Shining Candy Corn Ganoderma Tsugae

I believe I've solved a fungal mystery, and it makes me really happy because this is a favorite of mine, and now I love it in both early and mature stages.

On Tuesday, we saw all these fungal growths on a fallen tree.

I immediately knew I was "on to" something. Especially when I saw the ones on the bottom of the log

I saw these in the Adirondacks on the NCT hike. I called them 'Candy Corn' fungus.

At that time, I managed to determine that they are in the Ganoderma genus, but couldn't be certain what kind. Gano= shining, and Derma= skin. Shining skin fungus.

Now, I'm pretty sure this is the early growth of the Hemlock Polypore or Hemlock Varnish Shelf (because they are shiny as if they'd just been varnished). The log we saw Tuesday is a fallen hemlock, so that's a huge clue. And I know that the Hemlock Polypore is found in this area.

This is a young Ganoderma tsugae. Tsugae= hemlock. One thing for certain about just about all the mushrooms/fungi is that they can look very different at different stages.

So what's this look like when it's mature? I first encountered this one in 1998 in Wisconsin, where we nicknamed it the 'Rearview Mirror' fungus because they eventually grow out at an angle on a stalk. Doesn't look much like those candy corn, does it?

And here is the upper side of a beautiful mature one. It really does look like it's been varnished. And it usually grows on hemlock. Many of the polypores are named for their preferred wood to inhabit.

I love that I've figured this out, and I love the looks of this fungus in all its stages.

In other news, there's a Brown Thrasher flying around my yard, but I haven't been able to catch a picture. Did a good job of accomplishing computer tasks in the morning. Unloaded the concrete blocks and worked on gardens in the afternoon. Yeah me!

See Fun Guys Wear Brown

More Siamese Ponds Wilderness - Day 182

  This was another day entirely on trail. I had high hopes for a "fast" day of hiking since most of this was well-established trail, even though it was in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area.

One of the highlights was finding this interesting fungus that I've never seen before. It's some form of Ganoderma. It's related to the Hemlock Shelf Polypore, also a Ganoderma. Gano=shining, derma=skin. These fungi always look like they are freshly varnished. It may be an odd growth form of Ganoderma lucidum. [It is the young Ganoderma tsugae] I found some pictures online, and apparently it can grow into these candy-corn stalks, or spread out into a shelf.

But something else trumped the lovely fungus. When Paul dropped me off the day before, he was praying for my safety and health, etc. He also prayed that I see some bear cubs. I interrupted and said, "No, no, Lord... skip the bears, I want a moose." And look what I got! Not a calendar-worthy photo, but proof that I'm not pulling your leg. We looked at each other a few minutes, then I loudly said, "I hope you are having a lovely day. Would you allow me to pass through your domain?" It turned and walked away, giving me passage.

If you've read North Country Quest, you know that Marie and I saw a moose, a bull, on our last Adirondack hike too.

I just got a kick out of this section of trail. I guess every trail in the woods must use this path!

But the real story of the day was bridges, er... the lack of them. Sigh. At the first one, I probably crossed in the wrong place (no turn marker), so I don't know if there really was a bridge. I slid down a sandy bank and waded with the fishes!

At Hour Pond Brook, you can see the bridge abutments, but no bridge. No rocks either. This was another wade.

The Sacandaga River bridge is long gone, and they have no plans to replace it. This picture looks more serious than the actual situation. There are big rocks you can get across on.

However, at the very end of the day, the outlet to Botheration Pond was a challenge. This is on a ski trail, but the bridge is totally gone. Yes, it's pretty much a sheer drop after the orange warning flags. You can see the abutment on the far side. Well, there was no other choice. I clambered down. This was where I was getting water for the night and morning, so I waded across and took care of that chore. Then I climbed up the other side.

The pond wasn't much of a botheration, but the waterway sure was!

It wasn't even 4 p.m. yet, but it was a difficult day, and Botheration Pond was my planned goal, so I stopped for the night.

Miles today: 10.6. Total miles so far: 2313.2.

near Wakely Brook to Botheration Pond, NY Adirondacks

See Trail Built Just for NCT

Fun Guys Wear Brown

The good stuff just keeps coming at this time of year! These pictures are from the hike on Saturday, but I took a video today that I've been trying to get since I have had a digital camera. And it came out really well! So I'll have that for tomorrow. I'm also really excited about something that is going to occur tomorrow evening. A lady who knows frog voices well enough that she is an observer for the state frog surveys was on the Saturday hike, and taught us to recognize the chorus frog. It is the one that sounds like you are running a thumbnail over the teeth of a comb.

She is taking me with her to Sterling Marsh tomorrow evening, and we are going to listen to frogs. I am going to try to capture some of the sounds. I can recognize several kinds, but not nearly enough.

Now for the brown fungi. Oh, you expected brown clowns? Nope.



This odd looking thing is called calf brain mushroom. It does have a stalk, but I didn't do a good job of picturing that. It's actually a false morel. At this time of year people are starting to look seriously for the true morels, a mushroom that is highly popular to eat. It's easy to identify so people don't make fatal mistakes with it, which helps its popularity too. You don't want to eat this one though.



This one was spectacular! It's hemlock polypore or hemlock varnish shelf, Ganoderma tsugae. It will grow on other trees, but definitely is most likely found on decaying conifers, with a special fondness for hemlock. That's what it's growing on here. Here is the underside of another one of the "shelves". Yes, it's called a shelf fungus.



I know, that's not so interesting, but you can see that it doesn't have gills. That is one of the characteristics of the polypores. Instead of gills they have many pores... polypores.

See The Power of Nature for another polypore See Details, Details for an inky cap fungus