After reading the definitions of webs this could be a spider web or a cobweb. Either way it is definitely an art installation. You can count on nature to always add that extra bit of panache to everything.

About Cobwebs

A spider web, spiderweb, spider’s web, or cobweb (from the archaic word coppe, meaning “spider”) is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey.

Spider webs have existed for at least 100 million years, as witnessed in a rare find of Early Cretaceousamber from Sussex, in southern England. Many spiders build webs specifically to trap and catch insects to eat. However, not all spiders catch their prey in webs, and some do not build webs at all. The term “spider web” is typically used to refer to a web that is apparently still in use (i.e., clean), whereas “cobweb” refers to a seemingly abandoned (i.e., dusty) web. However, the word “cobweb” is also used by biologists to describe the tangled three-dimensional web of some spiders of the family Theridiidae. While this large family is known as the cobweb spiders, they actually have a huge range of web architectures; other names for this spider family include tangle-web spiders and comb-footed spiders.

More information: Cobwebs: Wikipedia

Beautiful hikes through the forests in 2022. Stunning trees, feathery ferns, soft earth, great trails — just no mushroom fruiting bodies. Hope the mycelium is having a good rest and is ready to rock 2023.

McDowell remembers the adventure began when Balfour said “Do you wanna see something really different?” And McDowell responded “Do I???” So Balfour led the way up a trail they had travelled many times, which of course McDowell didn’t recognize because she’s hopeless at finding her way through a forest, and wow these beautiful candysticks were right there. Which just goes to show that after 20 years, foragers can still find something they’ve never seen before!

The cool thing about A. virgata is that they are nongreen plants, because they lack chlorophyll, and are able to obtain nutrition from neighbouring green plants through a fungal intermediate. Cool or what!!! And they have excellent taste, preferring the awesome matsutake mycelium as a food source.

About the Allotropa virgata

Allotropa virgata is in the family Ericaceae and is the only species of the genus Allotropa. It is a perennial plant that gets its common names from the distinct white and red or maroon stripes along its erect peduncle. A. virgata are nongreen as they lack chlorophyll, instead obtaining nutrition from neighboring green plants through a fungal intermediate.

Allotropa virgata feeds primarily on matsutake mushroom (Tricholoma matsutake) mycelium, and also possibly that of the similar Tricholoma magnivelare. Allotropa virgata was listed as a ‘sensitive’ species in 1998. It is a clonal species that spreads through its extensive lateral root system, to lengths up to 4 feet and 2 feet deep. Because it spreads underground through buds on the lateral roots, it is able to survive ground fires if the host tree of its fungal hosts are not killed as well.

Allotropa virgata is pollinated by bumblebees, sweat bees, and some Lepidoptera species.

More information: Allotropa: Wikipedia

And ghost pipes, or Monotropa uniflora were plentiful this highly welcome summer of love and as always, beautiful.

Not a mushroom or a fungi, these plants are not only cool looking – they don’t eat light: their hosts are the forest mushrooms who have symbiotic relationships with surrounding trees and the pipes ultimately get their nourishment from those trees. Whole lotta mycorhizza going on!

About Monotropa uniflora

Unlike most plants, Monotropa uniflora is white and does not contain chlorophyll. Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, more specifically amycoheterotroph. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it can grow in very dark environments as in the understory of dense forest. It is often associated with beechtrees. The complex relationship that allows this plant to grow also makes propagation difficult.

The plant is sometimes completely waxy white, but often has black flecks or pale pink coloration. Rare variants may have a deep red colour.

More information: Monotropa uniflora, Wikipedia