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THIS IS A 2-PART OBSERVATION COVERING 2 LOCATIONS WITHIN PIERCE COUNTY:
1ST - 2019, McChord AFB, WA
2nd - 2023, Farrell's Marsh, Steilacoom, WA

VOUCHER # 08131

DATE: 24 APR 2019 & 27 AUG 2023

STATE: WA

COUNTY: PIERCE

FORAY ID: South Sound Fungal Diversity Project.

SITE NAME: McChord AFB & Farrell’s Marsh, Steilacoom

iNat #: 180998410

NEARBY FLORA:

Conifer: Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock & Red Cedar
Deciduous: Western Red Alder, Large-Leaf and Vine Maple, Red Huckleberry
Evergreen: Sword Fern, Deer Fern, Rattlesnake Tongue Plantain, Black/Purple Huckleberry, Salal, Oregon Grape.

SUBSTRATE: Dead or Dying Confers.

HABIT: Many, sometimes in Clusters, (up to 10+ within 5-foot vertical).

LIGHT EXPOSURE: Shade, Partial Shade (varies based on location of target tree)

MOISTURE: Humid...during normal fruiting time, trees are in damp, mossy areas or, in the case of Farrell’s Marsh directly in or very-near Water with most or nearly all of roots covered

AMBIENT TEMP: Average for mid-Spring, Summer, Fall…. 62 Degrees F

SOIL TEMP: NA

ECOSYSTEM: 2nd-Growth Conifer, Mixed Forest, in Marsh...Infected Trees are or were in Standing Water caused by Beaver Dam.

ELEVATION:
@ McChord AFB, 312 Ft/95 Meters
@ Farrell’s Marsh, 236 Ft/72 Meters

LAY OF THE LAND: At McChord varying from Flat to Relatively Steep ground...At the Marsh, Relatively Flat, Irregular, Undulating

REFERENCES:

Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America, pg 266
Mushroom Matchmaker App (I. Gibson, M. Beug, D. Parker, D. Miller, N. Siegel, B. Kendrick);
Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (Siegel & Schwarz), pg 478;
Pictorial Key to Pacific NW Mushrooms (Danny Miller)

DETAILED PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, copied from the Mushroom MatchMaker App:

LATIN NAME(s) Cryptoporus volvatus (Peck) Shear Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 29: 450. 1902; Polyporus volvatus Peck

ENGLISH NAME(s): veiled polypore, cryptic globe fungus

NOTES: Features include a hoof-shaped to spherical, tan-colored fruitbody on conifers, which when sliced open is seen to have a hollow cavity lined in its upper part by pores, a tube layer and flesh, and in its lower part by a relatively thin layer that may be perforated. Spores are apparently spread by bark beetles as well as by wind.

RANGE: It is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, MB, NB, ON, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, PA, SD, UT, VA, VT, WV, WY, and east Asia, (Gilbertson).

CHEMICAL REACTIONS: None.

CAP: 1.5-8.5cm, more or less spherical to ovoid or slightly compressed or hoof-like, with hollow interior, upper surface whitish to warm tan or yellowish drying ocher-brown to reddish brown, with thin, smooth, glazed or resinous crust, 'margin extending down and under to form "veil" which completely covers pore surface; in age the underside perforated by one (rarely two) holes', (Arora), up to 4cm x 5cm x 4cm, hoof-shaped, margin continuous with a volva-like structure that encloses pore surface except for a small hole at the base; upper surface cream to yellowish or tan; not zoned, bald but often coated with a clear lacquer-like layer, smooth or wrinkled, (Gilbertson)

FLESH: tough; whitish, (Arora), up to 2cm thick, soft-corky; ivory-white, not zoned, (Gilbertson)

PORES: 3-4 per mm, hidden by "veil", "white becoming pinkish or brownish in age", (Arora), 4-5 per mm, circular, with thick, entire walls; pale to dark chocolate brown; tube layer up to 0.6cm thick, pinkish buff, (Gilbertson)

STEM: none

ODOR: "often fragrant (like Sparassis)", (Arora), slightly resinous (Miller)

TASTE: slightly bitter (Gilbertson)

EDIBILITY: too tough (Arora)

HABITAT: annual, "solitary or more often in groups on dead or occasionally old living conifers", (Arora), single or in large numbers, on recently killed conifers, "commonly fruiting a year after trees are killed by fire, bark beetles, or other factors and then displaced by other saprophytic wood-rotting fungi", especially on Pinus (pine), Abies (fir), and Pseudotsuga (Douglas-fir), causes soft grayish-white rot of sapwood, (Gilbertson), fruiting in spring, summer, and fall, (Miller)

SPORE DEPOSIT: pinkish or flesh-colored (Arora), white to cream-color (Miller), frequently carried by the Conifer Beetle.

MICROSCOPIC: spores 8-12 x 3-5 microns, cylindric to elliptic, smooth, (Arora), spores 12-16.5 x 4.5 microns, cylindric, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; cystidioles 20-28 x 5-7 microns, not projecting, but fusoid, thin-walled, with basal clamp; hyphal system trimitic, contextual generative hyphae mostly 3-7 microns wide (but with inflated parts at branches up to 15 microns wide), thin-walled, with clamp connections at all septa, with occasional branching, contextual skeletal hyphae 2.5-8 microns, thick-walled, colorless, nonseptate, with occasional branching, binding hyphae 1.5-2.5 microns wide, thick-walled, nonseptate, much branched, tramal hyphae similar, (Gilbertson)

NAME ORIGIN: means "provided with a volva" (Gilbertson)

SIMILAR: none

SOURCES: Gilbertson(1), Arora(1), Lincoff(2), Miller(14), Desjardin(6), Ginns(28), Siegel(2)

FAMILY: Polyporaceae, Order Polyporales, Class Agaricomycetes, Phylum Basidiomycota

On 5 ft dbh dead (I believe a) doug fir, but there were a couple similar sized live oaks nearby. Hollow with slimy, marshmallowy texture (difficult to tear apart) and slightly foetid odor. Animals had grazed on one nearby.

Doesn't seem to have tubes?

Ecoregion: Southern Outer Piedmont
Habitat: Growing in soil near the base of a hardwood (oak)
Substrate: Soil
Nearest Tree: Live hardwood, oak.
Habit: Few
Cap/upper surface: Ca. 7=8 cm diameter, bald, smooth, pinkish-brown.
Cap/underside: Pores angular, 1/mm, deep greenish-yellow; no bruising.
Stipe: ca. 8 cm long, 1-1.5 cm diameter; deeply textured, pink-tan. Flesh doesn’t bruise.
Reference #: FYA-20200820-01
MO-424941