WiseAcre Gardens

Yea, I know these are a lot more yellow than orange but the color varies. This jelly mushroom is supposed to be edible but it sure doesn’t look it to me.

Dacrymyces palmatus

This jelly mushroom seems to prefer dead Hemlock. It’s supposed to grow on conifers in general but the only thing I’ve seen it growing on around here are the dead Hemlocks.

Orange Jelly fungus can grow from early spring to late fall this far north. This photo is from Jan. 27 when I found some frozen jelly. Back then I could only make an educated guess at the identity of the frozen jelly blob.

A good soaking rain can bring on a growth spurt at any time. That was the case here where it’s now easy to see the white base of the fungus. The white point of attachment is a good indicator of the identity.

Another common name sometimes used is Orange Witch’s Butter but it should not be confused with the ‘real’ Witch’s Butter – Tremella mesenterica. They may look similar but they’re no relation. The best way to tell them apart is by the type of wood they grow on. While the jelly depends on dead conifer the butter grows from dead hardwoods.

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Scarlet Elf Cup Mushroom

Someday I just might get the name of these mushrooms correct. I have no idea what possessed me to call them Caps when they are obviously Cups. At least I got the scientific names straightened out the last time I found some on March 15th. These are either Sarcoscypha dudleyi or Sarcoscypha austriaca and not Sarcoscypha coccinea as most of my field guides had led me to believe.

past Scarlet Elf Whatchamacallit posts:
Mar 15th, 2010
Apr 18th, 2009 –

Note to self:
First found a month earlier this year than last. Last year only a few found, this year they seem to be everywhere. So far only found growing from half buried maple branches, not seen on any other hardwood.

I didn’t expect to find these in the sugar bush this early. They’re out a full month earlier than last year.

Here’s one good reason I hesitate to identify mushrooms. Last year I got it wrong when I identified these as Sarcoscypha coccinea. They looked identical to what my field guides had but the field guides were a bit lax. After doing a bit of on-line research this time I found out S. coccinea is a western species found only in the Pacific Northwest. Sarcoscypha dudleyi or Sarcoscypha austriaca are the eastern species. No way I can tell them apart though.

These are early spring mushrooms that grow on rotting hardwood. Around Canton, NY they seem to prefer wet spots and Maple.

Shame on the National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to Mushrooms (North America) for leading me astray. Simon and Schuster’s Guide to Mushrooms was no better. Even my trusted Peterson let me down. Not one of my field guides mentioned the difference between them and their range.

They all look virtually the same. To see the difference between the species you need a microscope. So really, you can’t blame me for being wrong. It’s my field guides’ fault. But if you want to rub my nose in it you’re welcome to go to last year’s Scarlet Elf Caps post and leave a comment.

Thanks to the Mushroom Expert for setting me straight.

Something else came up early this year. The wild leeks – Allium tricoccum are sprouting. I didn’t make a note last year when they sprouted but I was harvesting the on the 1st of May.

Won’t be long before I can make garden fresh stone soup with some flavor.

ARRGH! the porcupine spotted me before I had a chance to get close enough for a photo. It would have been a great shot of it climbing the tree but by the time I got there it was already in it’s hidy hole.

Guess I have to call it quits on the winter porcupine count. They’ve started to roam from their winter lodgings and I can’t be sure who’s who any longer. I made it to 7 confirmed sightings this year. This is #3 or #4, it’s hard to tell since this maple had 2 dormers in it.

First up is a fleshy, leafy lichen on a bed of rock and moss. My best guess on an ID would be this is a Felt Lichen – Peltigera polydactylon. I’ve tamed it down some but it’s still a pretty wild guess. My only ‘research’ was looking at far too many photos trying to find a match.

Lichen Wallpaper Large Lichen photos are linked to a 1024 x 768 sized image Lichen Thumbnails are linked to 1680 x 1050 wide screen image The light colored odd shaped growths are another mystery to me. New growth? Reproductive tomfoolery? Mutant terrestrial rock kelp?

Long past their season these Orange Mock Oysters wintered over in fine shape. Wish I had found them in the fall when they were fresh. They might have smelled then. Orange Mock Oysters grow on both hardwood and conifers but the odd thing about them is they don’t smell when growing on conifers. I’ve found them growing on hemlock and couldn’t detect a hint of any odor. Today’s find was on an old dead birch but if they had any odor it was freeze dried out. One other note: they’re supposed to taste worst than they smell.

Orange Mock Oyster – Phyllotopsis nidulans

Mock Oyster Wallpaper – 1024 x 768

The If I don’t use them now I’ll never use them category

Ice Quake

Huge slabs of river ice have cracked and buckled along the shoreline while performing their own version of the plate tectonics shuffle.

The camera can’t catch what the eye sees in this photo.