Saturday 20 October 2012

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 applanatumtop 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



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