Mycofest 2024

Finds from the Weekend

Good evening, friends,

I’ll be honest: this year going into Mycofest my stoke levels were lower than they had been in previous years. Friday morning the brakes on my car broke (not the technical diagnosis, “the front left caliper blew out” for all you gearheads). This was alarming, but that’s the cost of doing business when you drive a car from 1992. We then swung by a wake Friday afternoon before a five hour drive to Mycofest. We pitched our tent in the dark on muddy grass. Simply put, the vibes were awry.

We woke up on Saturday fortunate to find that the recent rain had also washed all the bad juju away. A little Saturday morning yoga (led by my friend Megan who was on the Ecuador trip) and then I got into the woods. Here’s a fungal recap from the weekend:

Cordyceps militaris

Kickin it off with the largest C. militaris I’ve ever seen. The fungus infected and grew out of a Lepidoptera pupa (the cocoon/chrysallis of a moth/butterfly) .

Bonnets (Mycena spp.)

The recent rain in the area had these little Mycenas growing out of all the conifer needles. The most abundant mushroom I saw this weekend.

Bolete Mold (Hypomyces spp.)

A fungus on a fungus. The white and yellow Hypomyces is a mold that feeds off the bolete it’s blanketing.

Fairy Pins (Phaeocolicium Polyporaeum)

Another fungus on a fungus. These little ascomycetes grow out of the cap of the violet toothed polypore (Trichaptum biforme). I always see them growing on the polypore’s bands. Maybe one of my favorite photos I’ve taken to date.

Bird’s Nest Fungus (Crucibulum simile or laeve)

Always a fun find. Those little “eggs” in the nest are actually bundles of spores that get launched into the air when rain falls in the cup. The “eggs” also have a filamentous tail to help them stick to whatever they contact.

Ergot (Claviceps) on rye and other grasses

A fascinating fungus with many different stages throughout their life cycle. When growing on grass, the fungus produces a chemical from which LSD was derived. It is also hypothesized that bread tainted with this fungus caused the societal delirium which led to the Salem Witch Trials. Might be a December Book Report candidate.

Metarhizium sp.

In the same family as the Claviceps above (Clavicipitaceae), this species is a pathogen on shield bugs/stink bugs (Pentatomidae).

Slime Mold

Bacteria in the genus Ceratiomyxa. This slime was abundant on wet, dead wood.

Arthophaiga myriapodina

The white is the fungus forcibly ejecting spores out of the grey millipede exoskeleton. This entomopathogenic fungus causes the host millipede to climb before it dies. The carcass was found hanging in tall grass on the side of a trail.

The mushroom of the weekend per the legend John Plischke.

No one could even put a name to these teeny, gilled mushrooms Roberta found growing on dead ash. One of these pins was plucked off the leaf and put in a tube so their DNA could be sequenced.

There weren’t too many large, gregarious fungi but the little mushrooms sure had a weekend. It once again goes down as one of my favorite weekends of the year. Great to see old friends and make new ones. I also gotta shout out Mister Jeff and his infectious energy, checkout his youtube channel. Same time next year, gang.

Bill Russell holding court. My favorite speaker last year and my favorite again this year.

Schedule

Lots of rain in the forecast this week, the remnants of a hurricane matter of fact. Should make for some memorable mushroom walks. Here’s what we’ve got in August:

8/17: A walk with the Stamford Land Conservation Trust at the end of Mill Stream Road at 10AM.

8/18: A walk with the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association at Fahnestock State Park at 11AM.

8/24: Mushroom Mania Festival at the Adirondack Experience. I’ll be leading a couple walks at this mushroom festival with other, way more capable mycologists, in the Adirondacks.

Aubrey

mushroommonday.com

Me and Noodle the ferret.

References:

1. Hodge KT, Hajek AE, Gryganskyi A. The first entomophthoralean killing millipedes, Arthrophaga myriapodina n. gen. n. sp., causes climbing before host death. J Invertebr Pathol. 2017 Oct;149:135-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2017.08.011. Epub 2017 Aug 10. PMID: 28803979.