Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: birds nest

mushrooms with a bird’s nest morphology

Crucibulum laeve 0

Fungus Fact

#213: Crucibulum laeve

Bird’s nest mushrooms are some of my favorite mushrooms to show people when introducing them to the amazingly diverse world of mushrooms. The fact that there are tiny mushrooms that look like a bird’s nest still stuns me. The two most common bird’s nest mushrooms that I find are Cyathus striatus (FFF#147) and Crucibulum laeve. C. striatus is larger and more likely to be seen, but C. laeve is probably more common. C. laeve is most visible when young; in that stage it has a yellow to orange membrane sealing the top of the nest that makes it easy to spot on brown mulch, twigs, and other small pieces of wood. Once you find it, the mushroom is easy to identify; C. laeve is the only North American bird’s nest mushroom with white eggs and a yellow nest.

Sphaerobolus ingoldii 0

Fungus Fact

#122: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Artillery Fungus

Sphaerobolus stellatus has one of the most unusual spore dispersal mechanisms: its base pops up and quickly flings a glob of spores into the air. The fungus forms tiny (no more than 3mm across) star-shaped mushrooms in mulch, which can cause problems for homeowners when the spore globs glue themselves to cars, siding, and the like. S. stellatus’s unique spore dispersal strategy has resulted in a variety of common names, including: “Artillery Fungus,” “Cannonball Fungus,” “Cannon Fungus,” “Sphere Thrower” (which is a literal translation of its Latin name), and “Shotgun Fungus.”

#147: Cyathus striatus 1

Fungus Fact

#147: Cyathus striatus

This is one of the most common bird’s nest fungi and is among the easiest to identify. Cyathus striatus has a shaggy outer surface and a smooth but vertically lined inner surface, readily distinguishing it from the other bird’s nest fungi.  Although frequently found in places like mulch beds, this mushroom’s common name – the “Fluted Bird’s Nest” – is not widely used.  More often, people simply call this mushroom by its scientific name.

#122: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Artillery Fungus [Archived] 2

Archived

#122: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Artillery Fungus [Archived]

Note: this is an archived post. You can read the current version of this post here. Happy New Year! To celebrate, I decided to use some fungal cannon fire to start 2016 off with a bang!  Although it is tiny, Sphaerobolus stellatus gets just about as close as a fungus can to actually being a firework.  The tiny, star-shaped fruiting bodies are designed to launch a spherical sac of spores high into the air.  This unique spore dispersal strategy has resulted in a variety of common names, including: “Artillery Fungus,” “Cannonball Fungus,” “Cannon Fungus,” “Sphere Thrower” (which is a literal translation of its Latin name), “Shotgun Fungus,” “Shooting Star,” and “Bombardier Fungus.”

#043: Mushroom Morphology: Bird’s Nest Fungi 2

Fungus Fact

#043: Mushroom Morphology: Bird’s Nest Fungi

These small (< 1.5cm) fungi are easily recognizable by their striking resemblance to a bird’s nest with eggs inside. The “eggs” are actually spore-containing sacks called peridioles.  As in the other gasteromycetes, the bird’s nest fungi produce spores internally and have lost the ability to forcibly discharge their spores.  To overcome this obstacle, the bird’s nest fungi developed their unique morphology to act as a splash cup.  The basic splash cup mechanism works as follows: a raindrop falls into the cup, which propels one of the peridioles (“eggs”) out of the cup.  The next challenge for the bird’s nest fungi is to stick to whatever they land on.  These fungi have evolved two different mechanisms in order to accomplish this.  Fungi in the genera Mycocalia, Nidula, and Nidularia have peridioles that are covered in sticky mucilage, which allows them to adhere to surfaces on contact.  Fungi in the genera Crucibulum...