The sun was out and it was a beautify warm autumn day, perfect for a walk in the woods. About 16  people took part looking for mushrooms in the mixed woods at the top of Murrysville Community Park. Despite the rain this last week larger terrestrial mushrooms were in short supply. The rain did bring out some jelly mushrooms and slime molds plus there were a number of small cup mushrooms found. Mushrooms of note were some older Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca (False Chanterelle). They had a soft felt like texture on the cap. There was also a pretty Lactarius vinaceorufescens (Yellow Latex Milky) whose latex turned yellow over 30 seconds or so from being cut.

The eyelash cup mushrooms are difficult to identify without using a microscope so I took the single specimen that was collected home and had a look at the spores. Our field identification was Scutellinia scutellata, the species that is in all the guide books. I put a cover slip over the mushroom and wrapped in in a damp paper towel and plastic wrap. This causes the mushroom to sporalate and hopefully most of the spores were caught on the cover slip. After a couple of hours I placed the cover slip, spore side down, on to a microscope slide and added some lactophenol blue stain. The lactophenol blue stain helps visualize the spore ornamentation. The hard work was rewarded and the species was identified as Scutellinia subhirtella based on the spore size and ornamentation, hair lengths and shape plus other characteristics. We don’t currently know how common Scutellinia subhirtella is compared to the more well know S. scutellata and S. setosa but it seems to fruit in the fall like S. setosa while S. scutellata can be found from spring to fall. There are more Scutellinia species in the area too, Scutellinia crinita was recently identified after a walk at Mingo Creek. It looks similar to S. scutellata with very long eyelash hairs but the spore ornamentation is different. Looking closely at Scutellinia specimens over the coming years will help us lean more about the different species and their fruiting times.

Species list entered by Richard Jacob.

List of species found on the walk at Murrysville Community Park:
Armillaria gallica (Honey Mushroom),
Armillaria mellea (Honey Mushroom),
Ascocoryne sarcoides (),
Auricularia angiospermarum (Tree-ear / Wood Ear),
Bisporella citrina (Yellow Fairy Cups),
Ceratiomyxa porioides (Honeycomb Coral Slime Mold ),
Coprinus lagopides (),
Daedaleopsis confragosa (Thin-maze Flat Polypore),
Entoloma abortivum (Aborted Entoloma),
Exidia crenata (Brown jelly roll),
Fuligo septica (Scrambled-egg Slime; Dog Vomit Slime),
Galerina marginata (Deadly galerina),
Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca (False Chanterelle),
Lactarius vinaceorufescens (Yellow Latex Milky),
Laetiporus sulphureus (Chicken Mushroom; Sulphur Shelf),
Lentinellus ursinus (Bear Lentinus),
Leocarpus fragilis (),
Lycogala epidendrum (Wolf’s Milk Slime),
Mycena crocea (Walnut Mycena),
Mycena inclinata (Clustered bonnet / oak-stump bonnet cap),
Neofavolus alveolaris (Hexagonal-pored Polypore),
Panellus stipticus (Luminescent Panellus, bitter oyster),
Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster Mushroom),
Pleurotus pulmonarius (Summer Oyster),
Pluteus cervinus (Deer mushroom),
Polyporus badius (Black-footed Polypore),
Psathyrella candolleana (),
Scleroderma citrinum (Pigskin Poison Puffball),
Scutellinia subhirtella (),
Steccherinum ochraceum (),
Serpula lacrimans (Dry rot),
Stereum complicatum (Crowded Parchment),
Stereum ostrea (False Turkey-tail),
Trametes betulina (Multicolor Gill Polypore),
Trametes elegans (),
Trametes versicolor (Turkey-tail),
Trichaptum biforme (Violet Toothed-Polypore),
Tyromyces chioneus (White Cheese Polypore),
Xylobolus frustulatus (Ceramic Parchment)

Species not currently on clubs life list:
Russula sp.