October 7, 2020
Time of entry: 1:15 pm -2:48 pm
Weather: semi-cloudy and fairly humid with small brisk winds
Pledge: Sandra
Species identification: Dead man’s fingers mushroom
Scientific name: Xylaria polymorpha
Fieldnotes: Since we are able to move around our sit spots I decided to venture closer to the stream area southwest of my shady cove. I could smell the quiet scent of decaying leaves and hear the dry rustle of beech leaves in the breeze As I trod closer to the stream bank, I began to notice a lot of deadwood or fallen logs laid around. I was deciding what kind of organism I would like to focus on when something odd and alien-looking caught my eye. It honestly scared me at first as I wasn’t too sure what I was looking at, as it seems like almost black swollen little sausages. They were about the size of my fingers so about 2-4 inches tall and were cramped onto a small dead stump. As my mind was zooming to try and realize what I was looking at, I decided this was a pretty good place to start trying to identify it. It was an overall fun experience, especially since I’m not much of a mycologist or fungi fan.
Identification: So the first thing I blatantly thought I was looking at was some weird mold or dried out dog business. Although they seemed to dark and in order to be something like that, so I picked up a stick and poked it to see if it would move. I was surprised to find out it was a lot harder than I thought it was, and not wanting to disturb it any longer, I began to analyze this organism. The fingers were about 3 inches long with a 2 cm diameter. They were growing on a dead stump and near a riverbank so I assume it has to be a species of fungi that grow off deadwood and/or damp areas. I pulled out my phone and did a quick search, butwhen I typed “dead wood fungi” there were just too many results. As I was trying to personally scroll through the endless list, I thought I’d be a little overexageratted and google top creepy mushrooms, and low and behold I saw a pretty similar picture of the fungi I was looking at. That was pretty funny, but also gave me the creeps when I learned its nickname.
Natural history: Dead man’s fingers get their obvious name from their appearance of tufts of three to six “fingers” that can be bent and give an impression of a black corpses knuckles. belong to the edible fungi, morel, and truffle, although many consider them to be inedible even though they contain zero toxins. These fungi may appear in several species in the family name, Xylaria polymorpha. These kinds of fungi are asexual and spore-producing, and in their early “finger” stages they are a pale blue color that darkens and hardens as it matures.
Citations:
https://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/deadmansfingers.htm
https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/xylaria-polymorpha.php
Wow that name is really accurate! But what a textbook definition of don’t judge a book by its cover, I never would have thought the dead man’s fingers mushroom would be edible.
beautiful pictures! they really show us the process of your species discovery. your post gave a lot of information about your species! i never knew those existed!