Birthday in the Olympic Peninsula
During the second weekend of July, I did the best thing I could possibly do for my birthday: go out into nature and see all sorts of cool stuff. To be more specific, my parents, my partner, and I went camping for a weekend in the Olympic Peninsula. We spent our first night at a campground near Port Townsend, and the second night on private property near Forks (and no, we weren't there for Twilight). The second day we went on a lovely hike at the Quinault Loop where we saw a ton of cool fungi, lichen, and slime! Here is a compilation of all the fungi (and slime), along with my best attempts at identifying each of them. I have also linked the iNaturalist observations I created.
West Coast Reishi (Ganoderma oregonense)
This was a pretty fun find. The Reishi in the first four photos below was still young, so the edges of it were soft—almost felt like marshmallow. The last photo shows a fully matured Reishi where the entire top of the fungus had hardened over, and the glossy exterior covered it. You can also see a photo of the bottom showing off the incredible texture of it’s pores.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolo)
Turkey tails are pretty common in the Pacific Northwest, however, these were a bit different than the ones I am used to seeing. They had an incredible blue coloration to them, whereas the ones I usually find are mostly shades of brown. I foraged some of these and am hoping to make something cool with them!
Lipstick Powderhorn (Cladonia macilenta)
Lichen
Some fun lichen facts!
Lichen is a composite organism composed of algae or cyanobacteria that engage in a mutualistic relationship with one or more fungi.
We refer to lichen with the same scientific name as the fungus it comprises! It seems unfair to exclude the algae/cyanobacteria, in my opinion.
For the longest time, it was believed that the red dots on top of the lichen below were a parasitic fungus that exclusively lives on lichen. However, it was eventually revealed that they are actually two parts of the same species.
These lichens remind me of Christmas because of their red and green colors and their shape, resembling Christmas lights.
Bird Nest Fungi (Family: Nidulariaceae)
Bird's nest fungi are super cool! The ones I found did not have them, but if you can find them earlier in the season before they have spread their spores, they will have little tiny egg-like structures. These eggs contain spores, which are later expelled from the "nest" to facilitate spore dispersal.
Dog Vomit Slime Mold (Fuligo septica)
Slime Mold
Dog vomit slime is the most common name used to refer to this organism. However, I personally do not believe that "dog vomit" is an accurate enough name for it. As a dog owner, I have had to clean up actual dog vomit, and although the texture can be somewhat similar, the real thing is not nearly as aesthetically pleasing. I much prefer the alternative name "scrambled egg slime."
Northern Cinnabar Polypore (Pycnoporus cinnabarinus)
This was one of my more exciting finds as it isn’t as common and most of the other fungi I find. Sadly it was still in a young state so the beautiful red coloration that it gets wasn’t as present.
Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus sp.)
I found a tiny little oyster mushroom growing out of a tree. I was originally not going to include it here, but it's way too cute! I'm not sure what species of oyster mushroom this was, so I wrote it down as just the genus: Pleurotus. The last fun fact of this post is that the name Pleurotus translates from Greek to "Side Ear." This is because most species of Oyster Mushrooms grow sideways out of the tree.
