Aphyllon Purpureum

Day 277: This exquisite parasite is one of my favourite wildflowers. It bears a rather unfortunate common name, one which inevitably draws disparaging comments from readers who are unfamiliar with the root words which form it. It is Broomrape. "Broom" refers to legumes (a family which includes Scotch broom, among others) and "rape" comes from Latin "rapum," meaning "a tuber." The name is quite logical when you have the linguistic background since Aphyllon purpureum (formerly Orobanche uniflora) is parasitic on the roots of certain legumes, but in this case, it is associated with sedum (the green succulent foliage in the foreground). The Latin name "Aphyllon" means "without leaves." The parasite has no chlorophyll and therefore is not capable of photosynthesis on its own. It enslaves the sedum as its nutrient-provider, and eventually will kill the host plant. That said, in most instances, the sedum manages to stay ahead of the game by reproducing before it dies, creating a new generation of plants for Aphyllon to parasitize. Team Biota has been monitoring this particular colony for seven or eight years now, and it seems to have achieved a balance between the two species.

Red As A Lobster

Day 20: Here in the Pacific Northwest, Lobster fungus tends to emerge concurrently or a little bit before Chanterelles and the people who hunt them, and this year, all three are running a little late. That's not to say I have never hunted Chanterelles into November or had to wear all my woollies to keep Jack Frost from nipping my fingers and my nose, but it is not the usual habit of the fungus. Lobsters got a slightly earlier start, showing up during the first part of October, although they weren't exactly thick on the ground. That said, Hypomyces lactifluorum is not a species I take to the table because it isn't picky about which Russula it parasitizes. Oh, didn't I mention that? Hypomyces as a genus grow on other fungi, each individual species having its own personal preferences as to host. While considered edible, some of the Russulas on which it might grow are suspect; my handy-dandy field guide says, "...we are not aware of any serious poisonings caused by them." I would like to emphasize the word "serious" in that statement. Some collectors say they have a fishy taste, again enough to put me off the idea of sitting down to a Lobster dinner. If I'm going to eat lobster, I want it to have a carapace and claws.

Orobanche In A Bunch

Day 237: You might be misled into thinking those pretty lavender flowers belonged to the succulent leaves beneath them, but in fact, there's something botanically sinister going on here. Orobanche uniflora (Naked Broomrape) is a parasite with a particular appetite for the roots of saxifrages and sedums. The species lacks chlorophyll and is therefore incapable of photosynthesis, so it relies on host plants to process nutrients into a form it can utilize. There are several categories of parasitism in the realm of botany. Broomrape is considered a holoparasite, i.e., one which depends entirely upon the host.

Lobsters In The Woods

Day 7: A prime candidate for Crow's Catalog of Freaky Fungi, "lobster mushrooms" are not a single organism, but a parasitic fungus (Hypomyces lactifluorum) which grows on another mushroom, generally those in the Russula and Lactarius genera. In the Pacific Northwest, H. lactifluorum most commonly occurs on R. brevipes. When R. brevipes appears without being infected with H. lactifluorum, it is white and can be rather large. Often, observers will find specimens which are only partly "lobsterized," the gills more or less intact and the cap showing blotches of white. Sometimes the colonization occurs before the host mushroom has emerged from the ground. Due to the fact that the host can be one of several species, the taste of Lobsters is inconsistent.