April, 2006.

Some of the more interesting taxa encountered...

      Phylloporus rhodoxanthus (Gilled bolete).
    Auriscalpium vulgare. Commonly pictured, pretty little mushroom. On a Douglas Fir cone (as commonly found locally).
       Cortinarius comptulus. This one has been fruiting continuously since the Fall in a local park under Pinus radiata. Once the European literature arrived had a chance to work towards an id. Subgenous Telamonia, section Incrustati. Fertile gill edge (last photo). No idea if there is a better N. American name...

Russula rosea. (per Thiers). Taste mild, sp: yellowish. P.3 FeSO4 effects. P.4 KOH (slight effect). P.5 (55 μ hymenial cystidia) P.6 Basidia

    Hygrocybe caliptraeformis

      Gallerina cerina gr.

    Gallerina marginata   

    Mycena pura

  Lichenized cup fungus.

      Camarophyllus pratensis

    Amanita velosa

    Cortinarius sp. Intervenose gills.   

    Clitocybe inversa

    Crepidotus mollis

    Exidia glandulosa

    Gymnopilus sapineus. Keeps fruiting incessantly on the same spot since the Fall. By the boats.

    Stereum hirsutum. Samuel Taylor Park.

    Mycena sp.

    Suillus caerulescens.

    Inocybe sp.

    Polyporus elegans

Late April, 2006

Some of the more interesting fungi and other oddities seen  between April 15-30, 2006. Most ubiquitous species, excluded. In all ID attempts, at a minimum, spore size/shape/features/color have been compared.

Due to the prolonged heavy rains recently,  it seems that a few typically Fall species made a brief, but noticeable  comeback.

        Leccinum manzanitae (Pt. Reyes)  Haven't seen this one since November.  The bluing reaction was very delayed (1+ hours). Upon slicing, the trama quickly turned fuscous. Found in the ditch by the road, right under Bishop pine. Plenty of madrone/manzanita in the area, but none immediately apparent. The first flush of spores (8-10 x 4-5 µ) seemed way below the described length for any species in the Genus. Next morning they came up fine (13-17µ). I suspect immature spores. Anyway, as a result, I investigated the literature on all other local Leccinum. Expected a more esoteric species, but the common one seems the closest.

        Agaricus arvensis. (Hercules, CA) I am amazed how abundant it is on lawns near by. Fruiting since the Fall. Odor: Pleasant, of licorice/almonds. Growing mixed up with some of the common ill-smelling Xanthodermati..

      Agaricus bitorquis. Second flush since the Fall.

    Chlorophyllum brunneum (=Macrolepiota rachodes var. hortensis). The major seasonal flush started 30 days later than last year. Overall, the Bay Area major Fall rains started 1-1.5 months behind schedule during a confusing season. Then an exceptional rain, etc. As an avid windsurfer I've kept track locally of the first major Fall rains since 1992. Anyway, is the above truly C. brunneum? Abruptly-bulbous, simple annulus? Well, see the next installment of the microscopical section: More Pain, Less Gain...

    Iris. These are said to bloom at the time of the hedgehogs. Seems to hold true.

    Pachylepyrium carbonicola (Sierra Nevada, 3500 ft) Looking for morels? That's what you get on old burned places. The pictures of burned area species are somewhat confusing, but this one has distinctly larger spores 10-11.5 x  8-9 µ  than the one below (P. highlandensis). Here is a tinier form (more Galerinish).

    Pholiota highlandensis (Marine Watershed). Same as above, on a burned patch. Nothing highlandish about it, 300ft ASL

       Russula silvicola. (Marine watershed). The American R. emetica. The similarity of the red Russula is a combination of amazing, frustrating and rewarding when identifying them. This one is not the same as this one:

  Russula brevipes var. megaspora.  A supposedly rare form or R. brevipes,  (spores 10-14 µ in length.) I suspect more like simply underlooked and underevaluated. It probably takes a nut to look at a non-discoloring Compacta under the hood. It is a smaller form of R. brevipes that I suspect may be very much identifiable visually . The "Point Reyes Foray 1" specimens PtR 39 and likely PtR 38 seem good candidates for further evaluation (if not already done).

  No idea. (Sierra Nevada, 3500 ft). Odor: Strongly aromatic. SP: white. Spores inamyloid. Didn't have time to look it up at all. Next week will probably know more. High on my list to pursue. It's not a "fragrant" Clitocybe, it seems.

    Tricholoma sp. (Hercules, CA) Tiny one. Odor: farinaceous Pilleus aerolate. Need more work to figure this one out. Saved a dry specimen. At the same time, last week,  T. fracticum and T. muricatum were fruiting as well. Saw some T. flavovirens too.

       Cheilymenia stercorea (Sierra Nevada, 3000ft) A dung lover. No, I did not take a spore print...

    Agrocybe praecox. Super abundant in parks on woodchips, but hadn't seen it in nature before.

    Phyllotopsis nidulans. Stinky...

        Slime mold. I will look it up one of these days when I'm done with the rest.

  Clavulinopsis fusiformis. (Sierra Nevada, 3600 ft ASL) I think that id is right, besides being so truncated (club like).

Oddities

    Pinus sabiana "Digger Pine/Western Gray Pine" (Sierra foothills). 3 or 4 needles? Noticed bundles with 4 needles. A few disintegrated along the way.

       Russula sanguinea. How the hell did that happen? I'm curious to know about the biological process that creates such "stacked" configuration... Seen it with Chanterelles too.

Uninvited guest

  The mother was watching me warily from 50 yards away. Being an uninvited guest, I departed as soon as I arrived. Hope the

 family is Ok again.

   Same story, the wild turkey cleared the bush the second I noticed her. I cleared the area rapidly too. Hopefully she got back to her eggs.

       Inocybe calamistrata (Pt. Reyes) Powerful and nauseatingly fishy odor (spermatic minus hygiene). One of the easier local Inocybe to identify like the omnipresent: I. geophilla. I lillacina, I. grammata/albodisca, I. sororia, etc.

         Coprinus truncorum/saccharinus  Who in his right mind would question this not being the common C. micaceus, ubiquitous from here to Europe? Or give a damn about it... I'm not sure I want to answer, but anyway, it seems closer to the European description of C. truncorum, even closer to C. saccharinus (if they are not the same species).  Did not have a chance to research A.H. Smith's monograph on Coprinus. Anyway, this is another proof that "too many books, too many problems"... Vesicular cheilocystidia, typical for Coprinus.

    Lepiota spheniscispora. (Tilden park) In the L. clypeolaria/megaspora group. The clean stipe, lacking the usual shaggy appearance made me look it up under the hood. Expected a more interesting species, but the large sharp-edged  fusiform spores were a good stop point.