Oct. 2012 Missouri woodland hike—cinnabar polypore and more.

Hang in there, kids! Trudging forward, hike by hike, getting ever closer to the current luscious spring finds. At least we seem to be moving out of the “everything is brown” phase…

I’ll start with some nice bright colors to get your attention.

This is not lava. It is Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, “cinnabar polypore,” in progress on a dead lichen-covered branch before it emerges into its shelf-like mature form.


Below is another view, the end of the same branch, with some shelving forming.




Above, you can see how it’s infiltrated the wood and turned it this intense bright orange. A small mature fruitbody is lower down.

Below, what you typically see. In the background is the broken branch where I got a special peek at what it does to the interior of dead branches.


Below, the pore surface of the mature shelf. It’s very orange.



And here is the entire underside in all its glory! Let me reiterate for the record that I do not tweak colors! This is the real deal! Put your sunglasses on!



Whew!

There were a few hikes where I kept seeing these little cream-colored lumps on fallen trees and I couldn’t figure out what they were.



But then I saw everything all at once, and all was revealed!



It’s good ol’ Trametes versicolor, turkey tail! Cream-colored lumps not in the frame, but they were on this log!



Fresh growths of T. versicolor can be very beautiful, rich and velvety in quite a range of colors. I sure hope one day I find out what causes the stripes.

Someone’s skull (they are not using it anymore). Maybe a fox.

The articulation is separating from weathering. This might be worth your while to click on to view large.

Mycena leaiana. Always a pleasure to find these little orange lovelies. When they’re really fresh, and just after a rain, they are such a juicy translucent orange they remind me of Tang™.

If you find little orange mushrooms, one way you can tell if it’s these is the edge of the gills are orange, while the rest of the gill is much lighter.

Common name is—wait for it—“orange Mycena”!


Another one of those little Lycoperdon pulcherrimums. I love them.
















Well, that’s that.

Winter-spring shells

I am about 9 hikes behind on posts. Once I started to get out there, when winter let go, I couldn't stop, and the pictures kept building up, and here I am. Now I see I better get on it, as the woods are bursting with everything! There's no going back now. All the spring wildflowers were on cue, we're actually in the second wave of arrivals. So it's post now, or never get caught up.

We'll talk about morels in a few posts. Yes, they're up here, and yes, I (finally) found some. Haven't found the mother-lode or anything, but I'm finding them, and I actually do feel something like electricity when I spot them. Then I eat them.

The following several days I'll be putting up a series of posts covering the last 6 weeks or so, starting the minute I thought there might be signs of life out there.

A snail shell. I just read that there's 106 species of land snails in Missouri, so no ID from me here...named or not, it stood out nicely against the dead leaves, and when I got my face down on it, there was beauty. Looks good big.

An acorn with a perfectly-drilled hole in it. Faeries up to more nonsense. Why would they need to drill a hole in an acorn?

A sloppy little snail, one of the first forest-floor citizens I saw this spring. I was honored.

Extra-fancy striped acorn on a soft bed of spring moss and lichen.

Ever-marvelous Trametes versicolor, Turkey Tail mushroom--this one in an unusual ribbon-like growth pattern. Fresh, supple new growth. A very happy sign even though the day was cool and the sky was dark and low.

Trametes versicolor collection

For today's post, I give you good ol' turkey tails.

I just love these things. Like velveteen agates. They're really common, found all over the world.

I have a deep affection for these, but I didn't realize I've been taking pictures of them so often. I was looking for something else in some older images, and kept finding more pics of these, so I rounded up some of my favorites. These were all taken over the past year. Some are technically crappy, but look at the colors.

I'd like to know what causes the stripes and the different colors. The green one has algae growing on it, so it's excused. 

Personal favorite is the golden one, near the bottom.