Some scarlet elf cups from the soggy woods today

Cortinarius malicorius

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Cortinarius_malicorius.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers, especially pines; growing scattered or gregariously, often in wet areas or with sphagnum; fall (and winter on the West Coast); widely distributed in North America but more common in the Northeast.

Cap: 1.5-5 cm; convex or nearly conical at first, becoming broadly convex, flat, depressed, or broadly bell-shaped; fairly dry; silky to finely scaly; yellowish or orangish at first, often with olive tones, becoming orangish brown to cinnamon brown overall.

Gills: Attached to the stem but sometimes pulling away from it in age; close; orange at first, becoming cinnamon to rusty; covered by a yellowish to orangish cortina when young.

Stem: 2-7 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; more or less equal; dry; silky with orangish to yellowish (later cinnamon) fibers; yellowish, often discoloring olive brown to brownish below; sometimes with a rusty ring zone.

Flesh: Yellowish or olive.

Odor: Radishlike.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface red or reddish black.

Spore Print: Rusty brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-7.5 x 4-4.5 ; ellipsoid; moderately roughened. Cheilo- and pleurocystidia absent, but inconspicuous marginal cells present on gill edges. Pileipellis a cutis. Contextual and lamellar elements pinkish purple to purplish in KOH.

[EDIT: The right one already found a home, thank you so much! Still one left though~ ]

Two new original paintings are up for sale!

Gouache and coloured pencil on watercolour paper, based on personal photos

Adopt them: https://lindenshieldarts.com/products/mixed-media-originals-amanita

Lactarius glaucescens

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Lactarius_glaucescens.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and other hardwoods; growing scattered, gregariously, or sometimes in dense troops, often in moss; summer; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 4-11 cm; broadly convex, becoming flat, shallowly depressed, or vase-shaped; dry; the margin even; bald; soft; white or whitish, sometimes discoloring a little yellowish or brownish with age.

Gills: Beginning to run down the stem; very crowded; forking frequently; pale cream.

Stem: 3-10 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; white; tapering to base; bald; without potholes; solid.

Flesh: White; thick; hard; unchanging when sliced.

Milk: Copious; white; changing slowly (sometimes overnight) to olive green or pastel green; staining white paper yellow overnight.

Odor and Taste: Odor fragrant, or not distinctive; taste excruciatingly acrid.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative to slowly pale orangish on cap surface.

Spore Print: Creamy.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 5-6.5 ; broadly ellipsoid; ornamentation less than 0.5 high, as isolated warts and lines (ornamentation so low and inconspicuous that it is sometimes difficult to see, even with oil immersion). Pleuromacrocystidia absent, scattered, or abundant; when present subcylindric, up to about 90 long. Cheilocystidia subcylindric to subfusoid; up to about 60 x 10 . Pileipellis a hyphoepithelium with a fairly thick upper, cutis-like layer.

Didn't find quite as many cool fungi as I was hoping for this weekend, but there was still plenty to see! Here's a nice one which I believe is a gilled polypore (Trametes betulina); I collected a bit of this specimen to put under the microscope so hopefully in the next couple days I'll have a chance to get some pics and confirm the species

Found some nifty fungus friends growing on this standing dead birch yesterday.

Probably one of my favourite studies to date, based on a personal photo snapped on a hike (ofc ).

Gouache on watercolour paper

Entoloma luridum

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Entoloma_luridum.html

Ecology: Saprobic (possibly mycorrhizal?); growing alone or gregariously under conifers; late summer and fall; originally described from Tennessee (Hesler 1967); distributed in eastern North America from the Great Lakes region to the Appalachians and the Maritime Provinces. The illustrated and described collection is from Wisconsin.

Cap: 5-8 cm across; broadly conic to broadly bell-shaped; bald; moist or dry; the margin becoming broadly wrinkled; pale creamy yellow; hygrophanous.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem; close; short-gills frequent; fairly bright yellow, becoming brownish pink as spores mature.

Stem: 6-10 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; equal or slightly tapered to apex; dry; bald; whitish to yellowish; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Thick; white; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Brownish pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-10 x 5-7 m; angular; predominately 7-sided; subglobose to ellipsoid overall, with a large apiculus; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 35-40 x 6-10 m; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia not found. Pileipellis an ixocutis; elements 4-8 m wide, smooth, hyaline in KOH; subcutis of inflated elements. Clamp connections present.

Pyrofomes juniperinus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Pyrofomes_juniperinus.html

Ecology: Saprobic and sometimes parasitic; growing alone or in groups on the wood of living or dead juniper trees (species of Juniperus); producing a white rot of sapwood and heartwood; perennial; widely distributed in North America, but more commonly found from the Rocky Mountains westward (subspecies earlei; see discussion above). The illustrated and described collection is from Missouri.

Cap: 5-12 cm across; 5-8 cm tall; hoof-shaped or irregularly convex; with concentric grooves delineating each year's additional growth; woody and hard; grayish brown to dark brown; dry; developing cracks and fissures; sometimes hosting lichens.

Pore Surface: Brownish buff when young, becoming dark brown with shades of orangish brown; bruising dark brown; with 2-3 angular pores per mm at maturity; tubes in annual layers 2-4 mm deep, yellowish brown (younger layers) to rusty brown (older layers).

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Bright orangish brown; woody.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH instantly black on flesh and tubes.

Spore Print: Brown to orangish brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5-7 x 4.5-5 m; vaguely ellipsoid, but often with a truncated end and squarish sides; smooth; walls 0.5-1 m thick; orangish brown in KOH. Cystidia and setae not found. Hyphal system dimitic; generative hyphae 2-3 m wide, smooth, thin-walled, with clamp connections, hyaline in KOH; skeletal hyphae 2-6 m wide, walls about 1 m thick, smooth, orange-brown in KOH.

“Maedusa Caps”, gouache, 2022

Created for an october challenge, and based on some mushrooms I came across on a hike. Sadly they weren’t glowing but they did look beautifully translucent.

Prints available on demand!

Lactarius rubidus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Lactarius_rubidus.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks (coast live oak and tanoak) and with Douglas-fir; growing alone, scattered, gregariously, or in loose clusters; fall and winter; on the West Coast.

Cap: 2-8 cm; convex, becoming flat or shallowly vase-shaped; dry or sticky; somewhat wrinkled or uneven, but otherwise smooth; reddish brown to orangish brown.

Gills: Attached to the stem or running slightly down it; close or nearly distant; very pale orange, developing cinnamon stains and discolorations but not staining from the milk.

Stem: 2-7 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; colored like the cap or paler; more or less equal; smooth; without pot-holes; often with orangish fuzz at the base.

Flesh: Very pale orange; not staining when sliced.

Milk: Watery or whey-like; not copious; not staining tissues.

Odor and Taste: Odor like maple syrup or burned sugar, becoming stronger when the mushroom is dried; taste mild.

Spore Print: Pale yellow or whitish.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap negative.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-8 ; round or nearly so; ornamentation 0.5-1.0 high, as amyloid warts and connectors forming partial reticula. Macrocystidia absent. Pileipellis a hyphoepithelium.

Cortinarius mucosus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Cortinarius_mucosus.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with pines (especially, but not exclusively, with 2- and 3-needled pines) and with other conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; late summer and fall; apparently widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 4-12 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; slimy when fresh; bald; brownish orange, fading to orangish or yellowish with age.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close or nearly crowded; creamy at first, becoming cinnamon to rusty brown.

Stem: 4-10 cm long; up to about 2.5 cm thick; more or less equal; white; covered with a glutinous slime veil when fresh and young, but eventually more or less dry; often with rusty fibrils or a ring zone.

Flesh: Whitish.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH blackish red on cap surface.

Spore Print: Rusty brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-17 x 5-7.5 ; amygdaliform; moderately to strongly verrucose. Pleuro- and cheilocystidia absent; marginal cells occasional. Pileipellis an ixocutis of clamped, ochraceous elements.

[EDIT: All gone, thank you! ]

I still have 1 discounted imperfect one & 1 flawless one in stock. Once these sell out I won’t be bringing them back since there were too many issues with the print quality. Half had imperfections & even the replacements I got partly had them. It’s simply too much of a hassle, even though they are really popular.

Grab the last ones here: http://lindenshieldarts.com/collections/all-products

Kuehneromyces mutabilis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Kuehneromyces_mutabilis.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in clusters (rarely growing alone) on the wood of hardwoods or conifers; spring, summer, and fall (and over winter in warm climates); widely distributed and common in montane western North America, and occasionally reported from the Appalachian Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado.

Cap: 3-5.5 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; sticky when fresh; bald or, when young, with scattered whitish to yellowish fibrils; tawny to orangish brown, changing color markedly as it dries out and fading to yellowish or brownish (often passing through a two-toned stage); the margin finely lined when moist.

Gills: Attached to the stem by means of a notch; close; short-gills frequent; whitish to pale tan when young, becoming cinnamon brown; at first covered by a whitish to pale tan partial veil.

Stem: 5-9 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; tapered to the base; dry; silky near the apex; with a fairly persistent whitish ring that features an orangish brownish edge and eventually becomes orangish brown overall--or with merely a ring zone; whitish becoming brown from the base up; covered with small, whitish to brownish scales.

Flesh: Whitish; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Cinnamon brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-8 x 4-5 m; subellipsoid to sublacrymoid; with a well developed apical pore; smooth; pale brown to brownish golden in KOH. Cheilocystidia 35-50 x 7.5-12.5 m; lageniform with a long neck and a subcapitate to subclavate apex; thin-walled; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Pileipellis an ixotrichoderm; elements 2.5-7.5 m wide, smooth, hyaline to brownish or golden in KOH. Clamp connections present.

Almost forgot to share these today; been saving them for #FungiFriday!