Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 66: Cat owners will understand one of the common names of Pseudohydnum gelatinosum ssp pusillum: Cat's Tongue Fungus. It is also known as Jelly-Tooth, Toothed Jelly Fungus, or rarely, False Hedgehog, and can be found on decaying wood at any time of year, but primarily during late autumn and winter. It can be ghostly white when young, and ages to tan. It is the only "toothed jelly" occurring in North America. It is translucent like a gumdrop, and in fact can be candied! It may also be eaten raw or cooked, but thank you, I'd rather admire them in nature. In any event, you are never likely to find them in quantity. This was one of the largest colonies I have ever found.

'Shroom-Sicle

Day 122: Had it not been for a little ray of sunshine, I might have missed this. In fact, I did miss it on the first pass, although the fact that I chose to walk around the right side of the tree instead of the left when the trail gave me both options might have been responsible for the oversight. On my way back from Big Bridge, a fine needle of sunlight angled through the quilted overstory of hemlock and Douglas-fir to center like a searchlight's beam directly on this ice-encrusted specimen of Pseudohydnum gelatinosum (commonly known as Cat's-tongue). My camera battery was almost dead and I knew I had less than a minute to capture its frosty beauty before the fragment of sunlight disappeared, so I dropped to my knees in the mud even as I was changing settings. How I had managed to be in the forest with both camera batteries in terminal condition is another matter: a banana peel on the path of my attention to small details like recharging, and the unavoidability of Murphy's Law. In any event, I got half a dozen snaps before losing the light, and figured wet, dirty pantlegs were worth the sacrifice if even one of the shots turned out. As I stepped around the tree in the middle of the trail, I found another older, browner specimen also encased in ice, and a question rose in the back of my mind when I noticed that the shelf fungus adjacent to it was not icy, nor was the moss or any of the other vegetation in the area. What conditions prevailed that only Pseudohydnum gelatinosum turned into a popsicle? Why?

Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 91: Whenever I write about fungi in my weekly column on the Park's Facebook account, I can pretty much bet that one of the first ten comments will be a question about edibility. As many times as I have explained that there is a vast difference between "edible" and "desirable as food," and talked about how certain mushroom species can confused with others which are potentially harmful, that same question always crops up: "Can I eat them?" Okay, here's one you can try.

Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is sometimes referred to as a "toothed fungus." This is not accurate. Although it has toothlike structures on the lower surface, it is in fact a jelly fungus. It is sometimes called "Cat's-tongue," a logical common name. Any cat owner can vouch for the visual similarity, but its resemblance to that organ stops there. The spines are soft and the fungus has the texture of a slightly soggy gumdrop. These features plus its pleasing translucence make it easy to identify and, if you're feeling adventurous, you can find recipes for candied Cat's-tongue on line. Raw, its taste is said to be somewhat less interesting than that of a wad of cold unflavoured gelatin. Somehow, I don't quite believe that candying would be much of an improvement.

Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 354: Bottom line: I think Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is cute. It looks like it wanted to be a shelf fungus when it grew up, but just couldn't pass the exams to get into the course. The stipe is not centered as it is in most terrestrial 'shrooms although it has some height, and the cap projects forward from its point of attachment giving the whole 'shroom the look of a faerie awning. The lower surface exhibits fine "teeth," and the flesh is translucent white. If carved appropriately, you could stick 'em in a bowl of white gumdrops and safely so; it is considered edible. Your friends might never trust you again, though. What? Who said that? You're not coming trick-or-treating to my house?

Pseudohydnum Winter Reprise

Day 105: With a gag order in place to prevent me from talking about anything to do with climate change on our official Park pages, I reviewed my scheduled posts last night to be sure I hadn't said anything "seditious" in my botanical discussions...no mention of warmer summer temperatures or of lichens growing only where the air is unpolluted, no references to animals changing their ranges in order to adapt to diminishing food sources. As a naturalist, I find it very difficult to keep those things out of any communication since they are so close to my heart. It's going to be tough to keep my weekly feature going when I'm limited to engaging people with plain and undeniable statements: "This is a lichen. We have a lot of them in the Pacific Northwest." Stop right there. I mustn't say, "...because the on-shore flow keeps the air in our forests clean."

I've been mulling over what I can and can't do under the new regime. I decided that introducing some lichen basics would be safe, so to that end, I went out for a walk this morning to find examples of crustose, foliose and fruticose growth habits. I found them all, and got a bonus in person of the largest Pseudohydnum gelatinosum I've ever seen, a full three inches tall and two inches across. Usually, they're just little translucent jelly-blobs the size of your thumbnail. They can't be mistaken for anything else. They are the only white, translucent stalked fungus with "teeth" instead of gills. They're great. I mean, really. Usually tiny, but great.

Wait...who's knocking on my door? Is that the censor? Oh, dear. I said "tiny," didn't I?

Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum

Day 46: Although superficially rather nondescript, Pseudohydnum gelatinosum reveals a surprise when viewed from the bottomside. As the first part of its Latin name suggests, it resembles the family of Hydnums in that it exhibits "teeth" (inset) instead of pores or gills. The second half of its name is even more descriptive; its small size and granular, translucent surface looks and feels like a gumdrop. It is common (inedible) and unmistakable. No other jelly fungus has "teeth."

My readers may have noticed a rise in the number of fungus photos I've posted recently. There are two reasons for that. The first is that wildflower season is past. The second is that in an effort to broaden my knowledge of mycoheterotrophs, I am making visits to areas where certain species occur, documenting which fungi are associated with them, i.e., employing good old-fashioned field science and the power of observation. A simpler but much less affordable solution would be to take a section of the species in question and run it through DNA analysis or put it under an electron microscope, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun!