Diario de ninahardt

Entoloma abortivum, commonly known as aborted entoloma or “shrimp of the woods” is a small white mushroom resulting from the parasitism of an entoloma species on a honey mushroom. This results in an aborted state or the transformation of a white, soft mushroom to one with a crackled, white, firm exterior lacking gills. While these aborted entolomas are edible, non aborted entolomas should be avoided as they resemble other poisonous species (such as the Entoloma sinuatum). These mushrooms were observed in the hollowed out trunk of a rotting tree, which fits their preferred habitat. Otherwise, these mushrooms can be spotted on the ground in humus, in wastelands, on the edges of bogs, or in woodland areas during early spring until late fall.

One of my observations was the white snakeroot. The white snakeroot has 352 species preceding it, with some of the most recent common ancestors being apache snakeroot, spreading snakeroot, lesser snakeroot, and sticky snakeroot. This plant is the closest ancestor to Ageratina proba and Agerantina warnockii, both of which have no common name associated with them. Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot) has the unique adaptation of being a poisonous herb. This is a selective trait for this species as it increases the chance of survival of the plant in deterring predation. In relation to a common adaptation to all of my observations; plant life cycles can be described as either annuals, biennials or perennials, with perennials being described as plants that live longer than both annuals and biennials and are thus equipped to survive harsh winter months. This would explain why my plants all had the common classification of being perennials, a trait that is selected for in order for the organisms to survive the winters in Montreal.