Wednesday, October 19, 2011

In search of exotic fungi
















Beauty on the FRC campus! This afternoon I took a break from processing my photos of fungi from Snake Lake to look for a beauty on the Feather River College campus that my son told me about. He spotted it under an outdoor stairway between the computer lab and the admin building. The distractions began as soon as I pulled into the faculty parking area. I was confronted by a beautiful cherry tree (top photo) and a cluster of asters at my feet (second photo). As I began to walk up the paved path to the upper campus, I had to step into the little wet thicket where I have often seen attractive ferns, corn lilies, and other plants that like shade and moisture. This time I found the patch of Wild Ginger (third photo) looking very fresh. This is a great spot to catch a glimpse of their flowers in late spring. After that, I saw lots of colorful foliage and other attractions on my way up the path but figured I'd better turn off the camera or I'd never make it to fungi in question. When I arrived at the rumored spot, I was amazed. There was a patch of bright orange fungi surrounding the stump of a Ponderosa Pine. I assume they were probably feeding off the pine's decaying root system. There were also a few fungi of another type that reminded me of Brain Coral. Also nearby, I spotted a beautiful blue flower that I didn't recognize. Probably an exotic. Also, a couple of buds of what looked like young Snow Plant. Seems like the wrong season for these to be emerging from the soil, but that's what they looked like. I'll keep an eye on them during my thrice-weekly visits to campus. On my way back down to the parking lot I was struck by the beauty of a cluster of birch and cottonwood trees, both of which have attractive patterns of woodpecker holes in their bark. I finish off this baker's dozen with my favorite photo of the aforementioned orange fungus. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get back to the project I started nearly a week ago of posting selected photos from last weekend's trip to Snake Lake.

3 comments:

  1. When Ryan pointed out the orange peel to me before this morning's class, I told him about the shaggy mane (coprinus comatus to you) in our yard. I had the ones pictured here for dinner last night, but more are on the way if you're interested.

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  2. Nice. I'd like to get a few photos of them. Are they visible from the street? Thanks.

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  3. No, they're not visible from the street. I'll try to let you know when the next batch pops up.

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