Endoptychum agaricoides "Gastroid Lepoita"

Sample #15: Endoptychum agaricoides “Gastroid Lepiota”

Figure 1: dehydrated young sample; spore casing retains spine-like structures from partial veil

Figure 2: rehydrated detail of spore sack; stipe clearly continues into the sack; spores an immature cream color

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Family: Agaricaceae

Collection Date: 15 September, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: solitary, scattered or in groups in open soil; common in lawns, fields, flower beds

Location: ledges of soil, Nelson’s Ledges, Ohio

Description: variously shaped spore mass “cap” on a short stalk; spore mass loosely compartmentalized, spore change from white to yellow or brown as they mature; stalk precurrent, thickest at base, discolors with age; veil not usually discernable from cap

Key Used: Arora, David (1986).  Mushrooms Demystified.  New York City, New York: Ten Speed Press: an association of Random House Inc. 

Steps to Key:

                Basidiomycota

                Puffballs and Earthstars: pg 54

                Doesn’t consist of a “nest” and “eggs” structure (pg 676)

                Not emerging as a “phallic, branched, tenticled or latticed structure” from a vulva or sack; no slimy coating or odor (pg 676)

                “Fruiting body with a stalk below the spore case or “cap” (pg 676)”

                Stalk penetrates through the spore case, usually extending to the top (pg 676)

                Spore mass solid, no gills or cavities (pg 724)

                Not found on “living or dead wood or other debris” (pg 724)

                Not covered in “shaggy scales or fibrils (pg 724)”

                Flesh not orange, spore mass not grey to black (pg 724)

                Flesh not bright yellow at stalk base, nor are spores chambered (pg 724)

                Wasn’t growing on wood

                Cap not conical

                “fruiting body [not] agaricus-like”

                “fruiting body… puff-like…spore mass often white at first…growing mainly in grass, cultivated earth”

                “Spore mass enclosed for a long time”; no “gills” hanging from the underside (pg 727)

                Found in an open soil area

                Spore mass white becoming yellow

                No peridioles

               

Resources:

http://e-ecodb.bas.bg/rdb/en/vol1/Endagari.html

http://www.mycobank.org/name/Endoptychum%20agaricoides

Fuligo septica "Dog Vomit Slime Mold"

Sample #14: Fuligo septica

 Figure 1: small pockets of Fuligo septica aethalium coming together to fuse

Figure 2: underside of section; immature white spores visible

Phylum: Myxomycota

Family: Physaraceae

Collection Date: 16 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: logs, living plants, and wood substrates of all kinds

Location: pile of dead wood, Mantua, Ohio

Description: white to yellow slime mass; becomes a cake-like mass of various other colors with black spores underneath as it matures

Key Used: Rollins, Adam and Steven Stevenson .  Slime Molds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, University of Arkansas.  In Discover Life

http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Mycetozoa_GSMNP

Steps to Key:

Aethalium

Recognized the morphology and descriptions found on the internet related to reserch

Resources:

http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/crust%20and%20parchment/species%20pages/Fuligo%20septica.htm

Leparaia lobificans "Fluffy Dust Lichen"

Sample #13: Leparaia lobificans "Fluffy Dust Lichen"

Figure 1: detail of original sample's gray-green color; dust-like soredia visible

Figure 2: aged Leparaia lobificans; algae has mostly shut down revealing white fungal color

Phylum: Ascomycota

Family: Stereocaulaceae

Collection Date: 22 September, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: on rocks and trees; very shade tolerent

Location: on a chip of fallen bark, Squaw Rock, Ohio

Description: thick “fluffy” thallus covered with soredia; gray-green in color, but can have overtones of yellow; is either an indistinct mass or lobed with rounding edges

Key Used: Anonymous Multiauthor (2015).  Common Lichens of Ohio Field Guide.  Ohio Division of Wildlife, part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 

Steps to Key:

                Recognized the morphology in the guide

DNA analysis: Very dissimilar BLAST match for the algae Micromonas; possible but unlikely fact as Micromonas is a marine photosynthetic microplankton

Resources:

http://ohiomosslichen.org/lichen-lepraria-lobificans/

http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/182623-Lepraria-lobificans

Arachniam album "Puffball"

Sample #12:  Arachnion album “Puffball”

Figure 1: Arachmion album freshly collected; note absence of stem and traditional pileus

Figure 2: detail of matured spores contained inside the peridium; no compartments, arranged in a globe

Figure 3: detail of surface of peridium, fractured in starlike rays

Figure 4: individual spores under magnification

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Family: Agaricaceae

Collection Date: 16 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: open fields and soil;

Location: collection on a dead tree stump, Mantua, Ohio

Description: gleba spore sack full of sand-like particles;

Key Used: Arora, David (1986).  Mushrooms Demystified.  New York City, New York: Ten Speed Press: an association of Random House Inc. 

Steps for Keying:

                Basidiomycete: pg 52

                Puffballs and Earthstars: “fruiting body round to oval … interior (spore mass) firm when young but powdery and dusty when mature (pg 54)

                Not a bird’s nest: “fruiting body [not] consisting of a “nest” (cup, vase, or bowl) containing one or more “eggs” (peridioles) (pg676)” 

                Not “emerging as a cylindrical, phallic, branched, tentacled or lattice structure (pg 676)”

                “Stalk rudimentary or absent (pg 676)

                “spore mass firm and solid when young…powdery or cottony when mature and usually dispersing fairly soon; columella (internal stalk) typically absent (pg 676)”

                Not “splitting into several starlike rays which unfold or bend (pg 679)”

                Contains no peridioles

                “fruiting body puff-like … lacking a columella and stalk, (pg 679)”, found in sandy soil or open places

Resources:

http://www.mycobank.org/name/Arachnion%20album

http://www.envismadrasuniv.org/Arachnion%20album.html

Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus “Pleated Shaggy Moss”

Sample #11: : Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus  “Pleated Shaggy Moss”

Figure 1: detail of Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus stem and leaf branches; once pinnate branching evident

Figure 2: detail of leaves; midrib too faint for identification; note microscopic "teeth" on leaf edges in middle right

Phylum: Bryophyta

Family: Hylocomiaceae

Collection Date: 16 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: Forest soil in conifer forests, openings in hardwood forests, woods enriched with calcium, along streams

Location: Soil, close to a seasonal stream, Mantua, Ohio

Description: creeping to upright; foum bushy mats; leaves green and close together with red stems; leaves triangular egg-shaped tapering to a pointed tip; weak midrib; leaf edges have microscopic teeth

Key Used: McKnight, Karl, Joseph Rohrer, Kirsten McKnight Ward and Warren Perdrizet (2013).  Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians.  Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Steps to Key:

                Plerocarp, faint midrib

                “Pinnately branched (like a feather or fern frond) (pg365)”

                “Stems once pinnate (pg365)”

                Found on soil

                “Large and shaggy (pg365)”

Resources:

http://blogs.ubc.ca/biology321/?page_id=524

http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=RHTR70

Bryum argenteum “Silver Moss”

Figure 1: representation of concentration of gametophyte stems in a sample of Bryum argentaum; sporophytes present in abundance

Figure 2: detail of single gametophyte; "silvering" of leaf tips evident, with green coloring appearing futher down the structures

Figure 3: detail of intact sporophyte capsule; red coloring appeared further down the stepa

Sample #10: Bryum argenteum “Silver Moss”

Phylum: Bryophyta

Family: Bryaceae

Collection Date: 16 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: common in urban areas; hard dry soil, sand, gravel, on walls and roofs

Location: in shallow soil on the side of a parking lot, Mantua, Ohio

Description: silvery at tips to pale green at the bottom; red stems tightly packed; usually no more than 1 cm tall; leaves difficult to differentiate, no different if wet or dry

Key Used: McKnight, Karl, Joseph Rohrer, Kirsten McKnight Ward and Warren Perdrizet (2013).  Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians.  Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Steps to Keying:

                Acrocarp

                Ovate leaf, midrib (pg 17)

                “Plants less than or equal to 1 cm tall (pg 350)”

                “Plants silvery pale green … tightly packed so that stems appear wormlike (pg 350)”

Resources:

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/bryumargent.htm

http://ohiomosslichen.org/moss-Bryum-argenteum/

Psathyrella piluiformis "Common Stump Brittlestem"

Sample #9: Psathyrella piluliformis “Common Stump Brittlestem”

Figure 1: close view of the dehydrated pileus; felt covering and bits of parciel veil visible

Figure 2: image of freshly picked sample; note granulated pileus and possible veil remnants on stem

Figure 3: lamellae packed under cap; adnate nature seen at separation at top of image

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Family: Psathyrellaceae

Collection Date: 16 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: common wood-rotting fungus found on or around stumps of dead deciduous trees

Location: in gathered clump on a dead stump, Mantua, Ohio

Description: Cap red-brown with pieces of veil stuck to the top; veil pieces disappear as the fungus matures; lamellae adnate and close together with a beige coloring; stem 4 to 8mm in diameter, silky white color, straight or slightly curved

Key Used: Peterson, Jens, Alf Gaba and Thomas Læssøe.  MycoKey – the mycological information site.  The Universities of Arrhus and Copenhagen.  http://www.mycokey.com/newMycoKeySite/MycoKeyIdentQuick.html

Steps for Keying:

                Mushroom with gills (agarics with a stem)

                Found on wood

                Pileus surface felty to hairy

                Pileus color a vivid brown

                Lamellae adnate

                From here, morphological identification

Resources:

http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/psathyrella-piluliformis.php

Cladonia christatella "British Soliders"

Sample #8: Cladonia christatella “British Soliders Lichen”

Figure 1: red squamulous apothecia on the end of the British Solider podetia

Figure 2: cross section of the thallus; color difference between algal layer and medulla clearly visible

Figure 3: side view of podetia stalk

Phylum: Ascomycota     

Family: Cladoniaceae

Collection Date: 9 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: rotted wood; damp stumps, tree bases, old fence posts

Location: fence post, Brunswick, Ohio

Description: algae involved Trebouxia erici; squamulous; green-grey colored stalks with white medulla; red-tipped, button-like apothecia on the tips of podecia; often about 1 cm in height

Key Used: Anonymous Multiauthor (2015).  Common Lichens of Ohio Field Guide.  Ohio Division of Wildlife, part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 

Steps to Keying:

Recognized the morphology in the guide

Resources:

http://www.lichens.lastdragon.org/Cladonia_macilenta.html

Trichia varia - Slime Mold

Sample #7: Trichia varia

Figure 1: early-stage sporophyte of Trichia varia; darkening stepa evident

Figure 2: sporophyte formation on the dead wood substrate

Figure 3: formations of typical speckled bands on the stem of the sporophyte, indicating an early-stage growth

Phylum: Myxomycota

Family: Trichiaceae

Collection Date: 20 October, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: dead wood

Location: rotted stump, Hiram, Ohio

Description: crowded sporophyte; stoat short stalk (has yet to turn black); sporothecia globulose, yellow and .5-.9mm wide; simple hard to see membranes; white or clear plasmodium; pictures believed to be of an early sporophyte stage

Key Used: Rollins, Adam and Steven Stevenson .  Slime Molds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, University of Arkansas.  In Discover Life

http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Mycetozoa_GSMNP

Steps to Key:

                Bright spore mass

                Genus/species by visual identification

Resources:

http://hiddenforest.co.nz/slime/family/trichiaceae/trich10.htm