Mushrooms on South Park Drive

Strolled up South Park with Marissa and Liz in search of fungal friends and found a fair few, my favorite being the rather strange Clavariadelphus occidentalis, a beast that apparently doesn't come up every year but seems to be doing well for itself this winter.

Questions:

Why are there introduced pines along South Park Drive?

Presumably they were all planted when Tilden was being landscaped in an effort to make it seem even more scenic, but the ones further up by the picnic areas have become very well established and host a panoply of fungi. I wonder how long it took after planting before stuff started fruiting.

What does spotted coralroot parasitize?

A question I seem to have to re-answer again and again for myself. Short answer: a bunch of stuff, but in the East Bay, probably Russula species. See Taylor & Bruns (1999)

Publicerat 8 januari 2017 22.14 av kueda