mushrooms
An unlikely delicacy: the basket stinkhorn
This isn’t the first post you’ve seen here about stinkhorns. They’ve just got that special something. In the Western hemisphere, they’re wonderfully disgusting. In the East, they’re wonderfully delicious. Let’s explore.
Twinkly earthstars
Fungi are secretive and elusive things. It’s hard to get to know them. They expose themselves shyly, briefly, and often bafflingly. Like these twinkly earthstars, which are hiding more than one secret.
A deadly Russula
My students think of Russula species as cheerful mushrooms that are quite benign. They are often pleasingly colored, make good partners for trees, and have an interesting, brittle texture. Other than being practically impossible to identify, what’s not to like? But in eastern Asia, one Russula species kills half of the people who eat it.
The Cornell Hoot
On the origins and practice of the Cornell Hoot, a mycological finding tool. Executing the Cornell Hoot is sure to make you find more mushrooms, grow more hair, make more friends (of a certain kind), and stay safely found.
ZAP! Lightning, Gods, and Mushrooms
Everyone knows mushrooms pop up after thunderstorms, right? Japanese mushroom farmers sometimes deploy electric shocks to get their shiitake mushrooms to fruit. So, what would happen if you wandered around in the forest zapping the ground?
Atkinson’s Lost Inocybe
Remember that Donald Rumsfeld quote, on known knowns and unknown unknowns? This post is about a mushroom we know, Inocybe olpidiocystis, about which we really don’t know anything. It grew right here on the Cornell campus, once. One thing I can say for sure: I know I don’t know it.
George F. Atkinson
Here at the Cornell fungal herbarium, we’ve been busy curating and digitizing the massive fungus collection of George F. Atkinson. His influential work in the late 1800s and early 1900s took mycology a big step forward. Here’s an intro to Atkinson and his mycological legacy, written by CUP’s Assistant Curator Torben Russo.
Postal conks
The best gifts keep on giving. This artist’s conk (Ganoderma applanatum) came to me by post. It turned out to be quite literally full of surprises. Eleven unexpected organisms popped out of it: one other fungus, and ten fascinating beetles. Also, and this was really quite satisfying: when it arrived, I knew I had won the argument.
Evening glow
What better to find on your bedside table in the middle of the night than a glowing fungus? It’s Panellus stipticus, and it has talent. If you don’t live near me in the northeast, where all the glowing is going on, have a look at our movie.