Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Fungal baseball bat...with a few wrinkles


Not surprisingly, this fungus is called a club fungus. Although it doesn't have gills it still reproduces by releasing spores and is closely related to mushrooms. Clavariadelphus occidentalis is a western fungus. It's believed to be mycorrhizal, or to have a symbiotic relationship, with conifers. I find it fruiting with Douglas fir, although there are also always oaks around, as well. There's an eastern (Clavaridelphus pistillaris) version which appears to fruit with Beech.

I had hoped to include a drawing showing a club in it's habitat but they seem to have all disappeared or become saggy old things, so this will have to do for now.

I usually find these alone or in small groups of three or four. Once I found a large crowd of them, looking like a small army standing in the woods.

Two websites that have more information about this fungus are Mykoweb and MushroomExpert and there are some wonderful images at MushroomObserver.

4 comments:

  1. Debbie, fantastic job! Do you ever find dead men's fingers there? They're similar, but black...

    Thank you for including the website links--it's so helpful to have a place to look for more information!

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  2. Thanks, Kate! I'm sorry to say we don't have dead men's fingers here, though I'd love to see some! Sounds like you've seen a few! We have dead man's feet here (Pisolithus arrhizus) but they're not quite as dramatic as the fingers. Thanks for letting me know you appreciate the links. I'm glad they're useful.

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  3. Wow, this is totally new to me. Thanks for the wonderful illustration and info!

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  4. Now this is cool! Great works you have shared Debbie....Linda

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