Fascinating Fall Fungi - 25 September 2022

Marie Trest highlighting the identifying characteristics of a clavarioid (coral) fungi.

The damp weather on the afternoon of September 25th was perfect for searching along the trails of the preserve for fall fungi in all of their fascinating textures and colors. Marie Trest, teacher of the UW Madison Fungi lab course, guided almost eighty fungi fanatics through how to identify some of our local fruiting bodies. With their gills, tubes, teeth, puffballs, forking corals, shelves, and cups, fungi have as many functions in the forest as there were logs to overturn and leaves to comb. Each fungi found had a unique role hinted at by what substrate they were emerging from and the forms they took on. We also learned how to take spore prints to help identify some mushrooms that look similar to one another. Fungi recycle the dying plants and animals of the forest floor into the nutrients needed by new, emerging life. Fungi are pathogens, they provide medicine and food, and they form close symbioses. At the heart of nearly every ecological process, there is a fungus. A special thanks to Marie for sharing her expertise with us and impressing on us just how important and beautiful these too often overlooked organisms are.

 Report and photos by Matt Chotlos.