September 17, 2017 - Annual Fungus Review

It's time for the annual fungus parade.  I'm not a mushroom expert, so I can only identify a few, but I enjoy the great variety in size, color, and form of these intriguing organisms as I tour the woods.  I'll show some new ones along with my favorites, starting with the tiniest samples and working my way up.

British Soldiers among various fungi and mosses

These are called British Soldiers due to their color and form resembling British troops in the Revolutionary War.  This brigade was mustering on top of an old white pine stump;  they are really small.

That's my thumb

I cheated here a bit, because these are actually a lichen, which is composite organism made up of fungi and algae working together in a symbiotic relationship.  As I discussed in last year's fungus post, fungi work symbiotically with many other organisms which enables our entire forest ecosystem to exist.

A bit larger are these little white fungi that speckled the forest floor in the middle of August, something new I haven't noticed before.

Next up are the small orange mushrooms that grow all summer long, often right near or on a trail. These are Orange Mycena.

Orange Mycena, (Mycena leaiana)

Now here's something that's a bit different:  Yellow Slime Mold.

Yellow Slime Mold (Fuligo septica) showing yellow and white tissue

I assumed this was a fungus, but looking it up I found that it has been re-characterized from a fungus to a "Eukaryotic".  [Ref:  Wikipedia Slime mold] It appears to be the species Fuligo septica, also known as "scrambled egg slime" or "dog vomit slime" (I don't make this stuff up).  And it gets better - this organism can move:  It can "form a ... mass of undifferentiated cells that that may move in an ameboid-like fashion during the search for nutrients."  [Ref:  Wikipedia Fuligo septica]  Sounds the plot of a horror movie - seen any of these walking around the lake recently?  You can read more about its bizarre properties at the references provided.

Moving up in size is this new (for me) mushroom, the first purple fungus I've come across.

Purple Cort (Cortinarius iodeoides)

I found this one while doing boundary monitoring on the Rawson Wood Conservation Area near Blake Brook on the west side of Lake Wicwas.  A quick search suggests it is a Purple Cort Mushroom, which grow in New Hampshire hardwood forests, especially oak, so it all fits [Ref: MushroomExpert.com].  Since it is only purple when it first emerges, turning gray as it ages, it's possible I've seen one before but never noticed it as something unique. It appears people eat these, but not this person.

So as not to bore the reader, I'll just show a few of the more interesting specimens I found, and then finish with the granddaddy of the summer. First, a medium size orange one emerging from under the leaf litter.

Next a Fly Amanita growing from a dead branch.

The common Fly Amanita

Here, emerging from the dirt and debris in the middle of a trail, is a family of pristine white mushrooms.

A nice collection of speckled maroon toadstools took up residence in this mossy spot.


There are many animals that consume these nutrient-filled organisms including insects, mammals and amphibians.

A red eft looking for small insects feeding on this medium-sized fungi

And finally, the biggest and brightest find of my roamings about the Lakes Region this summer:

Sulphur Shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus)

I'm pretty sure this is the sulphur shelf, or "chicken mushroom," considered by many to be good eating, but again, not something I'm going try.  I'm happy just to feast on these strange organisms with my eyes as the summer passes into fall.