Favoritos de thrasherbird

Transcribed from handwritten notes:

Pyrogallol and guaiacol negative oncap.

Pileus 18-57 mm across, up to 36 mm tall.
Tightly round-convex to campanulate-umbilicate.
Cap often contorted and wavy, some strongly crenulate or splitting at margin. Deep vinaceous ruby red becoming grapefruit red or pink over buff-beige pink background.

Extremely finely tomentulose at disc, when very young (nearly smooth). With small but distinct scales outwards and irregularly in age. Scales not or barely uplifted, but not entirely appressed.

Stipe 24.9 to 43 to 50 mm tall. 4.2 to 8.3 to 9.6 mm wide. Equal or slightly enlarged at base, often mostly hidden by drooping cap.

Often strongly grooved or flattened. Not entirely smooth (ie. vertically fibrous), with white punctae or scurfs in some specimens. Pale flesh colored, pinkish cream, or pallid rosy pink. Basal mycelium abundant, rising up to 1/2 stipe. White, not contiguous.

Lamellae pale creamy pink becoming pinker in age, and with vinaceous staining at maturity. Edge somewhat eroded even when fresh and with transvenose lamellulae. Close, irregular, deep.

It was found along the upper section of the East Trail descending towards Russian Gulch Creek; probably a five-minute walk from the north boundary trail connection. Redwood habitat but fairly dry currently. I've tried to guesstimate the coordinates here: 39.334089, -123.760694. The iphone coordinates place it too near the creek I think.

There were three growths present on the uphill-side of the trail. Only one was growing with the wooly chanterelle.

Russo doesn't list any galls for fireweed. The HOSTS database lists quite a few, though I haven't checked them all out. Merits some further research. If anyone at Sagehen can find some and wants to rear them...

The notorious still-undescribed Eriogonum from the Bristol Mountains with it's reticulate branching pattern, it's glaucous stems. A perennial that seems to only occur on limestone. Previously photographed in flower in 2018 (see link to observation in comments).

Large, imbricate-pileate polypores growing on cottonwoods (Populus )
Flesh thick, tough-punky, cap surface slightly fibrillose to smooth.
Flesh 2.5 cm deep, tube layer 5 mm deep.
Pore mouths small, subtly angular (not perfectly round), 3-4/mm.
Fresh specimens juicy, with strong almond extract/marzipan/maraschino odor when cut.
Pores turning yellow-orange when dried.

Microscopy:
Hyphae mostly of one type, simple, unseptate, with thick walls. No clamps observed. No cystidia observed. Spores smooth, ellispoid to long-ellipsoid, 7 x 3 microns or longer. Inamyloid.

At first I thought they might be Osteina due to general appearance, but not growing on conifer, not drying bone-hard, and with different micro characters.

Comments from polypore expert Otto Miettinen:

"the fruitbody
structure, spore shape and hyphal structure point towards Polyporus (in the wide, traditional sense). The hyphae look like skeleto-binding
hyphae typical of Polyporus and the core polyporoid clade / polyporaceae
in the modern sense."