Sandra's Garden: The saddles are here, but the Dryads are missing

Species name: Polyporus squamosus

Common name: Dryad's saddle

Location: Sandra's garden

I'm a bit late for Fungus Friday and Shroom Saturday, but I'm just in time for Sunday Fungday (I just made that last one up)! So here's a mushroom post since I haven't done one in a while, and it fits right into the blog theme of "Stuff in Sandra's garden".

One thing I love about Sandra's philosophy to gardening is "if it grows or visits and I like it, it stays" and this idea is applied to literally everything in the garden from visiting neighbourhood cats to mushrooms growing on trees or in the soil. There's apparently a yearly bloom of earth stars (you can read about the ones I found in my garden HERE; these are usually fall or late summer fruiting fungi), and this colony of Dryad's saddle has been fruiting on half a dead tree for a while now. And who wouldn't want to keep this beautiful fungus around?! One absolutely fascinating thing to watch when it comes to the Dryad saddle is the release of spores. You have to wait until it's a sunny day with just a light breeze in the late spring or early summer. Park yourself in a chair (or on the ground) with a good view of the underside of this fungus and watch the show. Trillions of spores will be released from the pores on the underside of the fungus into the wind, and you can literally watch them blow away in a swirling cloud of (what looks like) smoke. I've only seen it once, but it was definitely a sight to behold.

The Dryad's saddle is a great example of a fungus that we believe very strongly to be a "native North American mushroom" but in all likelihood isn't. This fungus lives for the majority of its life cycle in dead or dying trees where it causes a disease called "white rot". This happens when the fungus releases enzymes from the fungal threads called hyphae that digest lignin in the wood. This is GREAT if you're into making paper; lignin is the number one cause of paper crumbling and yellowing with time. Normally the paper industry uses chemical bleaches to get rid of the lignin and turn the remaining cellulose (the light and fluffy part of the tree; the lignin is like a glue that holds everything else together and hardens significantly with age) white, but this fungus does it all on its own. Unfortunately for you, this also weakens the tree enough that it will likely collapse under its own weight or get blown over in a wind storm. If you're a crafty person though this could be a great source of inspiration and raw materials; well-rotted white rot trees are PERFECT for making your own paper. Take the squishy, sponge-like white rot and put it in a pot with plenty of water. Put it on the stove and cook, cook, cook. After it's literally mush, pass through a strainer to remove a lot of the water, put it in a food processor or blender, and blend to further break up the fibres. Once blended, pour a bit of your pulp over a screen with a wood frame submerged in some warm water to "block" the paper, pull straight up out of the water to set the pulp, press with a finer mesh screen to extract as much water as you can, then set in an oven on very low heat (as low as it can go; you don't want to be burning your house down!) for a few hours to dry. Once most of the moisture is gone, carefully peel off the screens and hang in the sun to completely dry. Voila! Paper. You can add some pretty things like small leaves or scented plant products to give your paper some extra oomph (lavender and rosemary work really well!), or some dried or fresh flowers (and who doesn't have an over-abundance of pansies at this time of year?). If this sounds easy and idiot-proof, you would be correct. Making your own paper is fun and easy, once you get the hang of it. And there are so many possibilities for thickness, colour, texture, shape, size...you could spend your whole life just making paper every day! The paper-making industry is slowly starting to take note of "natural" ways to make paper; fungi like Dryad's saddle and other white rot fungi are currently being looked at as a natural means of ridding wood pulp of lignin and naturally bleaching the wood fibres before the paper is made. Perhaps one day we'll start seeing paper products advertised as 100% free of chemicals in the paper itself as well as the pulp production process. See?! Fungi are cool! As a side note, the same process outlined above can be used on the mushroom itself; different species of Polyporus have been used for centuries to make a cardboard-like paper.

Back on topic, the Dryad's saddle probably isn't native because of the type of hosts you most likely find this fungus on. Most of the trees it prefers to rot are European trees. If this was a truly parasitic fungus than you would expect to see that kind of relationship; a good example of this is the European Dutch Elm disease that is killing all of the North American elm trees. Since this isn't a parasitic fungus but rather an opportunistic rotter (something has to have already come along and weakened the tree in order for this fungus to colonize the wood; if there are no appropriate trees like that around it will exist solely on dead logs) it would prefer the wood of the trees it "grew up" or evolved with. This leads me to believe this is a European fungus that probably arrived very, very early in human colonization and has been here ever since. The other possibility is that this really is a North American fungus, and what is found in Europe is a completely different species. Both options are pretty common stories in the fungus world once a population-level analysis is done with special genes called microsatellites.

Apparently this mushroom is edible. To me it would be like eating cardboard, but when it's young you can slice off the edges of the fungus and fry them in bacon grease to get fried Dryad's saddle. To me, this is essentially making a mushroom taste like bacon, and who doesn't like bacon? You could make almost anything edible by frying it in bacon grease. Cooking it on its own sounds like you would end up being mighty disappointed with the results. If you have ever cooked up this mushroom and liked the taste and texture, let me know! I'd be interested in hearing about it and whether it was as uneventful as I'm imagining it would be.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Shhh. Don't wake the morels!

Species name: Morchella angusticeps

Common name: black morel

Location: top secret!

Now, normally I don't have the species status diagrams on blog posts when I blog about mushrooms, because it's so difficult to determine if a species is native to a specific location. The black morel is one of the exceptions, thanks to a paper published in late 2012. The authors looked at the distribution of the 13 known species of morels and sequenced their DNA to see how species are distributed around the world. What they found was shocking for a few reasons. First, there actually aren't 13 species of morel, there are 65. Just a few that we didn't know about! And second, the distribution of different species of morel is very restricted and always predictable. In eastern North America, black morels are always Morchella angusticeps, but up until 2012 we would call them Morchella elata. Turns out Morchella elata is only found in cool-temperate Europe and nowhere else.

The habitat of morels is very similar amongst all species; they are known root associates of decaying roots of living trees. Usually when the tree is cut down the morel species can still exist for a few years but quickly decline in numbers of fruiting bodies (or mushrooms) produced until none are left. The yellow morel is often associated with trees of the rose family, especially apple trees. Don't expect to go to an apple orchard to go morel hunting! The catch is that these apple trees must be left alone for years in an abandoned field in order for morels to fruit. There is definitely something to the idea that they thrive in undisturbed areas! The black morel fruits under hardwood trees. There is another species of black morel in eastern North America that is found almost exclusively in coniferous forests, but now we're finding that this species only occurs north of 44 degrees of latitude! This begs the question: what is the species found in pine reforestation areas south of 44 degrees? Is it the same species as the morel fruiting under hardwoods? For the distributions of each species to be so narrow, I find it hard to believe they would also be habitat generalists. Usually when a species occupies a narrow range they also have adapted to a very specific niche within their range (which is especially true in the fungi).

It's not often that I withhold the location of my finds, but if I published where I found these morels I just might be lynched by the mushroom community! :) It is a general rule that one NEVER divulges the location to morel patches since they are so rare. Morels are a prized edible group of mushrooms, selling for up to $50 per 100g of dried mushrooms in some areas. Wouldn't you want to keep that all to yourself?! If you want morels you're going to have to find your own secret hunting grounds.

An antabuse fungus

Species name: Coprinopsis lagopus

Common name: harefoot mushroom

Location: Ontario

I realized it's been quite a while since I've featured a fungus or fungus-like organism on my blog, and what better day to feature one than on Fungus Friday?!

The harefoot mushroom (the common name apparently comes from the appearance of the young mushrooms growing up from the ground; sure doesn't look like a rabbit foot to me) used to be considered a species of Coprinus, back when everything that produced black spores and digested itself when fully mature was a Coprinus. Now we know that this trait is actually shared between a few genera of fungi, and not all of them are related to each other. One way that seems to be effective to tell Coprinopsis from Coprinus is whether the fruiting body is edible. If edible (but with dangers; I will discuss it below), it is much more likely it belongs in Coprinus, where species of Coprinopsis are considered inedible; they won't kill you or make you sick if you eat them, but they certainly aren't tasty. Many "inedible" fungi also contain gastrointestinal irritants that will make your digestive system revolt against you for a few hours but with no real danger of severe dehydration (this is not true for other species of fungi labelled "poisonous"!).

Deliquescent fungi are often accused of distributing their spores through their auto-digest slime, since there seems to be quite a population of flies that swarm around them if left alone. This statement is most often associated with the shaggy mane, Coprinus comatus, which gives a spectacular auto-digest show on lawns across North America and Europe in the late summer and early fall. If you sample that black, blobby mess and look at it under the microscope, it shouldn't be surprising to note that there are very few, if any spores, present in the mess. Why shouldn't this be surprising? Well, two reasons. The whole point of a fungus producing spores is to disperse its future offspring to more suitable habitat (in fact, some fungi don't even produce mushrooms until they have completely depleted the resources in a given area). Depositing your spores directly beneath you in hopes they'll have a better life than you are currently having is a pretty silly idea! You would be giving your offspring a disadvantage before they even got off the ground (literally). The other clue this shouldn't be surprising is on the stem, if you look closely. Normally, the stem of both Coprinus and Coprinopsis is pure white (some are yellow or orange, but never with black spots). If you look carefully about 2/3 of the way down the stem of the second image, you can see a black fluff on the stem. If you were to take a tiny sample of that with tweezers and look at it under the microscope, you would see that those are the surface hairs of the stem absolutely covered in the black spores of the mushroom. The spores, produced on the gills, are blown away in the wind as soon as they are mature. If there are no air currents at the time that a spore detaches, it follows the rules of gravity and falls straight downwards, sometimes getting caught on surface hairs on its way to the ground. By the time the cap of the mushroom starts to be digested by the fungus' own enzymes, almost all the spores have already dispersed. Amazing how some fungi can trick us! The third picture, one of my favourite pictures I've ever taken (as proof, it's the lock-screen image on my iPhone), shows how the mushroom's gills are the first thing to turn black, and that's likely just the colour of the spores being displayed as a change in colour of the gills.

Species of Coprinus are eaten by people in North America and Europe, and will likely remain that way for quite a long time. Should you choose to eat a shaggy mane or a close relative, some words of caution. All of these species, whether Coprinus or Coprinopsis, deliquesce very quickly after being picked. Unless you want to eat a black soupy mess (I've heard it tastes the same, but looks more like black vomit than a mushroom), you must eat them very soon after picking. Any wild mushroom, no matter the species, MUST be cooked before consumption. Many species of fungi (including the common button mushroom available in grocery stores) contain compounds that have been shown to be carcinogenic. These compounds are very unstable when heated, so cooking will break them into harmless chemical pieces. The shaggy mane is famous for containing the chemical coprine, which mimics the alcoholic drug antabuse. When mixed with alcohol, species of Coprinus will cause spectacular projectile vomiting that makes the victim feel like they would rather die than vomit any more (the whole point of antabuse; it certainly is not potent enough to kill anyone, but will make you rethink mixing it with alcohol!). If you're going to consume any kind of wild mushroom, it's always best to make sure the meal is alcohol-free. It's also probably best to avoid alcohol for the next few meals; some other species that also have antabuse-like properties take days for their toxins to clear from the digestive tract and can induce vomiting 48-72 hours after consumption!

Are you sure those two things are the same species?

Species name: Flammulina velutipes

Common name: velvet-foot mushroom, velvet stem mushroom, winter mushroom

Location: Ontario

The "nativeness" of a mushroom is always difficult to ascertain, but the likelihood of this mushroom being of Asian origin is pretty high (even though it is now incredibly common in North American forests). The pictures I took of this collection don't quite do it justice; it's actually usually a much brighter pink-orange and becoming more brown towards the top of the cap, although the colour of the mushroom is highly dependent on weather at time of growth. The more vibrant the colours, the more water was available.

Those of you who know your mushrooms will know that this species is edible, but the cultivated form looks nothing like its wild sister. The cultivated form of this mushroom is grown under high concentrations of carbon dioxide, which gives it a tall, spindly-looking appearance and is much less fleshy (and slimy). It also is purely white, and better eaten raw than cooked (but I wouldn't EVER recommend eating a wild mushroom raw). The Japanese call this mushroom the "enokitake"--"enoki" after the Japanese word for the plant on which it most commonly grows in Japan, the Chinese Hackberry, and "take" which means "mushroom."

Asian people in general believe very strongly in the healing powers of fungi, and the enokitake mushroom is no different; it contains very high levels of antioxidants and has shown some promise in animal studies as being an effective cancer immunotherapy treatment. No human studies have ever been conducted, but eating an enokitake every so often certainly won't do you any harm! A word of caution with all mushrooms: there is rarely a fungus that doesn't contain some sort of carcinogenic compound. Even the common button mushroom contains a chemical that has been linked to cancer in mice, but is very volatile when exposed to even moderate heat and breaks down to two non-toxic forms when cooking. Despite this, you should always eat mushrooms in moderation (having them with every meal, while tasty, perhaps isn't a good idea) and be very, VERY careful when consuming them raw. The only two mushrooms I would ever advocate eating raw are the button mushroom in moderation, and the enokitake (which also contains some cancer-linked compounds that have been shown to be non-toxic when absorbed orally).

(from Wikipedia)

Caesar's mushroom

Species name: Amanita caesarea

Common name: Caesar's amanita, Caesar's mushroom

Location: Ontario

I figured it was about time for another mushroom! So here it is :)

Technically this species name is native to southern Europe and northern Africa, and the species name for this mushroom is likely Amanita jacksonii. To my knowledge, there's still some debate of whether these are actually the same or different species. Regardless of whether it's the North American species or the European species, it is still recognizable by the same characteristics: an orange stem, orange ring around the stem under the cap, orange cap with a darker brownish-orange middle, clear striations (stripes) on the top of the mushroom cap, light yellow/orange gills, and a white egg (volva) around the bottom of the stem.

Unlike all the rest of the species in this genus, this species is actually a highly prized edible mushroom. It can often be found in markets in Europe for sale at obscene prices since it is also incredibly rare to find (in Europe and in North America). It is actually one of the few fungi that is on a Red List or Endangered Species list around the world; the Ukraine has it listed as a nationally endangered species and it is against the law to pick it. Because of the real danger of accidentally killing yourself by eating the wrong Amanita, it is strongly suggested that you admire any mushroom with a ring and a volva from afar. Yes, they're pretty. Yes, a lot of them look like they'd be tasty. But a lot of them will give you chronic and/or deadly liver and kidney failure. Like with plants, you should only ever consume wild mushrooms if you are absolutely sure that you have identified it correctly (many species of fungi require the use of a microscope to ensure correct identification, even by experts!).

Look into the darkness...

Species name: Mycena inclanata

Common name: clustered bonnet

Location: Ontario

I took this photo in my back yard as the sun was setting (and hence the black halo around where there flash could reach) without much thought about composition or depth of field. It’s a pretty “artsy” photo as far as photography of fungi goes, as a technical image would also show the gill arrangement under the cap and gill colour.

One of the reasons why I find this particular species so fascinating is because of its predictability. Where you have decaying underground roots or stumps of oak trees, you find this species of mushroom fruiting all spring/summer/fall (but usually in cooler and wetter months). For the amateur mycologist, it’s one of the most easily identified “backyard mushroom” species. It’s unfortunate that it’s not recommended eating this species since it is so common and so easily identified. I doubt it would kill you (or your beloved pet), but it certainly wouldn’t be tasty like a morel or a chanterelle.

As with a lot of Mycena mushrooms (and fungi in general, actually), this species displays a phenomenon known as autolysis. This is the self-digestion of tissues due to enzyme activity. In fungi, it was thought to believe that this was one of the mechanisms of spore dispersal: a mushroom would autolyse its tissues into a drippy, goopy mess and the spores would be transported away from the mushroom (likely after mixing with rain water and flowing over or through the soil). This long-standing assumption was only recently found to be untrue, as about 95% of spores are released into air currents before autolysis occurs.

The more you know!