three, two black ones
Westside Preserve, San Juan I.
The rare Shoe-nesting Wren, actively guarding and returning to its nest in a shoe hanging from the telephone wires.
One of TWO (!) leucistic individuals seen by many. This is the "darker" one, with a bit more black, and very nice eyeliner :-) Probably in the same family group; normally colored individuals in the group as well.
One of TWO (!) leucistic individuals seen by many. This is the whiter of the two. Probably in the same family group; normally colored individuals in the group as well.
Golden-backed Frog
Mushroom grown on frog body
Growing on Artemisia tridentata and i am not sure about subspecies! It is growing really low to the ground.
Laguna Grande Park, Seaside/Monterey, CA
On the underside of a small partially decomposed branch, probably Douglas fir, western hemlock, or big-leaf maple given the surrounding trees.
In pumpkin, naturally infected.
In addition to the "white mold" always look for the presence of large, black, irregularly shaped "sclerotia" - the overwintering structure for this fungus.
I found these fungi growing on a giant sunflower root stock in my yard. I’m most curious about the black fruiting bodies
Stipitate apothecia, 5 mm diam. and 4 mm diam.
Ascospores: Length (10.4) 11.2-12.7 (13.7) µm, width (5.2) 5.6-6.3 (6.6) µm, Q (1.7) 1.8-2.2 (2.5) (n = 30 free ascospores in water)
Asci: Amyloid apical pore
Maybe? Closest I could find https://www.gallformers.org/gall/4143
Fruiting in a sea of ochre colored Cortinarius
KOH = purple on stipe and cap
HAY-F-006453
p5 12-8
Transcribed from handwritten notes:
Pyrogallol and guaiacol negative oncap.
Pileus 18-57 mm across, up to 36 mm tall.
Tightly round-convex to campanulate-umbilicate.
Cap often contorted and wavy, some strongly crenulate or splitting at margin. Deep vinaceous ruby red becoming grapefruit red or pink over buff-beige pink background.
Extremely finely tomentulose at disc, when very young (nearly smooth). With small but distinct scales outwards and irregularly in age. Scales not or barely uplifted, but not entirely appressed.
Stipe 24.9 to 43 to 50 mm tall. 4.2 to 8.3 to 9.6 mm wide. Equal or slightly enlarged at base, often mostly hidden by drooping cap.
Often strongly grooved or flattened. Not entirely smooth (ie. vertically fibrous), with white punctae or scurfs in some specimens. Pale flesh colored, pinkish cream, or pallid rosy pink. Basal mycelium abundant, rising up to 1/2 stipe. White, not contiguous.
Lamellae pale creamy pink becoming pinker in age, and with vinaceous staining at maturity. Edge somewhat eroded even when fresh and with transvenose lamellulae. Close, irregular, deep.
haha, AI thought this must be a snake. shows how massive the underground stem/rhizome/root system must be on these plants, at least older plants. normally only the leafy rosette tips would be exposed, but this plant was disturbed by hikers over time on a steep scree slope. the exposed root is still firmly embedded in soil at the bottom of the first photo, so who knows how large it really is.
Curiously, it seems like Mount Diablo is a coastal-disjunct location for this mostly-montane species
on graywacke above high tide line, in spray zone. apocthecia, no isidia
It was found along the upper section of the East Trail descending towards Russian Gulch Creek; probably a five-minute walk from the north boundary trail connection. Redwood habitat but fairly dry currently. I've tried to guesstimate the coordinates here: 39.334089, -123.760694. The iphone coordinates place it too near the creek I think.
There were three growths present on the uphill-side of the trail. Only one was growing with the wooly chanterelle.
Russo doesn't list any galls for fireweed. The HOSTS database lists quite a few, though I haven't checked them all out. Merits some further research. If anyone at Sagehen can find some and wants to rear them...
I am an avid mushroom forager, so one of my coworkers brought this specimen into work to ask me what it was that his dog had been digging up in his backyard in South Lake Tahoe.
I brought it home and found that it wasn't in any of my ID books so I posted online on a Facebook group to see if anyone knew what it was.
The following day, while I was at work, I saw that several people thought it was Lactarius rubriviridus, a rare species. I called my girlfriend to tell her, and she told me that our dog had taken it off of the counter and chewed it into pieces.
So, it was both discovered and destroyed by dogs.
My coworker told me that his dog digs them up all the time, but since then he has brought about 10 specimens to me, none of which have been rubriviridus.
I have what is left of the specimen dried in a ziplock bag, but it's a very small amount.
Note: The location on inaturalist is the correct general neighborhood but not precise. The property owner doesn't want the location online. He is continuing to bring me samples, maybe his dog will find another one.
The notorious still-undescribed Eriogonum from the Bristol Mountains with it's reticulate branching pattern, it's glaucous stems. A perennial that seems to only occur on limestone. Previously photographed in flower in 2018 (see link to observation in comments).
Undescribed species. Known for decades and still not named.
Found under oak and olive, next to a patch of lactarius
Photos include a couple with UV light (one mixed, one only UV), the one in hand shows cap after KOH applied (no significant color change, just mainly got darker).
Habitat: mixed forest dominated by Thuja plicata and Acer macrophyllum, on a slope by a trailside. Understory mostly Polystichum munitum, no terrestrial bryophytes immediately adjacent to the fruit but there are populations within 1m. Growing very close to numerous other Hygrophoraceae, many of which are rare (H. laetissima, H. virescens, H. fenestratus, H. splendidissima, H. coccinea, H. flavescens, G. psittacinus, G. laetus)
Kits just emerged from their den today
Large, imbricate-pileate polypores growing on cottonwoods (Populus )
Flesh thick, tough-punky, cap surface slightly fibrillose to smooth.
Flesh 2.5 cm deep, tube layer 5 mm deep.
Pore mouths small, subtly angular (not perfectly round), 3-4/mm.
Fresh specimens juicy, with strong almond extract/marzipan/maraschino odor when cut.
Pores turning yellow-orange when dried.
Microscopy:
Hyphae mostly of one type, simple, unseptate, with thick walls. No clamps observed. No cystidia observed. Spores smooth, ellispoid to long-ellipsoid, 7 x 3 microns or longer. Inamyloid.
At first I thought they might be Osteina due to general appearance, but not growing on conifer, not drying bone-hard, and with different micro characters.
Comments from polypore expert Otto Miettinen:
"the fruitbody
structure, spore shape and hyphal structure point towards Polyporus (in the wide, traditional sense). The hyphae look like skeleto-binding
hyphae typical of Polyporus and the core polyporoid clade / polyporaceae
in the modern sense."
Likely Mountain Lion kill on the Cabrillo College campus.