For most of us, the word "mushroom" conjures an image of the mushrooms found in every grocery store. They have a stem, a rounded cap, and gills under the cap where the spores form. However, the reality of mushrooms is not that simple. Fungus is mostly out of sight: underground, within dead logs, in the leaf litter. This invisible fungus is the main body of the organism. The bits that pop up above ground are the spore-producing fruiting bodies, and they can take on a dizzying array of forms. As an analogy, think of all the body plans in the animal branch of evolution's family tree: they range from jellyfish to dragonflies to horses. The fungal branch has just as much weird and wonderful diversity.
Autumn is the perfect time of year to appreciate this wonderful weirdness in the Pacific Northwest. Here is a sampling of some of the stranger fungal fruit that I've come across recently.
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| Coral fungus (Ramaria sp.) |
This ghostly candelabra is coral fungus. It does not, tragically, glow in the dark (although some mushrooms, such as sulfur tufts, do glow under UV light!). Instead, spores are produced in the tips of the branches.
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| Earthstar (Geastrum saccatum) |
Earthstars look like alien pods, but are a form of puffball mushroom. The spores form in the spherical part, then whoosh out through the hole on top once they mature. There are no recorded instances (as of yet) of the spores causing aliens to burst out of anything or anyone.
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| Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) |
Also looking alarmingly like an alien pod, here's a more traditional puffball mushroom. Like the earthstar, the spores will poof out from an opening in the top.
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| Bird's nest fungus (Cyathus striatus) |
These are not the nests of tiny, communal birds, but they
are called bird's nest fungus. Almost unbelievably, the miniature "eggs" contain spores. Raindrops knock the mature eggs out the the nest so the spores will be scattered in a new location.
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| Fairy Fingers (Clavaria fragilis) |
These eerie-looking things are called fairy fingers - it's as if the fairy has been buried and is clawing its way, undead and horrible, out from underground. In reality, they mean no harm and, like other mushrooms, just want to release spores into the world.
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| Candlesnuff fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon) |
Candlesnuff fungus looks like half-burned wicks. The white tips are not actually white with ash, though, but with white spores.
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| Icicle fungus (Mucronella pendula) |
I love these in part because they are tiny and so easy to miss - they are less than a centimeter long. They do indeed dangle down from logs like tiny icicles, and can be either white or yellow.
I hope, like me, you saw the wonder and beauty along with the weirdness. It's not too late to get outside and prospect for mushrooms yourself. All these mushrooms were found in the last few weeks at either Cougar Mountain or Tiger Mountain near Seattle.
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