Day 55: I have been haunting one particular corner of the woods since the first rains arrived in October, hoping to see the ghostly white fingers of Clavaria vermicularis poking up through the step-moss. It wasn't a long walk to the site by any means, so I'd check every week or so and had just about given up hope, thinking that perhaps they wouldn't occur after this year's dry summer. I stopped again yesterday, and there they were, all three of them with another broken one six feet off to one side. This species is fairly common in Pacific Northwest forests and is slightly larger than its cousin C. acuta. Vermicularis grows in groupings, as opposed to acuta's tendency to demonstrate isolated clubs. If you're wondering how a non-gilled fungus like Clavaria reproduces, these critters have basidiocarps (microscopic spore-producing structures) on their top third.
No comments:
Post a Comment