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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Honey Mushrooms, Armillaria genus, as a rule have an annulus or ring around the stem, varying in degree and design from species to species, but this one, the Ringless Honey, Armillaria tabescens, has no ring, making it probably the easiest of the Armillarias to positively identify. Around here, it grows in clumps near hardwood trees, mainly oaks, appearing to be a terrestrial mushroom, but in reality they grow parasitically, attached to the tree roots. They are the cause of Armillaria Root Rot, which destroys many trees.
Most years, it comes up in a large display of fruiting within a week to 10 days and is done, but this year I've been seeing a few here and a few there for well over a month now. Our cold summer and spotty rain may be the reason for the unusual fruiting pattern.
Their primary range is the south-eastern US, but they extend west to Texas and also up to around the Great Lakes. They are unbelievably abundant in oak woods here in some years. I have also seen them fruiting in incredible numbers in the town of Murray, Kentucky, clumps of them all over people's lawns.
I put my camera on a tripod for this shot, and used the built-in flash, softened with a Gary Fong Puffer flash diffuser, gives nice, soft light from built-in flashes.
More info from Michael Kuo's excellent MushroomExpert.com site:
Description:
Ecology: Parasitic and/or saprobic on hardwood roots, especially those of oaks. I have examined trees attacked by Armillaria tabescens several times, and have never found the black rhizomorphs characteristic of Armillaria mellea in wood or bark above ground. Armillaria tabescens, as I have seen it, fruits directly from roots and rootlets, attached to them with white mycelial fuzz. The mushrooms typically appear in large clusters at the bases of hardwoods (especially oaks), or appearing to be terrestrial but actually growing from hidden wood; late summer and fall; east of the Rocky Mountains.
Cap: 1-4 cm; convex to broadly convex or flat in age; the margin often arched in maturity; dry; tan to tawny brown to cinnamon brown, sometimes yellowish; covered with dark scales which are concentrated near the center and vaguely radially arranged.
Gills: Running down the stem or nearly so; nearly distant; whitish, sometimes bruising or discoloring pinkish to brownish.
Stem: 7.5-20 cm long; .5-1.5 cm. thick; tapering to base; smooth and pale near apex, darker and nearly hairy below; without a ring.
Flesh: Whitish to watery tan; sometimes insubstantial in stem.
Odor and Taste: Taste mild to bitter; odor sweet.
Spore Print: White.
Microscopic Features: Spores 8-10 x 5-7 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical; inamyloid; with a prominent apiculus.
REFERENCES: (Scopoli, 1772) Emel, 1921. (Saccardo, 1887; Kauffman, 1918; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Weber & Smith, 1985; Arora, 1986; Berube & Dessureault, 1989; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993; Volk, 2003; Miller & Miller, 2006; Kuo, 2007.) Herb Kuo 09190101, 07010306, 09300407.
Armillariella tabescens is a synonym; Clitocybe tabescens is a former name. |
Hormon_Manyer, jconceicao, marianas, boreocypriensis, tuslaw, marhowie has marked this note useful
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