Bay Nature friends enjoyed a “magical mystery tour” through the beguiling world of fungi at Oakland’s Redwood Regional Park last weekend. Mushroom expert Debbie Viess pointed out gooey orange jellies that prey on each other and regaled us with the x-rated love story of the schizophylla mushroom. The rains unearthed other small, slimy beings: a banana slug, an ensatina, even a millipede! Thanks to macro-photographers Anna Towers, Melissa Moore and Ross Millikan for capturing the magic of this tiny kingdom.
Look deeper: Read “Planet Fungi” by Joe Eaton (Bay Nature Jul-Oct 2012).
Hike leader Debbie Viess explains jelly fungi
Orange jelly fungi
Brown witch’s butter
White coral mushrooms
Stereum sp.
Stereum sp., an orange parchment fungus
Millipede
California newt
Banana slug
Fruiting cup lichen
Little waxcap mushrooms
White coral under redwood
Crepidotus mollis
Hygrocybe punicea
White egg bird’s nest fungus
Crucibulum crucibuliforme close-up
Pholiota velaglutinosa
Trametes versicolor or the turkey tail.
Schizophyllum commune
Scutellinia scutellata
Tubaria furfuracea
Stereum sp.
Hemimycena sp.
A foliose Lichen sp.
Helvella vespertina
Millipede
Ensatina
Fungi
Slender salamander
Orbweaver spider
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