Blue Mountain National Recreation Area, MT May 16, 2016 Robert Niese
The wax-caps were once considered to all be members of the genus Hygrophorus, but have recently been divided into several new genera, all of which are still taxonomically debated. This particular species remains in the genus Hygrophorus due to its ectomicorrhizal growth habit. You can find it in drier, east-side forests where larch is abundant.
Puccinia caricina -rust fungus on common nettle (Urtica dioica). The fungus produces aeciospores on nettle but other spore types (urediospores and teliospores) on different Carexspecies.
Tranzschelia pruni-spinosae -fungus causing rust disease symptoms on the leaves of a plum tree (Prunusdomestica). Plenty of asexual urediospores are seen in the pictures taken with a microscope.
Another blusher - contrast with my last post to see the difference in cap colour; this feature is often not very useful for identifying a mushroom with certainty.
The two mushrooms in the photos are the bolete Leccinum aurantiacum (Boletales - Boletaceae), but in a different stage of growth, showing changes in color and shape over time.
Morphologically,Leccinum aurantiacum can be separated from similar species (in Europe, at least) on the basis of the brownish-reddish stipital ornamentation that is already reddish in young fruit-bodies, the red to reddish brown cap, and the presence of overhanging flaps. However, if the specimen is collected, it may be confused with Leccinum scabrum, because the mushroom lost their color brilliance and becomes noticeably darker.
Leccinum aurantiacum is a European species, a mycorrhizal “generalist” associating with hosts ranging from FagusandQuercustoBetulaandPopulus. It is generally considered to be a good edible mushroom in Europe.
It’s hard to walk by banks covered in common nettle without noticing this fiery and gruesome rust fungus taking hold of and deforming the plant’s limbs.
It’s best described as a species complex with a life cycle which might alternate between two hosts- in the British Isles often a nettle (U. dioica or U. urens) and a sedge (mostly Carex sp.), but its ‘sub-species’ can also be found on Aster and Ribes.
Compared to other colors found in nature, true blues are pretty rare—but the indigo milk cap has just that! This vibrant mushroom gets it color from a pigment that is a derivative of guaiazulene, a dark blue crystalline hydrocarbon. You would think that its blueness is a marker for toxicity, but the mushroom is actually edible—although its color fades to a grayish hue when it’s cooked.
