Chlorociboria Aeruginascens

Day 343: In light of yesterday's post which was also about something suffixed with "chloro-," I should probably explain that it means green or greenish yellow, and although that doesn't accurately reflect the colour of Chlorociboria aeruginascens, it was (as they say), "Close enough for gov'mint work" as far as the taxonomists were concerned when they named this tiny fungus. My botany partner Joe posted a photo of it years ago, and when I said that I would "give my eye teeth to see it in real life," he collected a stick on which it was growing and delivered it to me some time later after the fungus had dried up and showed only as a faint blue discoloration. He described the conditions where it had been growing, and I did my best to provide them. That was in 2019. One winter passed with no sign of the fungus returning to life, but the following autumn, blue disks erupted on the underside of the stick where it was resting on the ground. I was careful to replace it exactly as before, and every year since then, the "Joe Stick" has reliably produced a crop of Chlorociboria after the first few soaking rains of the autumn season. I keep wondering when it will exhaust the supply of nutrients in its substrate, but for now, it's still going strong.

The Joe Stick

Day 354: Four years ago, my botany partner Joe posted a photo of a blue-green fungus he had found in the watershed where he worked. We identified it as Chlorociboria aeruginascens, and at the time, I remarked that it was something I'd always wanted to see in person. A few weeks later, he showed up on my doorstep with a stick which was lightly encrusted with a blue film. "It doesn't look like much now. I think it dried out after I collected it," he told me. Given the habitat he reported in the area where he found it, I selected a spot for it in my front flower bed which offered similar conditions. Summer came and went, and a few weeks after the autumn rains had returned, I checked on the "Joe Stick" and was pleased to see it had sprouted cute little aqua blue cups. It has fruited every year since then, although the flush of fungal growth seems to be diminishing with each cycle. Still, I'm happy to have kept it going this long as one of my oddest horticultural projects.

The Joe Log

Day 29: Whether due to drought-like conditions during the summer or the possibility that it has consumed all available nutrition from its host wood, the Joe Log has so far only produced a dusting of aqua-blue disks. My botany partner brought me this 18" long stick a couple of years ago after posting a photo which elicited the comment from me that I would "give my eyeteeth to see this in real life." The species is Chlorociboria aeruginascens, one of a small handful of turquoise-coloured fungi. I've been cultivating it carefully ever since, keeping it tucked beneath ferns where it was most likely to stay moist year-'round. However, our exceptionally dry summer has taken a toll on fungal communities in general, and I suspect the Joe Log hasn't escaped without feeling some effect. That said, the colony has had a few slow starts before. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes off now that the weather is cooler and the rain has returned.

Chlorociboria Stick Report

Day 14: A month ago, I reported that the Joe Stick was developing a few scattered dots of Chlorociboria aeruginascens. Even though it was early in its season, I thought it looked a bit feeble, and I wondered if it had suffered from the hot spell we had in June. First of all, I'm surprised that I was able to provide it with proper habitat. Second, I have no idea what its life expectancy may be, although I'm sure it will eventually deplete the nutrient supply in the Stick. I don't check it often, not wanting to disturb its environment, but today I pulled it out from under the overhanging ferns, removed a decaying hosta leaf and got quite a surprise when I flipped it over. The fungus grows on the bottomside of the stick where it touches the ground. The full 18" length showed Chlorociboria discs, with this dense patch in the middle. Funny how we each have our own definition of "simple pleasures." Just give me a fungusy stick, and I'll be happy as Larry.

The Joe Stick

Day 355: Roughly two years ago, my botany partner Joe posted a photo of a turquoise-blue fungus which he'd found in the watershed where he works. I was almost at a loss for words. Chlorociboria had been on my Bucket List for years, and I figured I'd never observe it in real life. I said as much to Joe, and a few weeks later, he brought me a stick which seemed to have a slight aqua tinge on one side. I grilled him extensively about the microecology in which he'd found it, and determined that if I was going to talk it into fruiting (a possibility I considered rather remote), the best place would be nestled in under hostas and ferns in a north-side flower bed. I wasn't holding my breath, but when cooler weather settled in during late September 2020, I kept checking on it every few days to see if anything had developed. In early October, I detected the first sign of blue. The fungus developed nicely over the next few weeks and then disappeared. Now the burning question was whether or not it would fruit again in 2021. Here you see the evidence: a healthy population of Chlorociboria aeruginascens on the Joe Stick, demonstrating a colour which is not often found in nature.

A Natural Blue

Day 7: When you think of mushrooms, you probably imagine them in woodsy, earthy shades: warm browns, dusky greys, red, cream, but certainly not vivid aqua blue. Nevertheless, Chlorociboria aeruginascens is exactly that, and as blue in life as it is in this photo. When my botany partner found it on the property he patrols and referred it to me for identification, I admitted to a sizeable jealousy saying, as I recall, "I'd give my eye teeth to see that in real life." Not one to disappoint, he brought me a piece of the wood hosting it, although by the time it arrived, the cups had disappeared and the only thing giving evidence to their former occupancy was a faint blue smear. After one false start, I found a suitable habitat for the "Joe Log," as it has come to be known, and since cups started appearing a month or so ago, I've been checking its development weekly. I do not want to disturb it too much because the fungus seems to be quite content in its new home, and since it grows on the underside of the wood, it is necessary to move it to make any observations. It has multiplied substantially in four weeks, and the largest cups measure roughly half a centimeter in diameter.

The Joe Log - Chlorociboria Aeruginascens

Day 347: The Joe Log is fruiting! Okay, I realize that statement is going to take some explanation, so grab your tea and sit down. The tale begins about a year ago when my botany partner sent me a photo of turquoise-blue disks whose shape seemed to indicate that they were the apothecia of a crustose lichen. However, there was no thallus visible to support that hypothesis, so I believed they were probably fungal in nature, and a small amount of searching my references brought me to Chlorociboria. I wrote back to him excitedly, saying, "I'd give my eye teeth to see one of those in real life!" Little did I know...

A few weeks later, Joe came up to do some yardwork for me and said, "I brought you a piece of that wood that had the blue fungus on it." I raced to the back of his truck and dug it up where he'd stowed it in a plastic bag. The cups were no longer evident, although the stick (roughly 18" long and 2" in diameter) still had a bluish tinge to it. I found a shady home for it in my flower bed, but then after further discussion with Joe about the conditions in which he had found it, I relocated it to a different spot where it was shielded from almost all light beneath the fronds of a sword fern.

Winter came and went, and I began checking it for signs of life early last spring. It hadn't slipped Joe's mind, either. "How's your stick?" he'd ask, and I'd report, "Nothing yet. Maybe it doesn't like it here." Through the summer, the stick dried out despite being in the most humid spot in my garden. I kept checking for any trace of blue. Nothing. A week ago, nothing. Today, in between rain showers, I said, "I think I'll go check on the Joe Log. Not gonna be anything, but y'know, if I don't check, I'll never know." I relocated a spider in order to reach through the ferns, pulled out the rotting, wet, icky stick and turned it over so that the side which had been laying on the ground was toward me and...Chlorociboria! Now with the actual fungus observable, I took a sample cup into the house for dissection. The flesh of the 3 mm disk was blue throughout, not orange inside, which allows me to conclude that it is Chlorociboria aeruginascens.