Mycology for the Gloucester Master Gardeners Presented by Tom Teeples

Beginning Mycology for the Gloucester Master Gardeners Presented by Tom Teeples

2 Outline for presentation • Teaser slide show • Background information • Fungus groups – Gilled – Pores – Cup – Teeth – Puffballs – Other

3 Outline for presentation (Continued) • Explanation of each group and example pictures • Background on poisonous mushrooms • Poisonous mushroom myths • Pictures of common poisonous mushrooms • Reminder of the lesson • Potential reading/reference

4 Slide show tease Or...... Is that a mushroom??

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14 Cedar/Apple Rust Fungi

17 Background Fungi Information

• ~ 300,000 green plants vs. an estimated 1.5 million fungi • Closer to animals than plants (Chitin in cell structure, not cellulose) • Mushroom = Fruiting body; Mycelium (Root) = Vegetative body • Include rusts, smuts, molds, yeasts • Mycelia can be huge • Most are saprophytic – a few parasitic • Fungi are not poisonous to the touch • Fungal spores are EVERYWHERE! (55 MT) • Mycorrhizal fungi: lichens, mycorrhizae, endophytes

Mycorrhizal Fungi

• Symbiotic relationship with most green plants • 80% of land plants team up with fungi • Some experts estimate 95% • Fossil records show co-dependence from 400 million years ago (Devonian period) • Fungi assist in take-up of moisture, phosphorus, sulfur, nitrogen………….. • Green plants contribute carbs to fungi

19 Mycorrhizal Fungi (Continued) • SERC….Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is currently conducting research in orchid+fungus relationships • Supportive fungi are obligates for germinating most (all?) native orchid seeds

20 Gilled mushrooms

• Mushroom ‘gills’ are underneath the cap • Gills are like knife blades, sharp edge down • Spores are produced on pedestals attached to the gills • The pedestals give a name to this group of mushrooms: Basidiomycetes/Agarics

21 Gilled mushrooms

23 http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.com/2009/10

24 • Spores • on the • tips of • basidia

25 Spore Prints

• Spore prints help to identify the mushroom; spore color is an important clue • To take a print: – Remove the stem from the cap – Place the cap, gills down, on a paper sheet – Cover the cap with an inverted bowl – Wait several hours, or overnight

26 Mushroom spore print White spores on dark paper

27 Mushroom spore print Dark spores on white paper

28 Mushrooms with pores

• Boletes and polyporous examples • Instead of gills, these have tubes under the cap where spores are formed • One end of the tube is open giving a sponge-like appearance to the under cap area

29 Typical bolete cap (underside)

Bolete spore 32print

Trametes versicolor Turkey tail fungus AKA:polyporous versicolor34 Sulphur polypore ‘Chicken mushroom’

35 Cup fungi basics

• Cup fungi produce spores on the surface of the mushroom; no gills or tubes • The spores are developed in an ‘ascus’, a sack. (No basidia). • Giving the name to this group: Ascomycetes

36 Now a few cup fungi

• Urnula craterium37 Wood ear

Cup fungus 39

Cup fungus: Note ‘smoke’ 40

41 A few toothed fungi

Hedgehog fungus – Hydnum42 repandum Bear’s head

43 Puffball Basics

• No gills, no tubes, no spores on surface • Spores are contained inside the body of the mushroom (the stomach) • Giving this group the name of: gasteromycetes

44 A few puffballs

45 ‘Brain’ puffball

47 A few oddities

48 Inky caps

49 Lactarius sp.

50 Coral fungus

51 Stinkhorns

52 The most poisonous mushrooms

• Amanitas are the most deadly • All amanitas are gilled • Spore prints are white • Most grow out of a volva (bulbous base) • Most have a ring • Not all amanitas have the same poison. Thus symptoms will vary.

53 Poisonous Mushroom Myths

• If animals eat them, they are OK! • Poisonous mushrooms will turn garlic/onion/silver black when cooked together! • If the cap peels off easily it is edible! • ‘Toadstools’ are bright and flashy! • Poisonous mushrooms taste horrible! • All the above are false

Amanita phalloides Death cap 57 Some things we have not explored: Slime Mold

58 Crustose and Foliose Lichens (Crusty and Leafy)

59 Fruticose Lichen (Shrubby)

60 Indian Pipes

61 What we have learned • Widespread appearance and diversity of fungi • Green plant dependence on fungi • Fungus groups – Gilled – Pores – Cup – Teeth – Puffballs • Brief introduction to poisonous mushrooms

62 Potential Reading • A Field Guide to Mushrooms, Kent H. McKnight, Vera McKnight • National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms, Gary H. Lincoff • Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America, David W. Fischer, ... • North American Mushrooms, Orson K. Miller, Hope Miller • The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide, Alexander H Smith, Nancy Smith Weber • In The Company of Mushrooms, Elio Schaechter • mushroomexpert.com • mycoweb.com • mawdc.org • namyco.org (NAMA) • rogersmushrooms.com • ted.com (Search for Paul Stamets) • mycorrhizas.info • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KoKDCwJOJQ&feature=fvwrel

63 Final Exam

64 Final Exam

• Thought question: If fungi have received a vote of confidence from 80% of green plants,…………..why don’t all green plants associate with a mycorrhizal fungus?

65 Thank you

• Thanks to Gloucester MGs for inviting me • Thank you for your attention