Yellow Morels (Morchella esculentoides)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic, some species are able to form mycorrhizal-like associations with deciduous or coniferous trees, others can grow within plants as endophytes.
Scaly Wood Mushrooms (Agaricus cf. sylvaticus)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on ground.
Agaricus, the genus of white button mushroom we buy in the grocery (Agaricus bisporus), contains wild edible species (Agaricus cf. sylvaticus) as well as moderately poisonous ones that can cause major gastrointestinal distress.
Poisonous Yellow-Patch Mushrooms (Amanita flavoconia)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods.
Amanita is often used as an icon for ‘toadstools’ because it contains several deadly poisonous species, including the ‘Yellow Patch Mushroom’ (Amanita flavoconia). Amanita can be distinguished from other gilled mushrooms by a ring of tissue on the stem (= annulus) and a cup-like base (= volva). Note that the volva in the two specimens of A. flavoconia is mostly hidden underground; discovering whether a volva is present is absolutely critical because mushrooms with one should never ever be eaten!
False Death Cap Mushroom (Amanita citrina)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods.
Emetic Russula Mushroom (Russula cf. emetica)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods.
The scarlet red mushroom with a brittle, chalk white stem fruiting throughout the summer in FPNC is commonly known as the Emetic Russula Mushroom (Russula cf. emetica) or ‘the sickener’; the European species R. emetica can induce a violent episode of vomiting. The cf. used in the name of this species and Agaricus cf. sylvaticus indicates that DNA sequence-based studies are needed to determine whether collections from Illinois are the same species as R. emetica and A. sylvaticus in Europe, given that the latter two mushrooms were originally described from European collections.
Purple-Brown Spored Mushroom (Stropharia hardii)
Most mushrooms, like ones commonly available in groceries, produce spores on lamellae (also called gills) on the underside of a cap. An average size mushroom produces tens of thousands of spores that are typically wind-dispersed at maturity. Spore color is an important character useful for identifying mushrooms to genus.
Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria gallica)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic or pathogenic on weakened trees.
The Honey Mushroom (Armillaria gallica) derives it common name from its honey-like color. This species is an important wood decay fungus and opportunistic pathogen of trees. A study conducted in Michigan in the 1990s discovered one colony of A. gallica spanning 37 acres, weighing approximately 10.5 tons, and estimated to be 15 centuries old!
Yellow Chanterell (Cantharellus cibarius)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal.
Yellow Chanterelle, like their wine glass namesake, are both funnel-shaped.
Oyster Mushroom(Pleurotus ostreatus)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic wood-decay fungus.
As the name suggests, oyster mushrooms look like the marine bivalve. These mushrooms grow on living and dead trees.
Tan Bolete(Boletus pallidus)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal with oaks and other hardwoods.
Boletes are distinguished from gilled mushrooms in that the undersides of their caps are composed of pores.
Old Man of the Woods (Strobilomyces floccopus)
Nutritional mode: Mycorrhizal.
Chicken-of-the-Woods or Chicken Mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus)
Nutritional mode: Pathogenic and saprobic on hardwoods, especially oak where it causes a brown rot disease that can kill a tree.
Shelf fungi or Polypores account for some of the most conspicuous mushrooms. Like Boletes, the underside of the cap is lined with pores. However, Polypores grow on and decay wood whereas Boletes grow on the ground.
False Turkey Tails (Stereum ostrea)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood.
Pheasant’s Back Polypores (Polyporus squamosus)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood.
Artist’s Conk Polypore (Ganoderma applanatum)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on hardwoods and conifers, occasionally pathogenic on injured trees.
Artist’s Conk Polypore gets its name because some people draw pictures on the white, pore-containing undersurface of this Polypore.
Crown-tipped Coral Fungus (Artomyces pyxidatus)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood.
Crown-tipped Coral Fungus superficially resembles the marine animal by the same name.
Lion’s Mane or Bearded Tooth Mushroom (Hericium erinaceum)
Nutritional mode: Parasitic on oak.
Fluted Bird’s Nest Fungus (Cyathus striatus)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood.
This Fungus produces spore-containing ‘eggs’ that are dispersed by rain via a splash-cup mechanism. At maturity each Bird’s Nest is about one-quarter of an inch in diameter.
Common Puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying logs.
Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on ground.
Largest puffball species frequently reaching a foot and one-half in diameter.
White Jelly Fungus (Ductifera puluahuana)
Nutritional mode: Saprobe on decaying hardwoods where bark is missing.
Patches of this fungus can grow to several inches in diameter.
Black Witches’ Butter (Exidia glandulosa)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying hardwoods growing to several inches in diameter.
Stalked Scarlet Cups (Sarcoscypha occidentalis)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic growing on twigs and fallen branches.
The cups shown here are less than one-half inch in diameter.
Mayapple Rust (Allodus podophylii)
Nutritional mode: Obligate pathogen of Mayapple.
Rust fungi are named as such because they produce bright orange rusty spores. These mushroom relatives are obligate pathogens of plants growing in the nature preserve. Mayapple Rust produces bright orange spores (aeciospores) in cup-shaped pustules (upper right) that can reinfect Mayapple during the spring.
Rust Fungus (Puccinia andropogonsis)
Nutritional mode: Obligate plant pathogen.
Big Bluestem prairie grass (Andropogon gerardii) infected with rust fungus (Puccinia andropogonsis). In contrast to Mayapple rust that is only pathogenic on Podophyllum peltatum, Big Bluestem rust completes part of its life cycle on Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra, upper right).
Scaly Ink Cap Mushrooms (Coprinopsis variegata) visited by fungus gnats and millipede.
Many insects complete part of their life cycle on mushrooms, including fungus gnats in the fly family Mycetophilidae (myceto = fungus, philidae = loving).
Underside of Tan Bolete cap (Boletus pallidus)
Note the numerous burrow holes of flies and their larvae.
Deer Mushroom (Pluteus cf. cervinus)
Fly larvae growing between lamellae of Deer Mushroom (Pluteus cf. cervinus).
Wolf’s Milk Slime Mold (Lycogala epidendrum)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood and leaf litter.
Plasmodial slime molds resemble fungi but they are distantly related amoeboid protozoa (Class Myxogastria).
Dog Vomit Slime Mold (Fuligo septica)
Nutritional mode: Saprobic on decaying wood and leaf litter.