To be fair, the shape of this velvet-top was pretty cool and unusual (for us at least). Reminded me of flower blossoming and looked like fresh bread. Two of my many favourite things. It was a warm day, but when we touched it it was cool to the point of being cold and was very velvety soft. Just so fun to see.

About the Phaeolus schweinitzii

A fungal plant pathogen that causes butt rot on conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruce, fir, hemlock, pine, and larch. P. schweinitzii is a polypore, although unlike bracket fungi the fruiting body may appear terrestrial[citation needed] when growing from the roots or base of the host tree.

As its common name suggests, the dyer’s polypore is an excellent natural source of green, yellow, gold, or brown dye, depending on the material dyed and the mordant used.

The fruiting bodies, appearing in late summer or fall, commonly incorporate blades of grass, twigs, or fallen pine needles as they grow. They are tannish with darker brown centres, with orange to pale margins on young specimens.  As the fruiting bodies age, the pore surface turns from yellow to greenish yellow, the top becomes darker, and the yellow-brown fleshbecomes harder and more wood-like. The pores bruise brown. The spores are white, elliptical, smooth, and inamyloid.

More information: Phaeolus schweinitzii: Wikipedia

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

The smooth translucent jelly-like texture is so fun. And the colours pop out in the forest of greens and browns. While usually small it’s cool to see the little families of them dotting a piece of wood.

About the Tremella mesenterica

Tremella mesenterica (common names include yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches’ butter) is a common jelly fungus in the family Tremellaceae of the Agaricomycotina. It is most frequently found on dead but attached and on recently fallen branches, especially of angiosperms, as a parasite of wood decay fungi in the genus Peniophora. The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of the fungus has a convoluted or lobed surface that is greasy or slimy when damp. It grows in crevices in bark, appearing during rainy weather. Within a few days after rain it dries into a thin film or shriveled mass capable of reviving after subsequent rain.

The fruit body has an irregular shape, and usually breaks through the bark of dead branches. It is up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) broad and 2.5 to 5.0 cm (1.0 to 2.0 in) high, rounded to variously lobed or brain-like in appearance. The fruit body is gelatin-like but tough when wet, and hard when dry. The surface is usually smooth, the lobes translucent, deep yellow or bright yellow-orange, fading to pale yellow, rarely unpigmented and white or colorless. The fruit bodies dry to a dark reddish or orange. The spores, viewed in mass, are whitish or pale yellow.

This fungus occurs widely in deciduous and mixed forests and is widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions that include Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. The fungus is edible, but lacks flavour. Tremella mesenterica produces carbohydrates that are attracting research interest because of their various biological activities.

More information: Tremella mesenteria: 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.

About Cantharellus cibarius

Cantharellus cibarius, commonly known as the chanterelle, golden chanterelle or girolle, is a fungus. It is probably the best known species of the genus Cantharellus, if not the entire family of Cantharellaceae. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped. On the lower surface, underneath the smooth cap, it has gill-like ridges that run almost all the way down its stipe, which tapers down seamlessly from the cap. It emits a fruity aroma, reminiscent of apricots and a mildly peppery taste (hence its German name, Pfifferling) and is considered an excellent edible mushroom.

More information: Cantharellus ciborium, Wikipedia

Besides being the best company a person could ever have on and off the forest trails, I love foraging with Balfour because we both love fungi. Doesn’t have to be edible or beautiful (which I realize is in the eyes of…) but we just love to explore and find mushrooms we haven’t seen before. That’s what foraging is for us: Getting out together with our dogs, roaming the forests, traipsing off trail to check on something we spotted, and finding a mushroom we didn’t know of before. Pure joy. And if we come home with a bagful for dinner – bonus.

About the Phaeolus schweinitzii

A fungal plant pathogen that causes butt rot on conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruce, fir, hemlock, pine, and larch.[1] P. schweinitzii is a polypore, although unlike bracket fungi the fruiting body may appear terrestrial[citation needed] when growing from the roots or base of the host tree.[2]

The fruiting bodies, appearing in late summer or fall, commonly incorporate blades of grass, twigs, or fallen pine needles as they grow. They are tannish with darker brown centres, with orange to pale margins on young specimens.  As the fruiting bodies age, the pore surface turns from yellow to greenish yellow, the top becomes darker, and the yellow-brown fleshbecomes harder and more wood-like. The pores bruise brown. The spores are white, elliptical, smooth, and inamyloid.

More information: Phaeolus schweinitzii: Wikipedia

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