First walk of the year and a big crowd! Its been a warm winter and we have an early spring. Because of this we found a number of fresh mushrooms as well as dried specimens from last year. Find of the day was definitely the Scarlet cup. The guide books often list Sarcoscypha coccineaas the common species of Scarlet cup but this is apparently only found west of the Rockies. Instead we may find Sarcoscypha austriaca, or Sarcoscypha dudleyi, in our area. The two species are indistinguishable by eye and you need to look at the spores and the hairs covering the underside of the cup with a microscope to be able to identify the exact species. I took a sample home and was able to determine that we found Sarcoscypha austriaca. Thanks to last years foray guest mycologist Michael Kuo’s MushroomExpert website for the details on that.

Walk leader La Monte Yarroll, species identified by Blaine Sanner, Richard Jacob, La Monte Yarroll and John Plischke III, Species list entered by Richard Jacob.

List of species found on the walk at South Park:
Armillaria mellea (Honey Mushroom),
Camarops petersii (Dog Nose fungus),
Chlorociboria aeruginascens (Blue-green Stain),
Cyathus stercoreus (Leathery Bird’s-nest Fungus / Grey Egg Birds nest),
Dacrymyces palmatus (Orange Jelly; Witches’ Butter),
Daedaleopsis confragosa (Thin-maze Flat Polypore),
Daldinia concentrica (Carbon Balls),
Diatrype stigma (),
Exidia glandulosa (Beech jelly roll),
Exidia recisa (Wood ear),
Flammulina velutipes (Velvet foot; Enokitake),
Galerina marginata (Deadly galerina),
Ganoderma applanatum (Artist’s Conk),
Gloeoporus dichrous (),
Hypsizygus ulmarius (Elm Oyster),
Irpex lacteus (Milk-white Toothed-Polypore),
Lenzites betulina (Multicolor Gill Polypore),
Morganella pyriformis (Pear-shaped Puffball),
Neofavolus alveolaris (Hexagonal-pored Polypore),
Panellus serotinus (Late Fall Oyster),
Panellus stipticus (Luminescent Panellus, bitter oyster),
Perenniporia subacida (),
Phaeolus schweinitzii (Dyer’s pollypore or velvet-top fungus),
Phellinus robineae (Cracked cap polypore),
Phlebia tremellosa (),
Polyporus badius (Black-footed Polypore),
Polyporus varius (),
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus (Cinnabar Red Polypore),
Sarcodontia setosa (),
Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet cup),
Schizophyllum commune (Split Gill),
Serpula lacrimans (),
Stereum complicatum (Crowded Parchment),
Stereum ostrea (False Turkey-tail),
Trametes conchifer (),
Trametes gibbosa (Lumpy bracket),
Trametes versicolor (Turkey-tail),
Trichaptum biforme (Violet Toothed-Polypore),
Tubaria furfuracea (Fringed Tubaria)
Xylobolus frustulatus (Ceramic Parchment)

Comments:
There were multiple remains of Laetiporus species (chicken of the woods) but they were all white so we could not assign a species.
There were also a number of crust species that were not fully identified.
Maybe a Lyophyllum species.

Pictures by Adam Haritan and Richard Jacob