All the rain and storms here on Roundtop have wiped out any rain deficit from a dry spring. Now, it’s turning into a wet and stormy summer, and that is producing some interesting fungi. Summer is not usually the time I look for fungi. Summer is usually time for wildflowers and grass turning brown. Not this year.
Who knew that fungi could masquerade in a fashionable leopard skin? I have no idea what this fungi is, or rather was. The leopard spots are really the fungus disintegrating, but the effect is pretty neat.
I’m not sure about the name of the red fungus. It may be an older Salamander Fungus but I’m not sure.
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3 comments:
Carolyn: Your third image is, indeed, a picture of Indian-pipes, but Indian-pipes are not fungi. They are a non-photosynthetic flowering plant in the Monotropaceae, Monotropa uniflora. The members of the Monotropaceae are mycotrophic (I had to look up this word), which means "having a mycorrhizal relationship with an autotroph," according to Ann Rhoads's book "The Plants of Pennsylvania." Sorry...
Some of my favorite mushrooms are being found south of me now. It's probably a little early yet but I'm going to go out this afternoon to take a look at my favorite spots. I think your leopard mushroom is a bolete.
Carolyn: I was reading another natural history blog, and the blogger also had images of Indian pipes. He noted that Indian pipes are members of the Ericaceae (along with blueberries, huckleberries, etc.). I commented to the blog author that my reference ("The Plants of Pennsylvania") classifies Indian pipes in the Monotropaceae family. The blog author wrote back to say that the Montotropaceae are now a subfamily (Subfamily Monotropidae) within the Family Ericaceae, and he included a link to a scientific paper to that effect. These botanists have got to settle down!
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