NATURE NOTES FROM ACADIA

THE PAGAENT OF THE FALL MUSHROOMS

The drizzly rainy days of fall which are interspersed with warm humid weather such as was experienced in September and October of this year make conditions ideal for the "springing up" of a wealth of mushrooms - the fruiting bodies which, arising from the thread-like or root-like plant bodies (the mycelia), reproduce the species. Colors are multitudinous; it would be difficult for the teleologist (he who gives a cause for every natural phenomenon) to explain this wealth and variety of shades since colors can mean little to the wind, the chief disseminator of the minute spores.

The illustrations here show some of the variations in the shape of the fall mushrooms. Many more species than these are found in Acadia in the fall. Coupled with the differences in color, structure, and habitat, the word "mushroom" is seen to mean more than the common edible species, Agaricus campester. This field dweller is not as common on Mt. Desert as the woods forms. Because the mushrooms are so little known to the layman, few have common names.

The lavender fungus, Laccaria ochropurpurea, is found on the ground in rather open places and bears its spores on purple gills radiating from the stem beneath the cap. The gills of the Orange Chantarelle (Cantharellus aurantiacus) are less prominent but the clustered bright orange plants add a gay color to the woods floor. Coral-like mushrooms are abundant, the simple clubs of Clavaria fusiformis resembling bright yellow candles springing in clusters from the black humus. The spores are born on tiny microscopic basilia covering the outside of the clubs.

On decaying logs the puff-balls, (Lycoperdon sp.) solid white when fresh, are now mere papery brown shells with a hole in the top from which the dark spores "puff" when the plant is disturbed. The bright red bracket or shelf fungus, Polyporous cinnabarinus, is woody and persists on fallen decayed trees throughout the year. The tiny holes or pores on the under side are lined with spore-bearing bodies. But perhaps the best "find" at this season is a fresh snow-white specimen of the Bear's-head Hydnum (Hydnum caput-ursi). The small portion illustrated is from a specimen which was 9 inches high and 9½ inches across - a fine, delicate-looking plant in spite of its size. The tiny "teeth" are the spore-bearers.

- Margaret Stupka