you've received between 5 and 16 inches of rain in the past few weeks. Even for a wet season, it's been a little crazy. With all this rainy weather and grey skies, you may have noticed some new additions to your gardens: fungus!
When the word fungus is said aloud people usually respond one of two ways: "Gross!" or "Yum!". We'd like to propose a third option: "Oooh, pretty! What is it?"
So, what is a fungus?
fungus
noun, plural: fungi
[fuhn-jahy, fuhng-gahy], funguses.
1.any of a diverse group of eukaryotic single-celled or multinucleate organisms that live by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which they grow, comprising the mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, and yeasts, and classified in the kingdom Fungi or, in some classification systems, in the division Fungi (Thallophyta) of the kingdom Plantae.
[fuhn-jahy, fuhng-gahy], funguses.
1.any of a diverse group of eukaryotic single-celled or multinucleate organisms that live by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which they grow, comprising the mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, and yeasts, and classified in the kingdom Fungi or, in some classification systems, in the division Fungi (Thallophyta) of the kingdom Plantae.
A Garden of Variety
So fungus can be a lot of things, and not just your garden variety mushroom. Here are some of the more common mushrooms you may encounter in the wild and in your dinner.Green Spored Parasol (Chlorophyllum molybdites) is toxic, but looks like store bought button mushrooms. |
WARNING: MOSI Outside rule of nature #2: If you don't know what it is, don't eat it. Many mushrooms are toxic and mushrooms in the genus Amanita can cause liver failure and death if consumed. There are lots and lots of toxic mushrooms in Florida because Florida is pretty much the Australia of the United States.
TLDR: Don't eat mushrooms you find in the yard unless you are an expert mycologist.
Stinkhorn mushroom. True to form, it was stinky. |
Chanterels: The vase shaped chanterelles have a vase-like shake and false gills that are actually closer to wrinkles on the underside of their caps. They often have a ruffled appearance.
Morels: Prized in cooking, morels have a fascinating honeycomb like appearance on the outside and don't grow well in cultivation. Each year, the harvest of these edible mushrooms is gathered by people who wild pick these mushrooms in both Europe and North America. Those who go in search for morels should be experts and be able to easily spot the differences between the edible morel and the inedible false morels.
Two Colored Bolete (Boletus bicolor) is edible but with bright red and yellow coloring, it looks dangerous. |
Puffball: Puffballs don't have an upen cap that produces spores, rather the spore are produced on the inside of the fungus. When the puffball dries up and falls over or is otherwise opened, the spores disperse in what looks like a brown puff of smoke. If you ever step on one of these, you'll probably recognize it right away.
There are lots of other types of mushrooms. You can find more information about the broad categories of mushrooms at the Mushroom Expert website. Use the morphology chart below to help identify characteristics of mushrooms that you find to help narrow down your identification search.
Mushroom Morphology |
Slime Molds
Slime molds are a fungus like organism that are a common find after heavy rains. Many of them can be quite interesting. Often found on dead wood, slime molds come in an array of colors and shapes. Each slime mold is a network of individual cells that swarm together when conditions are right for growth.
Yellow witch’s butter or yellow brain fungus (Tremella mesenterica)
- Mushroom Expert
- American Mushrooms
- North American Mycological Society
- Gulf States Mycological Society
- Introduction to the Slime Molds: Berkley
So, have you found any toadstool, fungus, algae, stinkhorns or slime molds lurking in your yard after all of this rain? We'd love to see what else is growing around town!
Coral slime (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa)on a fallen piece of Live Oak looks a bit like frost. |
The coral slime is cool! I love mushrooms. This time of year my husband & family would go looking for those chocolate ones here in Pa. They are good fried in butter on butter bread sandwichs. Thank-you for an informative post on fungi, phyllis
ReplyDeleteThanks Phyllis! If you have any cool fungus photos, please come share them with us on Facebook! You can find us here: https://www.facebook.com/MOSIBioWorks
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