Favoritos de tannar_coolhaas

PFLHI001 - 7 reproductive bodies of fungus identified as Coprinopsis pulchricaerulia. One group of two (one older, one fresher specimen), one group of three (two older and one newer), one broken from substrate with damage from something eating it, one small one also broken. Older mushrooms darker in colour, a blue green in the range #00628E while younger mushrooms are a lighter royal blue in the range #1B6AF9.

Growing from soil organic matter in a saturated area close to a culvert just downhill from road in the 2021 Caldor fire burn scar, Eldorado NF.
Undescribed sequestrate Psilocybe species, ample blue bruising along stipe

growing beside trail in duff layer atop dense, clay soils. other familiar conifer associates nearby (Amanita muscaria, Coltricia, Suillus salmonicolor, etc.). Never seen so healthy a fruiting.

Habitat: highland tropical forest with introduced Pinus (patula?) Cupressus (lusitanica?) and Eucalpytus, ~2200m-2600m.

Substrate: leaf litter and twigs

Collectors: D. Newman & D. Campbell

Substrate of rich humus and sandy soil on river bank prone to flooding. Native sub-tropical rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest.
Growing singularly and spread out.
Largest specimen 6cm tall and 3.5cm pileus.
Prominently textured stipe.
Apparent blue bruising.
Local temp recently 16-23C

This tiny, striking Xylaria species, with its nearly naked perithecia, has become the poster child for Xylariaceae research in Los Cedros. Roo and I thought they looked a bit like these in cross section:

These are Kodama, the forest spirits of Japanese folklore, as portrayed by Hayao Miyazaki in his epic 1997 film, Princess Mononoke.

This is likely the first record of X. tucumanensis from anywhere outside Argentina, and as such, significantly extends the species’ known range.

Read more about this enigmatic Xylaria and check out an extensive key to the genus for northern Argentina in the following paper:

Hladki, A.I.; Romero, A.I. 2010. A preliminary account of Xylaria in the Tucuman province, Argentina, with a key to species from the Northern Provinces. Fungal Diversity. 42:79-96

Substrate: corticate standing dead wood (post), ~3 cm diam (same as Observation 264296)

Habitat: Northwest Andean montane forest (NT0145)

Collector(s): D. Newman & R. Vandegrift

Collection #: RLC1378

Photomicrography and molecular data forthcoming