Sold as San Pedro

Posted on July 21, 2015 by admin

A Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru)
Claimed to have been collected from the slopes above Matucana but corroboration would be nice.

This is one of a few from this vendor (HdP). Several of the others can be seen at https://troutsnotes.com/sold-as-san-pedro-2/

Shows features that seem intermediate for pachanoi and peruvianus.

It will be interesting to see what this does with some good sun and free root run. I’m betting that the flowers are going to be awesome.

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) shown in 2015

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) in 2013

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) shown in 2013

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) shown in 2013

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) in 2009

Trichocereus sold as San Pedro (Peru) shown in 2009

Trichocereus-peruvianus_shortspined_Matucana_arrival

Trichocereus short-spined from Matucana immediately upon unpacking after arrival from Peru

Over the years, Karel Knize has marketed at least half a dozen assorted short-spined collections of wild collected Peruvian plants falling into or in-between T. pachanoi and T. peruvianus under the name & collection number “Trichocereus peruvianus KK242“; all of which he asserted had come from a given range of elevations on the slopes above Matucana despite including geographic names like “Río Chillón” and “Río Lurím” which place them in completely different river systems (The town of Matucana is located in the canyon of the Río Rimac).
While all of the KK242 that Knize has sold as live plants have been either T. peruvianus or T. pachanoi and while some of Knize’s KK242 seeds have in fact produced T. peruvianus plants (for instance what was grown out by Abbey Garden for analysis by Pardanani), it is also true that far more of his seeds, apparently the majority of them, have turned out to be of T. cuzcoensis and some KK242 peruvianus seeds have grown into beautiful T. bridgesii plants. Then there is Knize’s Trichocereus peruvianus KK242 f. Matucana which is unmistakeably a pachanoi. Like so much from Knize, lots of beautiful plants accompanied by a perplexingly excessive amount of noise and confusion about their origins and identities.

Karel Knize actually gives Curt Backeberg a run for the money so far as which weighing which one of the two contributed the most confusion into the world of cacti and cactus nomenclature.

Trichocereus peruvianus KK242 Rio Chillon from Knize

Trichocereus peruvianus KK242 Río Chillón from Knize

Trichocereus “peruvianus” KK242 forma Matucana from Knize

However, Grizzly shared these images a few years back from that same locale above Matucana, Peru:

Trichocereus peruvianus above Matucana with short spine (Grizzly in 2008)

A Trichocereus peruvianus with short spines above Matucana (Grizzly in 2008)

A Trichocereus peruvianus above Matucana showing short spines (Grizzly in 2008)

Grizzly holding a large cutting of a short-spined Trichocereus peruvianus above Matucana in 2008

Trichocereus peruvianus with short spines above Matucana (Grizzly in 2008)

This has been disputed and a counterclaim has arisen that short spined T. peruvianus forms do not exist anywhere around Matucana. (The same person insists that no pachanoi occur in the area except for one single person’s plant which is cultivated inside of town.) Since collections from three sources are also known that claim does not seem to have always been the case but perhaps it is a conclusion that may be true now? Or perhaps the friend dismissing it simply visited too soon after Grizzly’s harvest and no new growth had become visible? I do not know as I have never been to Matucana to find out. Grizzly commented on them being uncommon. Considering that what they found was cut down and chopped into pieces and the other two claims for short spined peruvianoids from above Matucana were both commercial cactus vendors who were selling them as cuttings, perhaps that may hint at one possible reason underlying the perception of scarcity, lack of visibility or even absence?

I am reminded of a joke about an entomologist bragging that he had finally managed to pin enough individuals to elevate the ranking of an endangered species from G2 to G1.

a Trichocereus at GF’s

Posted on July 6, 2015 by admin

Blue Trichocereus growing at GF’s home in Oakland in 2002.

This was the original mother growing at GF’s in Oakland.
I would refer to this as a macrogonus. Or at least it nicely fits one of the views of that ill-fated name macrogonus.
It was in really poor shape but has spawned some offspring.

More views of that sad plant from the same year:

After GF died a few years later, the lower parts of the mother plant were lifted from their soil, scrubbed clean of visible scale and moved.

It put on a series of rather blue pups which have been rooted and given away and one which is still here.

A pup taken as a cutting in 2008

This is one such pup that formed here (shown rooted in 2010).

The mother plant has continued to deteriorate and is now almost dead.

Below is the remnant of that same original base (and a spine close-up) in July 2015.
Notice the girth of the original cutting producing this mother plant. (Some green tissue still exists but the odd green color is latex house paint.)

Base of mother plant in July 2015

Older spine detail (dead tissue)

After rooting and growing in brighter light the cuttings shown above started to look a bit different.
While it has not grown all that much, considering it has been living on a NW facing slope under 40m tall trees it is actually a minor miracle that it has done so well. The past two years it has been in a shadehouse during Winter and moved outdoors in Summer.
The following images of the remaining rooted pup were taken on 7 July 2015.

The above is a mate to what is shown below (pictures taken just before being mailed):

And there is also an unrooted cutting taken from the, now weakening, original cutting obtained from the mother plant at GF’s. (9 July 2015) That too has recently found a nicer home than here.

It will be interesting to learn what it grows to look like once it has some real sun and root space in its life.

Cool shelter

Posted on June 19, 2015 by admin

Before the last great invasion of this continent other people used to live here on this site. In the 18th century the people that Europeans lumped together as the Pomo numbered twice their present population. Following the invasion their numbers plummetted to a quarter what they are now.

A Pomo reservation is located not far away from here and some years ago someone from there taught basic living techniques to the kids who used to live on this land. (Or so I was told by one of those kids, now grown up, who stopped by to look at the place.)

One of the things that Pomo man built was this really sweet structure. It was said by the person giving me information that this was a traditional Pomo design.

It is now falling apart badly and is in the middle of a slow-motion collapse but, in 2015, it is worth remembering that it was built during the early 1990s and left unattended for all those years before these images were taken. Some images of similar but intact Pomo structures can be seen in old photographs at http://www.mendorailhistory.org/1_redwoods/pomo.htm .

The design had a wind-deflection extension outside of the entryway, and had a small firepit dug in the center with two layers of covering to create a positive draft for the smoke. The basic construction was framed using sticks from tan-oak and maples covered with long strips of bark taken from redwoods and to a lesser degree from douglas-firs.

Flagellate dermatitis from shiitakes

Posted on May 15, 2015 by admin

Shiitake-induced flagellate dermatitis in Mendocino County, California.

Something that seems to be worthy of a mention is observing a flagellate dermatitis (i.e. a scratch-like reaction that has also been described as “whiplash-like infiltrated erythemas“) that has occasionally resulted from someone eating raw or undercooked shiitake mushrooms. This reaction was first reported in Japan by Nakamura in 1977 (see also Nakamura 1992).

Reports of isolated cases seem to be on the increase around the world. A friend had it happen to her.

flagellate rash following eating undercooked shiitakes

The rash is characterized by parallel raised red lines and urticarial erythemas can be present. It apparently typically clears up without any treatment after several days to a couple of weeks but can be itchy during the duration.

rash on back of thigh after eating undercooked shiitakes

This post MIGHT be about the first report in Mendocino County of a flagellate dermatitis occurring following the consumption of undercooked or raw shiitake mushrooms. This type of rash usually occurs between 48-72 hours following ingestion (24-48 hr according to Ricar et al. 2012) and is believed to be a reaction to unheated or underheated lentinan according to many workers (examples: Díaz-Corpas et al 2011 & Poppe et al. 2012). Lentinan, a polysaccharide, is considered to be one of the primary active compounds in shiitake.
Due to a lack of normal blood indicators or the typical symptomology accompanying allergic reactions (such as hives), this has been proposed to instead be a toxic response to inadequately heated lentinan. However lentinan is also known to induce “the production of the inflammation-promoting signal substance IL-1 and has a vasodilatative effect” and there is “increasing evidence that a genuine immunological sensitization in the sense of a T-cell-mediated late reaction could be involved” (Czarnecka et al. 2014).

Flagellate rash following undercooked shiitake consumption

The person to whom this occurred discovered that none of her doctors had the ability to correctly diagnose this; including a dermatologist. It cleared up within a couple of weeks as is the usual scenario. A visually disturbing internet search using her symptoms as search terms eventually lead to the right identification of the trouble.

Shiitake mushroom fruiting on a log

References cited above:

Czarnecka A.B., B. Kreft & W.C. Marsch (2014) Postępy Dermatologii i Alergologii, 31 (3): 187–190. “Flagellate dermatitis after consumption of Shiitake mushrooms.”
Díaz-Corpas T., A. Mateu-Puchadesa, M.N. Coll-Puigservera & A. Marquina-Vila (2011) Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas, 102: 830-832. “Flagellate Dermatitis After Eating Shiitake Mushrooms.”
Mak R.K. & S.H. Wakelin (2006) British Journal of Dermatology, 154: 800-801. “Shiitake dermatitis: the first case reported from a European country.”
Nakamura T. (1977) Japanese Journal of Clinical Dermatology, 31: 65-68. “Toxicoderma caused by shiitake (Lentinus edodes).”
Nakamura T. (1992) Contact Dermatitis, 27: 65–70. “Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) dermatitis.”
Poppe LM, D. Anders, H. Kneitz, E.B. Bröcker & S. Benoit (2012) Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia, 87 (3):463-465. “Flagellate dermatitis caused by shiitake mushrooms.”
Ricar J., K. Pizinger & P. Cetkovka (2012) The International Society of Dermatology, letter to editor (2 pages).

Musical instruments

Posted on May 7, 2015 by admin

These are off-topic for any subject on this website but I came across some Ethiopian musical instruments I know nothing about.

If anyone knows something about either sort please let me know via an email.

These two small drums have a striker inside.

tiny drums from Ethiopia

tiny drum from Ethiopia

tiny drums from Ethiopia

This is apparently played with a bow. Musical folk instruments in Ethiopian are said to often be made by the musician from found items and this certainly fits the bill. The tuning peg is a bent rusty nail.

one string fiddle from Ethiopia

black chanterelle

Posted on May 6, 2015 by admin

This is following up on an older post (Craterellus) that needed some more images.

These are all from a few years ago. There has not been enough rain for them here in several years.

black chanterelle

Just for comparison here are some black trumpets:

black trumpet

slime-molds

Posted on May 5, 2015 by admin

Slime-molds (myxomycetes) love it here. These used to be lumped with fungi but deserved having their own kingdom. Their name is misleading as they have nothing to do with molds. Presently they are most commonly regarded as “social amoebas” and called the Dictyostelids.

These grow from spores as amoeba-like organisms which, if needed, can reversibly form a flagella. When two of them are compatible and hook up to mate, they fuse together into one organism. Rather than producing offspring, they continue to divide and grow together as a single *multi*nuclear organism with shared protoplasm. The form taken by this increasingly kinky relationship is called a plasmodium. Under certain conditions the plasmodium will crawl to the surface like some gigantic amoeba and form one of four types of fruiting bodies that eventually dries out to release new spores and start the cycle over. The organization and complexity of those fruiting bodies is mind boggling in the details as the images below will illustrate. Where the fruiting structures need connective or supportive parts some of the individuals sacrifice themself to become nonreproducing structural components in order to enable the reproduction of the majority.
If slime molds experience adverse conditions they can harden into a protective structure called a sclerotia. I’m just learning about these things despite being around them here and in Texas before that. I’m not 100% certain what I am looking at in some cases, so my apologies in advance for an abundance of question marks, maybes and probably.

Slime mold mostly eats bacteria. It might be debated just how conscious or intelligent they really are but the slime molds have been shown to be able to navigate mazes, including retracting their growth after exploring an unproductive path, and have been demonstrated to be able to successfully operate the controls of robotic devices — given some *very* rudimentary objectives. They have even been suggested to be of value for planning the most efficient design of major roadsystems in urban areas. And while they would no doubt be a lot cheaper to employ than a human transportation system designer, I’d hedge my bets on how well that one would actually work out in reality.

There are several types of slime molds here that are not closely related to each other.

This first pair of images is from a few years ago. These pink balls show up here from time to time. I had assumed for some years that they were a sort of a fungus. They are actually a common slime mold named Lycogala epidendrum. Their common name is Wolf’s milk slime.

Wolf's milk slime mold — Wolf’s milk slime mold

Just a few days ago I found some more but did not have a camera with me. When I got back to them a couple of days later with a camera they had changed color from pink to brown.

After getting some images home and seeing them in a larger view I was puzzled by some small red balls that I noticed towards their upper left.

I went back to try and get a better image with more details.

I don’t know what they are, at least not why they went red, but they more recently have turned pink so I assume it is part of this slime mold.

When trying to get better images I also noticed a cool insect of some sort. I have no idea what it is.

Insect on Wolf's Milk Slime — Insect on Wolf’s Milk Slime

Those are all now starting to dry and open up.

More images of Wolf’s milk slime

Leocarpus fragilis (insect egg slime mold)

Stemonitis

These chocolate-tube slime molds are another sort that lives here. Despite the name I can’t imagine anyone has actually tasted one in real life. The genus is Stemonitis but I do not know the species. It has a tube like sporangium that can reach 2 cm.
Apologies for the graininess of several but somehow I had the ISO speed too high.

a chocolate tube slime mold — a chocolate-tube slime-mold (*Stemonitis*)

Fuligo

The most noticeable slime mold here is Fuligo septica; tragically it bears the rather sad common name of the “Dog Vomit slime mold”.

More images of Fuligo septica

Unidentified

A small slime mold making an appearance on 13 May 2015.

I do not know exactly what this is but it is a slime mold plasmodium.

Similarly with this plasmodium that is still streaming its way into becoming an aethalium. It looks very much like Fuligo septica but is a different color.

This is yet another slime mold:

This one appears to be the tapioca slime mold (Brefeldia maxima)

And more:

Another sort of something similar.

Slime molds getting ready to sporulate — That same white slime mold getting ready to sporulate

Some sort of slime-mold’s aethelia.

And another

A similar appearing slime mold.

Unknown

This last set is an unknown I suspect might be associated with a slimemold or at least it reminds me of their sclerotia although it is not always rock hard so I really do not know. It lived here for several years (almost 4 years!) going back and forth, according to the weather, in between what felt like raw liver to the touch to being rock hard — and staying in the latter state until the next wet period.
I still don’t know what this is.

Hericium coralloides

Posted on March 25, 2015 by admin

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides are a lot of fun to hunt, have a great taste, a wonderful texture, smell nice, they feel nice, are incredibly beautiful and seem to be able to produce fruiting bodies until they run out of food to eat. Here in Mendocino County, I’ve collected fruiting bodies during every month from September through June if the weather was cool, mild, foggy and with not too much rain.

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

Many people think these are rare but this idea arises as the result of at least half a dozen factors. There are two very noteworthy reasons: these fruit best when most other mushroom species are not (they peak in-between the rainy periods and will almost seem to melt if they get rained on very hard) and people are very aggressive about cutting down and removing trees inhabitated by Hericium species. If it occurs anywhere near humans a Hericium tree is frequently removed as firewood or chipped before its first fruiting of coralloides can occur. The easiest and most productive way to find coralloides is not to look for the mushrooms but rather to look for the trees. Finding the trees can be done any time of year and both the tree and the downed parts should then be checked during cool weather. Once you have found the trees you can find the mushrooms, with patience.

Hericium coralloides

Most people are pleasantly surprised to discover just how widespread these actually are in distribution. They might occur in every temperate and forested country on the planet but I have not done an exhaustive evaluation of this subject yet. Aurora notes them to sometimes be locally abundant but my suspicion is that they may only not be locally abundant due to the destruction of their habitat (dead, downed and rotting trees and branches). Or at least, any time that I can find somewhere that lacks removal of those trees local abundance has bee the norm. Maybe I’ve just been lucky?

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides

The first sign to look for is an invagination at or near the base of the tree. Sometimes it will run up a substantial length of the tree or else be present as a large wound elsewhere on the tree. I don’t know if these are caused by the Hericium or if is how they enter but so far they have been invariably present (at least in my experience). (A pictorial on the life of a Hericium tree is in the works and will be posted here as soon as it is completed.)
The easiest tell-tale sign of a tree to watch is the loss of a large section or the upper part of the tree. Generally in 1-2, sometimes 4, years after that has happened coralloides will begin fruiting on the downed section and, if you are lucky, on the main tree. It will do best if the downed section is partially in the air. The organism creates hollow pockets in the main trunk. It can get quite large yet never been seen due to occupying the inside of the tree. Ropy mycelial extensions grow into the tree to feed and sometimes to find a way to the outside to form fruit. A tree can sometimes be taken apart to extract those ropy masses but doing so will end fruiting that year and may actually kill or substantially weaken the Hericium . Being careful not to harm the organism that is located inside of the tree will permit it to live and fruit for many years. The tree below has been the source of regular harvests for the past 9 years. *Easily* 35 pounds of fruit has been collected from this once huge tan-oak carcass. If history can be used to predict, this one is within its last 2-3 of years of productive life.

This tree is winding down after nearly a decade. See the coralloides?

a closer look at that beauty

More higher. These are not always the smartest or safest choice to harvest.

Sometimes they are safely within reach.

This provided both dinner and several nice clones.

Not a bad haul!

Here is a look at that same tree from a different point of view. It is B in this image. C is part of it that fell a while back. A is an unrelated Hericium tree that broke into sections. Fruiting can potentially occur almost anywhere on the trees enclosed by white lines. Small fruit and lines of fruit in formation are noted with white arrows.

Hericium coralloides habitat

Erinaceus and coralloides commonly occur on the same trees here. Usually on tan-oaks, sometimes on actual oaks. Hericium erinaceus most often fruits while the tree is still alive and only occasionally fruits on dead sections. Hericium coralloides fruits entirely on dead wood. The point where the tree top topples is typically the same zone where the erinaceus had been fruiting in previous years. At least this has been true here in Mendocino County within the narrow window of my observations.

I’m not a mushroom expert but I’ve been avidly hunting this particular species for 11 years. And have been learning to cultivate it for the last four years.

Hericium coralloides escaping a bag

Hericium coralloides

Hericium coralloides (front)

Craterellus

Posted on March 24, 2015 by admin

I’m going to miss Winter and the Craterellus season even though it was really not that wet overall this year.

This was a moderately good season for black trumpets intermittently from December through February. Which was great since the last couple of years here were not. They are still around today, heading towards the latter part of March, but nothing I’ve seen has been worth picking.

black-trumpet habitat

black-trumpet

black-trumpets

black-trumpet

black-trumpets

The best advice I ever got for finding these was to look for the holes (in the center of the trumpet) rather than for the mushrooms.

Sometimes mossy banks are good spots to find a few but the most productive areas are those that catch a good accumulation of leaf litter like old logging roads, skid trails or animal trails. Not much eats or bothers black-trumpets so they can get surprisingly large if the weather is perfectly cooperative.

Black-trumpets do not have very much flesh but they do have an intensely chanterelle-like taste. It intensifies when they are dried; a lot of us like to dry and finely shred them for use as a garnish or flavoring.

black-trumpet habitat

black-trumpet in habitat

black-trumpet

Many people commonly call these black chanterelles but this is also potentially confusing as there actually is a black chanterelle and this is not it. That one, which is also a Craterellus species, looks similar to a black trumpet but does not have an open trumpet-like tube and possesses some degree of what are very clearly chanterelle-style gills on the ouside – black trumpets are much smoother and lack those gill structures entirely.

This is very commonly listed as Craterellus cornucopioides or Craterellus fallax but genetics work suggests that Craterellus cornucopioides may not actually occur inside of the USA and that the distribution of Craterellus fallax is limited to the eastern part of the country.
What is present here on the Left Coast is currently being suggested to be one or more undescribed species of Craterellus. (see comments at http://www.mushroomexpert.com/craterellus_fallax.html) They do have a whitish to creamy colored spore print.

black-trumpet habitat

black-trumpets

black-trumpet

The following, on the other hand, is a black chanterelle (Craterellus cinereus) that was photographed here several years ago (these are rather rare here compared to the abundant black trumpets but they have typically been sympatric in their occurrence):

a black chanterelle

They taste very similar to black-trumpets but are (imho) much better and are more intense in their flavor as well as in the production of that awesome lingering sensation that chanterelles leave inside of my mouth. They also have a bit more substance to their flesh. This is my favorite chanterelle species and it is one of my all-time favorite mushrooms period but I’ve only found enough at once to make a large meal a single time (and smaller harvests only a few times). That was by far my most memorable mushroom meal to-date.

Another mushroom species that sometimes has black chanterelle (more often, blue chanterelle) applied to it as a common name is Polyozellus multiplex.

Common names are just the names used commonly by people. There is really no true right or wrong about variable choices of use. What matters is that it is correctly understood by the listener as to what is being discussed.

To keep it interesting, some of the black-trumpets here do develop a bit of texture on their undersides.

black-trumpet expressing some texture

Another odd black trumpet occurs here that can branch densely when the weather is right. If the weather stays cooperative each one of those ‘ears’ can develop a trumpet producing a rather bushy end result but we’ve only seen that occur a couple of times.

black trumpet

Amanita species

Posted on February 13, 2015 by admin

Several of the Amanita species are actually good to eat.

Some are also deadly poisonous so this is an area best left for the experts. I did not even attempt to identify most of what is below as it is too easy to make an error.

People making mistakes when thinking that they are finding cocorras or another edible species that occurs in Europe or Asia might be the most common avenue of fatal mushroom poisonings in the USA. I do not recommend eating anything shown on or linked to from this page.

Cocorra (Amanita calyptroderma)

Amanita pantherina is a species that some people have historically used as an intoxicant. It does not sound particularly interesting in that regard but to each their own.

Amanita pantherina

A yellow Amanita.

Amanita

Another local yellow Amanita species.

a yellow amanita

the Grisette (Amanita vaginata) is perfectly edible but not incredible. These usually only get eaten around here very early in the mushroom season when there is a limited choice of edibles. It is OK and almost as nice as a commercial button mushroom although not as solid in texture.

Amanita vaginata

Possibly some sort of a white Amanita. I am guessing that this is poisonous.

a white Amanita