Mushroom Of The Week - Blog Posts
Mushroom fact of the week!
Spalting is a pattern of dark black webs that appears in wood. It's quite sought after in woodworking for its unique appearance, but is actually caused by competition between the different fungi inhabiting the log.
The black lines are what's known as zone lines. Fungi make walls when they feel another fungi nearing in on their territory to protect their resources, resulting in black lines.
Not flowers :D
These flowers are not flowers, but rather a parasitic fungi's "pseudo flowers" it uses to spread its spores
The fungi infects the plant and siphons off its nutrients. In order to reproduce the fungi sterilizes the host plant, preventing it from making its own flowers.
It then forces the plant to grow yellow "pseudo flowers" that contain the fungi's spores. These spores are collected by pollinators same as the plant's own pollen would be and transferred from plant to plant, spreading the infection.
Ghost pipe flower
The Ghost pipe flower is a pale white flower that lacks chlorophyll. Instead of photosynthesizing, it gets its nutrients by tapping into the network of fungi beneath the forest floor. Sometimes they are referred to as fungus flowers due to their resemblance of pale mushrooms.
Mushroom fact of the Week!
Lichens are extremely durable. In 2005 NASA sent lichen to space to test how it stood up in the freezing cold vacuum. It was left outside in space for a period of time, and within 24 hours of rehydration had resumed all normal photosynthetic activity
Cross section of Xanthoria elegans, one of the two lichens sent to space!
Witches Cap Fungi
Mushroom of the Week No. 1
The witches cap mushroom, or Hygrocybe conica, starts off a vivid red-orange with patches of yellow. As it ages it slowly turns black naturally, or bruises black due to injury. This is actually one of the most helpful factors in identification, though the fungi itself is not sought after for its edibility. It cannot be cultivated in labs presently, suggesting that it requires something special from its environment, possibly a mycorrhizal relationship. For this it needs to be investigated further.
