FERN'S FINDS

On May 9th, I took a great hike through part of the Carolina Thread Trail (a trail stretching throughout North and South Carolina) and...

How does a spore's shape influence a fungus? Something unremarkable can make a big difference in an organism's life cycle and can be easy to overlook, yet it is still important, and often surprisingly interesting to study. I found a fantastic study, "Fungal spore diversity reflects substrate specific deposition challenges," by researchers Sara Calhim, Panu Halme, and others that looked into the correlation between size and shape in ascospores and basidiospores and the fungus

This first week, we will look into the sugarberry tree, silktree, white mulberry tree, and tuliptree! The relationship between plants, specifically trees, and fungi is incredibly interconnected, possibly even more than we know now. Additionally, information about a fungus' habitat and ecological roles, including which tree species it relates to, helps to make the best identification. So, as a mycologist, one needs to understand a fungus's ecological role to understand the spe

During a walk through my neighborhood in late March, I spotted some small earthstars on a lawn far from some deciduous trees. Earthstars...