on a variety of cultures around the world, from Hinduism to Siberian shamans to Santa Claus.