Slime Molds

Specimen #15: Physarum viride, N/A

Figure 1: Physarum viride on its original substrate. This specimen was found on a plywood board. What is shown here are the fruiting bodies which have emerged from the board. The remaining parts, especially the plasmodium, of this acellular slime mold are most likely strewn throughout the fibers of the board. However, due to the intense sunlight, this specimen was desiccated. Luckily, it was able to be re-hydrated later.

Figure 2: Physarum viride at a scale of 20 um. This is the sporangium of the specimen after being re-hydrated, with its floriform, or flower-like, peridium intact. This species can have a different variety of sporangium shapes, including being shaped like a typical mushroom or floriform, like shown here. Also, instead of having a spore case directly attached to the substrate, this species forms a tiny, delicate stalk.

Name: Physarum viride

Common Name: N/A

 Family: Physaraceae

Collection Date: October 15, 2016

Habitat: On dead wood or the bark of living trees.

Location: On a plywood snake board in a goldenrod dominated meadow in James H. Barrow Field Station, OH.

Description: Plasmodium yellow or greenish yellow. Sporocarps stalked, gregarious, up to 1.5 mm tall. Stalk subulate, varying from pale yellow or reddish and darker below to nearly black, usually relatively long. Sporotheca nodding, lenticular or subglobose, umbilicate below, yellow to orange, 0.3-0.6 mm diam. Peridium delicate, encrusted with calcareous flakes, splitting into irregular fragments above and floriform lobes below. Capillitium dense, the nodes mainly fusiform, orange or yellow, connected by hyaline thrends. Spore-mass fuscous or violaceous black. Spores bright violet, nearly smooth, 7-9 µm in diameter.

Key Used: Discover Life. 2016. http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Mycetozoa_GSMNP

Keying Steps:

Identified using visual description. This specimen is a bright yellow in color and has stalked sporocarps.

Slime Mold Links:

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Physarum+viride

Fungi

Specimen #13: Stereum hirsutum, False Turkey Tail

Figure 1: Stereum hirsutum on its original substrate. This specimen was found on a rotting log.

Figure 2: Stereum hirsutum at a scale of 20 um. The left-hand picture is the topside and the right-hand picture is the underside. The topside is “fuzzy” with tiny hair-like structures smoothed towards the margin. The underside is completely smooth with no visible pores.

Name: Stereum hirsutum

Common Name: False Turkey Tail

 Family: Stereaceae

Collection Date: September 3, 2016

Habitat: In groups, rows, fused masses, or dense overlapping clusters on hardwood sticks, fallen branches, logs, stumps, etc.

Location: A rotting log deep in the woods on Slagle Road in Ohio.

Description: Fruiting body thin, leathery, pliant when moist, rigid when dry, annual but persistent; bracket-like to shelf-like or partially resupinate with a free margin. Cap 0.5-4 cm broad but sometimes fused laterally to form larger, lobed shelves 10 cm long or more; plane to folded or wavy (crisped); surface dry, often zoned concentrically, with whitish to brownish or grayish matted hairs (but often smoothed towards margin), the hairs wearing away in narrow zones to reveal the reddish-brown to dark chestnut-brown cap cuticle. Margin tawny in color. Underside smooth to slightly bumpy.

Key Used: Arora, D. 1979. Mushrooms Demystified, Ten Speed Press, New York, New York.

Keying Steps:

Basidomycetes, p. 52:

Fruiting body shelf-like; usually tough or woody, found on wood…Polypores & Bracket Fungi, p. 549

Key to the Polyporaceae & Allies, p. 551:

1. Spore-bearing surface not composed of tubes; fruiting body tough and woody….2

2. Fruiting body shelf-like; growing on wood or roots…4

4. Pore surface exposed…5

5. Pore surface not separable…6

6. Fruiting body with a cap, is resupinate…7

7. Spore bearing surface composed of shallow veins which may form very broad “pores” or pits….Stereaceae & Allies, p.604

Stereaceae & Allies, p. 604:

1. Not along the Gulf Coast and tropics…2

2. No stalk…4

4. Not black and cracked…5

5. Not dark blue or purple…7

7. Spore-bearing surface is smooth…8

8. Fruiting body found on wood…9

9. Not purple or chocolate in color…10

10. Found on hardwoods; not “bleeding”…11

11. Not silky or found on hornbeam…12

12. Cap has fine, velvety hairs…Streneum hirustum group, p. 605.

Specimen #14: Phellinus gilvus, Oak Conk

Figure 1: The left-hand picture is Phellinus gilvus on its original substrate. This specimen was found on a rotting log. The right-hand picture is what a drop of potassium hydroxide does to the flesh of this fungus. Notice that it has changed from brown to black in color, a noticeable trait in all Phellinus species.

Figure 2:  Phellinus gilvus at a scale of 20 um. The left-hand picture is the topside and the right-hand picture is the underside. The topside has a very knobby and bumpy texture, almost akin to sandpaper. The underside is very porous and looks grayish brown to the naked eye.

Figure 3: The removable pore surface of Phellinus gilvus at 20X magnification. The left-hand picture is the surface that is exposed to the air, the middle picture is the lateral view, and the right-hand picture is the side that is attached to the rest of the fungus.

Name: Phellinus gilvus

Common Name: Oak Conk

Family: Hymenochaetaceae

Collection Date: September 15, 2016

Habitat: Solitary or more often in colonies on dead or occasionally living hardwoods; widely distributed. Most common perennial polypore of dead hardwoods. 

Location: On a rotting log in Nelson Ledges, OH.

Description: Dark rusty-brown in color and can have a yellow margin. Fruiting body shelflike, often perennial; tough and corky when fresh. Cap is 2.5-15 cm wide and 1-3 cm thick; fan-shaped or semi-circular in outline. Pores minute (4-8 per mm), grayish-brown; tubes in 1-5 layers, each 1-55 mm long. Stalk absent. Cap tissue blackening in potassium hydroxide. Most of its closest relatives were once put into Fomes, but now belongs to Phellinus because they darken in KOH.

Key Used: Arora, D. 1979. Mushrooms Demystified, Ten Speed Press, New York, New York.

Keying Steps:

Basidomycetes, p. 52:

Fruiting body shelf-like; usually tough or woody, found on wood…Polypores & Bracket Fungi, p. 549

Key to the Polyporaceae & Allies, p. 551:

1. Spore-bearing surface not composed of tubes; fruiting body tough and woody….2

2. Fruiting body shelf-like; growing on wood or roots…4

4. Pore surface exposed…5

5. Pore surface is separable but brown in color...6

6. Fruiting body is resupinate, consisting of a simple layer of tubes,,,Poria & Allies, p. 604

Poria & Allies, p. 604:

1. Spore-bearing surface composed of a layer of tubes (pores)...2

2. Spore-bearing surface not violet-tinged or composed of "teeth"...4

4. Pore surface some shade of brown or gray...7

7. Flesh yellow-brown to rusty-brown, dark brown, etc....8

8. Pores smaller than 1-2 per mm...9

9. Fruiting body quite tough and woody...Ganoderma, Fomitopsis, Phellinus, & Allies, p. 574

Ganoderma, Fomitopsis, Phellinus, & Allies, p. 574:

1. Pore surface not rosy...2

2. Varnished surface crust absent, stalk absent...6

6. Not brightly colored or restricted to juniper...7

7. Flesh bright yellow-brown to rusty-brown, or dark brown when fresh...8

8. Pore surface brown when fresh...9

9. Fruiting body tough and woody/corky when fresh...10

10. Typically growing on hardwoods...11

11. Fruiting body is shelflike...13

13. Tube layer does not show white flecks or streaks when sectioned...15

15. Not growing on locust or other legumes...16

16. Cap rusty-brown; flesh usually less than 1.5 cm thick; usually found on dead wood...Phellinus gilvus, p.582

Lichens

Specimen # 11: Flavoparmelia caperata, Common Greenshield Lichen

Figure 1: Flavoparmelia caperata on its original substrate. This foliose lichen was found on the bark of a living deciduous tree.

Figure 2: Flavoparmelia caperata at a scale of 20 um. The left-hand picture is the upper cortex of the thallus. The right-hand picture is the lower cortex of the thallus. Notice the “fuzzy” medulla that is exposed from the fragmentation of the thallus.

Name: Flavoparmelia caperata

Common Name: Common Greenshield Lichen

Family: Parmeliaceae

Collection Date: September 3, 2016

Habitat: Grows on a variety of tree species, but never on rock. Prefers open locations with plenty of sunlight. Found on both tree boles and upper limbs and in dense forest it is present only on the upper branches. It is also sometimes found on weathered wood like fence rails and posts.

Location: On the bark of a deciduous tree about 6 feet from the ground. The tree is located alongside a mowed path on Slagle Road in Ohio.

Description: This foliose lichen has broad, rounded lobes and frequently grows as a nearly round thallus up to 4 inches in diameter. The upper surface is a rather dull, light yellow-green color. This lichen produces soredia scattered over the surface, and the central, older portion of the thallus can be wrinkled. The undersurface is black, shading to brown at the lobe tips.

Key Used: Ohio Division of Wildlife. 2015. Common Lichens of Ohio Field Guide.

Keying Steps:

Pg. 28: Based on visual description. This specimen has a pale, yellow-green coloration and a black underside. It was also found growing on a tree.

Specimen # 12: Leparia lobificans, Fluffy Dust Lichen

Figure 1: Leparia lobificans on its original substrate. This crustose lichen was found on the underside of a large boulder. Notice how it grows in a large, indistinct mass. There was even a Pillbug nesting underneath this lichen! Sadly, it surprised me and ran away before a quality picture could be taken.

Figure 2: Leparia lobificans at a scale of 20 um. The left-hand picture is the upper cortex of the thallus. The right-hand picture is the medulla of the lichen, which was directly attached to substrate. The tiny hair/root-like structures are the rhizoids.

Name: Leparia lobificans

Common Name: Fluffy Dust Lichen

Family: Stereocaulaceae

Collection Date: September 22, 2016

Habitat: Grows on rocks and trees in shade. One of the most shade tolerant lichens and can sometimes be found where no other lichens grow.

Location: On the underside of a large boulder in Squaw Rock in South Chagrin Nature Preserve in Solon, Ohio.

Description: Has a fairly thick, fluffy thallus consisting almost entirely of soredia. The color of the thallus is a pale yellow-green to greenish gray. The thallus can have rounded edges but  is often an indistinct mass.

Key Used: Ohio Division of Wildlife. 2015. Common Lichens of Ohio Field Guide.

Keying Steps:

Pg. 17: Based on visual description. This specimen was greenish gray in color with a pale yellow underside. It formed as an indistinct mass on the underside of a boulder with little to no sunlight.  

Lichen Links:

http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/117943-Flavoparmelia-caperata

http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/fluffy_dust_lichen