Winter Decomposers II: The Return of the Fungi

Fruiting bodies of Giraffe spots 
Peniophora albobadia

I am on a mycological kick so I will keep kicking.  Diane and I found a couple more interesting fungi growing on dead sticks recently. 

The first is giraffe spots Peniophora albobadia.  What you see with giraffe spots is really the fruiting body, the spore producing structure, growing tightly appressed to the stick.  Most of the fungus is the hyphae that are rotting the dead wood from the inside.  The fruiting body of this crust fungus is flat and brown with white margins.  This fungus often grows in groups and as the name suggests look like the pattern of spots on giraffes.  Giraffe spots is an important decomposer but is also a pathogen on peaches, nectarines and apricots. 

Giraffe coat pattern

Petr Kratochvil 

(publicdomainpictures.net)

Giraffe spots Peniophora albobadia
detail showing pattern

The second nice fungus was growing on a dead limb of the ornamental plant photinia.  This shelf fungus is a polypore with light and dark rings on the top of the fruiting body.  On the underside of the cap there are many pores (naturally) arranged in a labyrinthine pattern.  The scientific name of this fungus Daedalea quercina is quite apt.  The specific name, quercina, refers to the genus of oak, Quercus.  

Daedalea quercina showing the top of
the fruiting body with alternating light and dark rings

Daedalea quercina showing the underside of the
fruiting body with its labyrinthine pores

Our specimen was not growing on oak but this fungus is common on dead branches of that tree. The genus name Daedalea goes back to Greek mythology, named for Daedalus who built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete.  In the Labyrinth was imprisoned the Minotaur, a monster who ate sacrificial Athenian children.  The pores on this fungus, with their twisting chambers and passages could be a maze from which escape is futile.