Specimen #6: Coral Fungus

Figure 1. Clavulinopsis fusiformos.

Name: Clavulinopsis fusiformos

Family:  Clavulinaceae

Collection Date:  September 13, 2011

Habitat: On wet, soggy dirt with some twigs scattered around. Underneath a large tree near other fungus.

Location: South Chagrin Reservation in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Description: Growing in tight, dense clusters, Clavulinopsis fusiformis is widely distributed, but more common in the northern half of North America. It is distinguished from look-alikes by its clustered growth pattern, its height (5-15 cm), and its bitter taste. (Kuo, 2007).

Presumably saprobic; growing in dense clusters with fused bases, or occasionally gregariously; in woods under hardwoods or conifers, sometimes in grass; summer and fall; widely distributed but more common in northern North America. Fruiting body is typically 5-15 cm high; up to 1.5 cm wide; cylindrical and unbranched; often flattening; sometimes grooved; dry; bright or pale yellow; fading with age; white at the extreme base; usually with a somewhat pointed tip (Kuo, 2007).

Kuo, M. (2007, April). Clavulinopsis fusiformis. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clavulinopsis_fusiformis.html

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body erect, unbranched (club-like) or profusely branched from a common base or “trunk” (coral-like); cap absent; spores borne on the smooth to slightly wrinkled surfaces of the upright clubs or branches. Coral and Club Fungi p. 630.

Key to Clavariaceae:

Key to Clavulina and Allies:

1a. Fruiting body unbranched or very sparsely branched (but often tufted or clustered.)

2b. Not as above- (above:  fruiting body entirely brownish-black to black or blackish beneath a white powdery coating or entirely green to olive or blue-green or interior with large chambers or compartments or parasitic on insects, spiders, or truffles; spores born asexually or in acsi); may be white, but if so then not powdery; spores born on basidia.

3b. Fruiting body typically fragile or if tough then much smaller, mostly less than 7 mm thick; apex acute or blunt or occasionally enlarged. Clavaria and Allies. P. 634.

Key to Clavaria and Allies:

1b. Not as above- (above: growing on algae-covered wood or soil; fruiting body minute (up to 1.5 cm high and 1-3 mm thick)); if growing on algae, then larger/

2a. Fresh fruiting body yellow to orange, red salmon, or pink.

3a. Fruiting body yellow to orange.

4b. Fruiting body unbranched or occasionally forked (but often clustered.)

6b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body with wide, often flattened head and/or fruiting body often irregular in shape; texture rather tough; spores borne inside asci); fruiting body typically clublike to spindle-shaped or fingerlike or rarely forked; usually rather fragile; spores borne on basidia.

7a. Fruiting bodies 5-15 cm tall, usually growing in bundles or large clusters, yellow. Clavinopsis fusiformis. P. 638.

Links:

 http://americanmushrooms.com/taxa/Clavulinopsis_fusiformis_05.htm

http://healing-mushrooms.net/archives/clavulinopsis-fusiformis.html

http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Edible_Plants_Ramer_Silver_Weizmann/Pages/spp_page_Clavulinopsis_fusiformis.html

Figure 2. Clavulinopsis fusiformos before collecting. Note the habitat on wet, soggy dirt with some leaves and twigs scattered around. 

Figure 3. Clavulinopsis fusiformos. Note the length of fruiting body at 5.3 cm.

Figure 4. Clavulinopsis fusiformos.

Specimen #5: Coral Fungus

Figure 1. Clavulinopsis laeticolor.

Name: Clavulinopsis laeticolor

Family:  Clavulinaceae

Collection Date:  September 13, 2011

Habitat: On wet, soggy dirt with some twigs scattered around. Underneath a large tree.

Location: South Chagrin Reservation in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Description: Fruiting body simple (unbranched or occasionally forked once) but often tufted; erect, small, cylindrical or often somewhat flattened, grooved, and/or twisted; 1.5-6.5 cm tall but usually 3-4 cm, 2-5 mm thick; surface bright orange or in some forms orange-red, often duller as it dries or fades; extreme base whitish; tip usually acute, often brownish in age or when dry. Flesh thin, somewhat pliant, pallid or yellowish; odor and taste mild (Arora, 1979).

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body erect, unbranched (club-like) or profusely branched from a common base or “trunk” (coral-like); cap absent; spores borne on the smooth to slightly wrinkled surfaces of the upright clubs or branches. Coral and Club Fungi p. 630.

Key to Clavariaceae:

Key to Clavulina and Allies:

1a. Fruiting body unbranched or very sparsely branched (but often tufted or clustered.)

2b. Not as above- (above:  fruiting body entirely brownish-black to black or blackish beneath a white powdery coating or entirely green to olive or blue-green or interior with large chambers or compartments or parasitic on insects, spiders, or truffles; spores born asexually or in acsi); may be white, but if so then not powdery; spores born on basidia.

3b. Fruiting body typically fragile or if tough then much smaller, mostly less than 7 mm thick; apex acute or blunt or occasionally enlarged. Clavaria and Allies. P. 634.

Key to Clavaria and Allies:

1b. Not as above- (above: growing on algae-covered wood or soil; fruiting body minute (up to 1.5 cm high and 1-3 mm thick)); if growing on algae, then larger.

2a. Fresh fruiting body yellow to orange, red salmon, or pink.

3a. Fruiting body yellow to orange.

4b. Fruiting body unbranched or occasionally forked (but often clustered.)

6b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body with wide, often flattened head and/or fruiting body often irregular in shape; texture rather tough; spores borne inside asci); fruiting body typically clublike to spindle-shaped or fingerlike or rarely forked; usually rather fragile; spores borne on basidia.

7b. Fruiting bodies up to 6.5 cm high, solitary to gregarious or tufted; yellow to orange.

8b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body less than 15 mm high, usually somewhat viscid; typically growing on or near wood); usually growing on ground. Clavunlinopsis laeticolor. P. 638.

Links:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clavulinopsis_laeticolor.html

http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Clavulinopsis_laeticolor.html

http://www.indianamushrooms.com/clavulinopsis_laeticolor.html

http://curbstonevalley.com/blog/?p=4544

http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Link=T&Rec=328402

Figure 2. Clavulinopsis laeticolor.

Specimen #4: Coral Fungus

Figure 1. Clavulina amethystina in its original habitat. It can usually be found in solitary, scattered, or in groups on ground in mixed woods and under conifers; widely distributed but mainly northern.

Name: Clavulina amethystina

Family:  Clavariaceae

Collection Date:  September 13, 2011

Habitat: On wet, soggy dirt with some twigs scattered around. Underneath a large tree.

Location: South Chagrin Reservation in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Description: Clavulina amethystina is a beautiful purple branched species; it is found occasionally in eastern North America. Fruiting body erect or somewhat spreading, profusely branched, 2-11 cm tall and broad. Branches often irregular in shape, often resulting in a somewhat tangled appearance; pallid soon becoming purplish; smooth or wrinkled to somewhat flattened; tips acute or blunt, often forked. Stalk present as a short, fleshy sterile base or “trunk;” colored like the branches, or often whitish at the very base. Flesh white, brittle; taste usually mild (Arora, 1979).

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body erect, unbranched (club-like) or profusely branched from a common base or “trunk” (coral-like); cap absent; spores borne on the smooth to slightly wrinkled surfaces of the upright clubs or branches. Coral and Club Fungi p. 630.

Key to Clavariaceae:

1b. Fruiting body profusely branched from a stalk or common base.

4b.Not as above- (above: fruiting body small and tough with very thin, almost hairlike branches, brown to grayish-brown to dark brown or purple-brown; growing on twigs, needles etc.; rare (mostly tropical.)); common.

5b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body consisting of numerous flattened, wavy, ribbonlike, or leafy segments or lobes arising from a common base; rather tough; overall color white to creamy yellowish, or tan; growing at or near the bases of trees and stumps.)

7b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body bright yellow to orange; spore print white, or if not then branches usually viscid; spores smooth; typically growing on wood.)

8a. Branch tips crownlike (in the form of small fringed cups); spore print white; growing on wood. Clavulina and Allies. P.640.

Key to Clavulina and Allies:

1b. Not as above- (above: growing on wood; branch tips usually crownlike); usually growing on ground.

2b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body tough and pliant, not white, typically with a mat of copious white mycelial threads at base or in surrounding humus); mycelial mat absent and/or fruiting body brittle.

3a. Fruiting body lavender to purple. Clavulina amethystina.

Links:

http://americanmushrooms.com/taxa/Clavulina_amethystina_04.htm

http://www.indianamushrooms.com/clavulina_amethystina.html

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5751.asp

http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/08/20/clavulina-amethystina/

Figure 2. Clavulina amethystina. Note the fruiting body height at 5.5cm.

Figure 3. Close up of Clavulina amethystina. Note the crownlike tips on the fruiting body.

Specimen #3: Coral Fungus

Figure 1. Close up of Ramaria myceliosa.

Name: Ramaria myceliosa

Family:  Gomphaceae

Collection Date:  September 13, 2011

Habitat: On wet, soggy dirt with some large wood chunks scattered about. Underneath a large tree.

Location: South Chagrin Reservation in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Description: Fruiting body abruptly and profusely branched from a slender base (stalk); 2-6 cm high and broad. Branches slender, spreading, pliant, yellowish to tan, ochraceous, olive-ochre, cinnamon-buff, or dull orange, etc.; tips same color. Stalk slender, pliant, not very fleshy; same color as branches or paler, with abundant white mycelial threads (rhizomorphs) attached to base and/or permeating the surrounding humus. Flesh thin, whitish, pliant; taste usually bitter (Arora, 1979). 

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body erect, unbranched (club-like) or profusely branched from a common base or “trunk” (coral-like); cap absent; spores borne on the smooth to slightly wrinkled surfaces of the upright clubs or branches. Coral and Club Fungi p. 630.

Key to Clavariaceae:

1b. Fruiting body profusely branched from a stalk or common base.

4b.Not as above- (above: fruiting body small and tough with very thin, almost hairlike branches, brown to grayish-brown to dark brown or purple-brown; growing on twigs, needles etc.; rare (mostly tropical.)); common.

5b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body consisting of numerous flattened, wavy, ribbonlike, or leafy segments or lobes arising from a common base; rather tough; overall color white to creamy yellowish, or tan; growing at or near the bases of trees and stumps.)

7b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body bright yellow to orange; spore print white, or if not then branches usually viscid; spores smooth; typically growing on wood.)

8b. Not as above- (above: branch tips crownlike (in the form of small fringed cups); spore print white; growing on wood.)

9b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body bright yellow to orange when fresh and small (typically 2-1 cm high.))

11b. Not as above- (above: branches tough, usually flattened, grayish-brown to dark brown to purple-brown (but tips often pallid when growing); odor typically garliclike or fetid.)

12a. Spore print creamy to yellow, tan, yellow-orange, or ochraceous (rarely white); fruiting body medium-sized to fairly large, often brightly colored, or if dull colored then usually with a large fleshy base (stalk). Ramaria. P. 645

Key to Ramaria:

1b. Growing on ground (or occasionally on very rotten wood.)

5a. Fruting body pliant and rather tough, small or medium-sized (rarely taller than 10 cm); stalk or “trunk” slender to practically absent, with a mat of conspicuous white mycelial threads attached to the base and/or permeating the substrate.

6b. Fruiting body pallid to yellowish, ochraceous, cinnamon-tan, etc.; sometimes with greenish stains, found in duff.

7b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body (or at least lower branches) bruising or aging blue-green to olive-green, especially in cold weather.) Ramaria myceliosa. P. 649.

Links:

http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Ramaria_myceliosa.html

http://www.mushroomhobby.com/Gallery/Ramaria/index.htm

Figure 2. Ramaria myceliosa in its original habitat. Near twigs on ground.

Figure 3. Ramaria myceliosa.

Figure 4. Note the height of the Ramaria myceliosa fruiting body is around 3 cm.

Specimen #2: Jelly Fungus

Figure 1. Exidia glandulosa

Name: Exidia glandulosa

Family:  Exidiaceae

Collection Date:  October 4, 2011

Habitat: On a wet, old, decaying stump

Location: The West Woods Park in Geauga County

Description: Fruiting body flabby or gelatinous, beginning as a pallid or translucent blister but soon becoming cushion-shaped to irregularly lobed; reddish-black to olive-black soon becoming jet-black (or black from beginning); 1-2 cm broad but often fusing with others to form rows or masses up to 50 cm long; upper surface smooth to minutely roughened or warty.  Flesh gelatinous, black. Stalk absent.

Saprobic; growing on recently fallen hardwood sticks and branches (especially on the wood of oaks); commonly encountered in most areas in spring and again in fall, but not infrequently appearing during summer cold spells or winter warm spells; widely distributed in North America. Individual fruiting bodies of Exidia glandulosa fuse together and spread across sticks and small branches of hardwoods. The result is a large, quivering, black patch of gelatinous globs that eventually dry out, leaving a blackish crust on the wood. Exidia glandulosa prefers cooler temperatures, usually fruiting in spring and fall (Kuo, 2007).

Kuo, M. (2007, April). Exidia glandulosa. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/exidia_glandulosa.html

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body variously shaped (with or without cap), but always gelatinous or very rubbery; usually growing on wood. Jelly fungi p 669.

Key to Tremellales and Allies:

1b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body brightly colored (yellow, orange, pink, red, or greenish) when fresh, but sometimes losing its color in rainy weather or old age); fruiting body white, grayish, black, reddish-purple, brown, yellow-brown, etc.

9b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body translucent to whitish, grayish, or brownish, with a cap (and usually a stalk), the underside of the cap lined with tiny spines or “teeth.”); underside of the cap lacking minute spines or “teeth.”

10b. Not as above- (above: fruiting body tough, erect, and usually branched (coral-like), white or pallid; found mainly on ground under hardwoods in eastern North America.); usually found on wood or plants.

12a. Fruiting body black (or nearly  black) when fresh.

13a. Exidia glandulosa. pg 672.

Links:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/exidia_glandulosa.html

http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Exidia_glandulosa.html

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5923.asp

http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/photos/Exidia_glandulosa%28fs-01%29.jpg



Figure 2. Exidia glandulosa after preservation. Note the irregulary lobed fruiting body.

Figure 3. Close up of Exidia glandulosa. The color varies from olive- brown to black.

Figure 4. Exidia glandulosa.

Specimen #1: Toothed Fungus

Figure 1. Hericium americanum.

Name: Hericium americanum

Family:  Hericiaceae

Collection Date:  October 4, 2011

Habitat: On wet, dead tree.

Location: The West Woods Park in Geauga County

Description: Fruiting body bearing spores on downward point spines suspended like icicles; stalk absent; growing on wood; fruiting body a branched framework; lacking a distinct cap. Fruiting body is usually 15-30 cm across; consisting of a tightly branched structure arising from a rooting base; with densely packed spines .5-4 cm long hanging from the branches in clusters or rows; white, or in age discoloring brownish to yellowish. Flesh is white and does not change when sliced.

Hericium americanum is North America's only Hericium species with long spines and a branched fruiting body. It is apparently found only east of the Great Plains, fruiting from dead wood or live trees. Though it is more frequently found on hardwoods, it is documented on conifers. When young, before the branches have developed, it might be confused with Hericium erinaceus. Saprobic and possibly parasitic; growing alone or gregariously; fruiting on dead hardwood logs and stumps, or from the wounds of living hardwoods; documented to fruit (rarely) on conifer wood; late summer and fall; east of the Great Plains (Kuo, 2003).

Collector: Cara Tompot

Key Used: Arora, D. (1979). Mushrooms Demystified. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Keying Steps:

Key to the Major Groups of Fleshy Fungi

Basidiomycetes Pg 52.

Fruiting body bearing its spores on downward-pointing spines or “teeth”; spines either lining the underside of a cap or suspended like icicles from a cushion of tissue or a branched framework; stalk present or absent; on ground or wood. Teeth fungi pg. 611.

Key to the Hydnaceae.

1b. Not as above- (above: growing on decaying conifer cones or sometimes in mats or debris made up partly of cones and stalk hairy, brown to dark brown, stalk only 0.5-3 mm thick; not growing on cone; stalk if present usually thicker.)

2b. Not as above-(above: fruiting body rubbery and flexible, small cap typically 5 cm broad or less, translucent white to watery gray or with a brownish cap; stalk  lateral; spines minute and very short.)

3a. Growing on wood.

4a. Fruiting body a branched framework or unbranched cushion of tissue from which spines are suspended (i.e. icicle like); lacking a distinct cap. Hericium p 613.

Key to Hericium:

1. Hericium erinaceus. After checking online, I found that it can be easily confused with Hericium americanum which is not in any of the keys. Due to the fact that the species I found is branched, I conclude that my species is in fact the Hericium americanum.

Links:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hericium_americanum.html

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jan2003.html

http://americanmushrooms.com/edibles2.htm

Figure 2. Hericium americanum.

Figure 3. Close up of teeth on Hericium americanum. Yellowing with age.