Journal Entry 18
Fungi/Forbes- 5/24
Weather: Bright and Warm
Today the Fungi group began the group projects at the Union Bay Natural Area. We learned that only seven out of the thousands of species of fungi are lethal upon ingestion, so they represent a very small risk of death when eaten without positively identifying the species. However, a good general rule to follow would be to avoid whitecaps or yellowish whitecapped mushrooms. Fungi grow hyphae to decompose nutrients and absorb them through their tips. The first fungus type of organism is dated to about 1.43 billion years ago, and it began as an aquatic organism and moved to land, upon which it became one of the first dominant terrestrial species types. At one point, there were even mushrooms that grew to massive proportions, as tall as a hill, but soon after went extinct. These were replaced by the more effective form of tiny mushrooms that existed only below ground. Fungi fix elements like phosphorus in the soil so that organisms like trees can more easily access them, with which the fungi will often grow upon to sap nutrients of its own to survive. While usually fungi exhibit some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement with their host organisms, they have been known to become parasitic, entirely killing their hosts. One tree we spotted was dead, standing upright with an artist’s conk directly draining nutrients from its heartwood. We saw the various types of rot again, from brown to white, including some more turkeytails, sterium- orange bleeders and non bleeders, hypotalon- black lava rock types, fremedies- non colored turkey tails, and dacrymyces stollutus- orange jelly fungi, Japansese parasol fungi, that were the inky capped mushrooms that died within 24 hours of their growth.
Forbes are the flowering, herb like, non-woody shrubs, sedges, grasses, or flowers. Forbes are all over the UBNA, as most of the ground coverings that weren’t thick and woody like the Himalayan blackberries of other large bushes are types of forbes. Exampels sincluded the large leaf lupine, a purple and assumed poisonous plant, morning glory-an invasive that would kill its host, mountain sage brush- a small yellow flowered forbe, queen anne’s lace, an edible plant whose seeds holds contraceptive qualities, broadleaf plantain, common camis, tall buttercup, dandelion, hairy cat’s ear and others. Washington state has between 1,100-1,300 wildflower species, many of which are introduced. With one of the most diverse populations of forbes, many creative uses have been found for their varying properties. Organisms like the skunk cabbage are unique in that they act almost like an animal in the way that it generates its own body heat to melt its way through snow, is edible but has high calcium oxate levels that make it somewhat toxic. Another common flower, the dandelion, can be eaten and cooked into dishes like collard greens, or used to ferment and make wine, which we sampled on the tour.
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