Autumn Adventures in the Arboretum

My Field Ecology class went on a trip to the Arboretum last week to do some data collection about the species of trees and other foliage in the understory.  My group was the measuring team, and in making a transect (straight path along which plots for analysis are made at regular intervals) I was frequently ensnared by the limbs of trees we passed.  It was quite a chilly day, on top of which it began to rain near the end of our three-hour adventure.

On the bright side, however, I was able to uncover some fungi!  Turkey Tails to be precise!

Saprobic bracket polypores (wood-decaying, shelf-like, with pores along the underside), Turkey Tails are always fun to find.  Their characteristic coloured rings almost give them away, but not quite.

Turkey Tails (Trametes versicolor) growing on a fallen tree in the University of Guelph Arboretum

  
The key to telling apart Turkey Tails from False Turkey Tails (Stereum ostrea) is on the underside.  The imposters lack pores (little holes) through which spores drop for dispersal in the real Turkey Tails.

On that trip I also found the Artist's Conk (Gangnoderma applanatum, top left), Tinder Polypore (Fomes fomentarius, top right), some lichen covering a tree (lichen is a combo of a fungus and an algae or cyanobacteria, bottom left), and a lovely path lined with leaves (bottom right).

SIDE NOTE: The Artist's Conk has an easily stained underside and is thus named because artists may use it as a drawing medium.  Even picking one of these with your bare hands can leave dark-brown markings.  Here is an example of some work done by Tom Volk. 

Today it rained, making it perfect weather for some mushroom hunting!  Alex and I headed out to the Arboretum for a nice walk and some fungus Identification

Going down the boardwalk near the soccer fields, we quickly ran into the Violet-Toothed Polypore (Trichaptum biforme) lining a dead deciduous tree.

The characteristic green and orange bands of the Violet-Toothed Polypore; Alex making an ID in the Aubdon field guide

Of course, our discoveries were far from over!  We also found the Thin-Maze Flat Polypore (Daedaleopsis confragosa), the Hen of the Woods (Grifola fondosa), and the Conocybe Tenera.  Also pictured is the fung-tastic hunting team!

 

We also ran into a sketchy situation with the suspected Galerina autumnalis, which is incidentally called the Deadly Galerina.  I picked it up, and when we noticed that it may be very scary, we high-tailed it out of there (ergo, no picture) and went out for dinner after some very thorough hand-washing!

I hope your autumns are all going splendidly and that you get a chance to enjoy the leaves, crisp air, and some neat little fungi friends!

-Kamelia

Set Sail!

The blogosphere today is very diverse.  Blogs pop up on design, crafting, science, comics, daily life, writing, oddities, and [yo dawg] there are even blogs that blog about blogs for you to blog.

I didn't want to end up with a microblog monstrosity on my hands, writing about minute details of my day and with no theme to tie everything together neatly. I was searching for inspiration to make my blog at least a little bit different.

Of course, there's nothing really original as Jim Jarmusch said it so well:

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

...but I can try to take my ideas great places!

Fortunately, I think the inspiration hit me today!   I've been interested in the study of fungi since grade 11, so you could say this is a bit of a long-term relationship.   While on a walk with my mycology class through the arboretum (led by naturalist Richard Aaron) it really sunk in how neat I think fungi are.  It is fantastic to finally have some formal experience of the subject I enjoy reading about on my own.

Little questions:

"How do you tell the difference between Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) and False Turkey Tail (Stereum ostrea)?"

"What are defining characteristics of white rot? brown rot?"

"What are the steps that take place between lignin or cellulose decomposition by rot, and the final outcome of total decay?"

I think it would be wonderful to share my affinity for such a diverse and important taxonomic group to round out the blogosphere a little bit :)

Lemon Drops (Bisporella citrina) growing on a fallen tree branch; photobombed by a slug.

I hope that this endeavor is successful in that it gives me a positive outlet to develop the amateur mycologist in me, and provides an element of interest for the bloggers and blog readers out there.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful!  Keep looking for everyday magic.

-Kamelia