Facts on fungi: A look at 3 common native species

Please be aware that I will be scrupulously avoiding the subject of edible or poisonous mushrooms for three reasons. First, different people react to mushrooms in different ways. Second, there are plenty of references on edible and dangerous fungi. Third, I’m a naturalist, not a gourmet. So, let’s take a look at three common native but quite distinctive fungi.

Fungus facts

Fungi (plural of fungus) are neither plants nor animals. They are their own kingdom (a large category of living things) of usually multicellular organisms that lack chlorophyll and cannot make their own food. Instead, they get nourishment from organic material. Not surprisingly, fungi have important roles cycling nutrients in an ecosystem. Also, fungi reproduce with spores rather than seeds.

The study of fungi is known as mycology, and there's a lot to study! There are roughly 145,000 known species of fungi, which includes molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, yeasts, and mushrooms.

This column will focus on three mushrooms found on the ground.

Mushroom review

A wet and warm autumn is a good time to look for mushrooms. They often appear in a backyard landscape or lawn. Keep in mind that the body of a fungus is composed of strands called mycelia, plural of mycelium. These strands are rarely seen since, with mushrooms, they are winding through the soil. The toadstool you see on the ground is not the whole organism. It is merely a way of dispersing spores. They are more like the apples on the tree rather than the whole tree.

Keeping with the apple analogy, you have to eat your way through the sweet flesh of the fruit before finding the seeds. A mushroom’s spores often take less work to find. Speaking of trees, the fungus you see in your yard could still be decomposing unseen tree remnants under the ground.

Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus)

In fact, that is exactly what the shaggy mane is growing on. Before moving on, I want to compliment the mushroom mavens on their wonderfully descriptive common names. (Scientific names, on the other hand, can be a source of disagreement among mycologists.) Shaggy mane is one of those descriptive monikers. Better yet, it belongs to an aptly-named group of fungi known as the inky caps.

All inky caps have conical caps with what look like book pages or fish gills under the caps.

As these mushrooms age, they earn their name. The cap margins and gills turn into a black liquid that contain these mushrooms’ black spores.

When a shaggy mane emerges it is a white, flaky tube, looking like some sort of oversized pipe cleaner. As the mushroom grows to a height of four to six inches, the tube expands into a bell shaped cap with larger, brownish, upturned scales. A shaggy mane, indeed.

Like the other inky caps, it is not long before the shroom autodigests, that is, the cap and gills become a dark goo filled with black spores. Shaggy mane mushrooms can be found in groups of disperse flaky umbrellas.

Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea)

As with the inky caps, there are a variety of puffball fungi, We’ll review the largest and most noticeable of these bulbous spore producers. The giant puffball is a sphere that can measure up to 20 inches or more across. If you spot one early, you can watch this other-worldly white orb increase in size, like a ball being slowly inflated. After reaching its full size, the ball turns tan or tawny.

This fruiting body encases trillions of yellowish spores that normally need a little help getting out. If you kick a ripe puffball, a cloud of smoke-like spores will explode into the air. Animals are also able to release the spores when they bump into a puffball. Even raindrops can do the trick.

Puffballs can grow individually or in scattered arrangements.

White coral fungus (Clavulina coralloides)

Please be aware that the old scientific species name, cristata, is often still used. There are a variety of coral fungi species, and mycologists have been arguing for more than a century over which coral fungus should have which name.

While they are known by other names such as club or antler fungi, white coral fungi is a perfect description. This fungus, rarely exceeding eight inches in height, is rather diminutive compared to its ocean namesake.

Coral fungi can often be found growing in pine needles, although they can be spotted elsewhere. In fact, the coral mycelia is completing the breakdown of decayed wood. This fungus appears a bit earlier than other mushrooms. Unlike other fungi, coral spores are not protected. The white spores are on the upright stalks and are quite easily set free into the world.

Enchanting ephemerals

In a forest, there are green shrubs, flowers, and vines along with their roots and stems. Then, as autumn arrives, the mushrooms appear. You never know quite where or when, and they don’t stick around for very long. They come in a various colors, weird shapes, and their appearance changes quickly.

There is a marvelous air of mystery about mushrooms. Julie Blackmon said it best, “If you want to see magic, you have to look in the dirt and at the mushrooms.”

• Mark Spreyer is executive director of the Stillman Nature Center in Barrington. Email him at stillmangho@gmail.com.