A fungus photograph courtesy of “brettf” from North Vancouver, who asked for help identifying the fungus on the fungus and lichen identification forum (includes more photos), then submitted it for BPotD via the BPotD Submissions forum. Thanks Brett!

Calocera viscosa has a host of common names: yellow staghorn fungus, staghorn jelly fungus, jelly antler fungus, yellow antler fungus – personally, I'd avoid using a common name with yellow in it, since the colour ranges from yellow to orange.

The epithet viscosa equates with sticky or greasy (viscid), and in this case applies to the greasy surface of the fungus. Like many fungi, it is a saprotroph, obtaining its nutrients from decaying organic matter (in the case of Calocera viscosa, the decaying stumps of conifers).

Photography resource link: British Columbia lost a great nature photographer when David Blevins returned home to North Carolina after completing his doctorate in forest ecology at UBC. There are plenty of images of the flora and fauna of both British Columbia and the Carolinas on his site, and a few from elsewhere. Two of my favourites are Bald-cypress and Water Tupelo Forest and Sabal Palmetto Leaf. If you are a photographer, don't miss his page on techniques.

Please note that the Creative Commons license applied to most BPotD images does not apply to this image, so permission for use (beyond “fair use” or similar provisions) needs to be sought from the copyright holder.

Today's image is courtesy of Angie from St. Paul, Minnesota aka Angie in MN@Flickr. Like a few other postings this past week, Angie shared the image via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Group Pool (original image). Many thanks, Angie!

There are three good reasons this mushroom has the common name “Jack O'Lantern mushroom”. Angie took this photograph on October 6th, and it is typical for this mushrom to appear in October around Hallowe'en. The second reason is the colour. The third reason, though, is the particularly interesting one. As Tom Volk writes in his Fungus of the Month entry for Omphalotus olearius, the mushroom produces secondary metabolites called luciferases. What's a luciferase? To quote Wikipedia, luciferases are a generic name for enzymes commonly used in nature for bioluminescence – yes, these mushrooms glow in the dark, though it can be difficult to see the phenomenon. Michael Kuo has written a humourous piece on the glow in the dark conspiracy of Omphalotus illudens.

Changing scientific names do not only apply to green, leafy plants. Much of the literature on the web and in print mentions that this particular fungus should be lumped together with Omphalotus olearius, and not recognized as a distinct species (alluded to in the Tom Volk link above from 1997). While writing this entry, though, I discovered a 2004 paper with molecular evidence that says “No, no, it was correct to separate it out. Don't lump it in with Omphalotus olearius anymore. It's actually quite a distant relative.” So, this particular species is back to Omphalotus illudens (ref: Kirchmair, M. et al. 2004. Phylogeny of the genus Omphalotus based on nuclear ribosomal DNA-sequences. Mycologia. 96(6): 1253-1260).

Off-topic, but a reminder that Alex Waterhouse-Hayward's photography exhibit opens tonight in Vancouver. Details (and sample) are in the entry for Rosa 'Harwanna'.

Botany / photography resource link: Suggested by UBC Botanical Garden's own David Tarrant, the D.T. Fleming Arboretum, a Hawaiian botanical garden on Maui dedicated to native plants. In particular, David suggests the Pu‘u Mahoe Close Up Slide Show, featuring the macro photography of Bob Bangerter. The navigation is a bit strange (it changes with each image), but you can also simply let the slide show run without navigating via the arrows. It will progress to the next photograph after roughly a 7 second delay.

I think the mushroom is one of the over two hundred species of the genus Mycena, but after reviewing a number of books, I still can't be absolutely certain. Mushroom identification is perilous without spore prints and other information from the field (does it smell? does it ooze if broken?). If I'm wrong, please add a comment and I'll update.

The moss, however, I'm certain of the identification. Hylocomium splendens, or stair-step moss, really deserves a photograph of its own to reveal its illustrative common name – you only get a hint of its arching main shoots in these photographs. I didn't photograph the moss on its own while at Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park, but Hylocomium splendens can also be found in UBC Botanical Garden, so watch it for in an upcoming BPotD.

The reason for today's two similar photographs is to illustrate the difference in depth of field by changing the F value via the camera's aperture priority mode (read more in this tutorial). The first photograph was taken at F11 while the other was snapped at F4.5. For my purposes, I consider the first image more technical as it supplies more information about the Mycena's environment, while the second isolates the subject, which I find more aesthetically-pleasing. Finding a balance between providing enough technical detail and making a visually-appealing photograph is one of the challenges of scientific photography.

Meeting that challenge is where having a digital camera shines, because of the opportunity to take multiple images at essentially no additional cost. In almost all of the images shown on BPotD, my method has been to bracket the photographs using changes in F-value, i.e., taking a number of images with different depths of field. I then choose one or two out of a batch of up to a dozen to keep (sometimes at opposite ends of the depth of field spectrum, like these two). Of course, this means making decisions, or else the hard drive quickly fills up. Still, it's a pretty good recipe for success if you're disciplined and ruthless. As an aside, I was inspired to write on this topic because of a posting on one of my favourite non-science weblogs, Creating Passionate Users – read Kathy Sierra's article on “If you could change only one thing...”.

Photography resource link: Science and Photography Through the Microscope, by award-winning photomicrographer Dr. Dennis Kunkel. Plenty of botanical images (and others) under the Search the Image Library link.

This photograph is courtesy of “leafdesigner” (a member of the UBC Botanical Garden Forums) of Battle Ground, Washington. leafdesigner submitted this image via the BPotD Submissions Forum here. Thanks for the image, and also thanks for writing accompanying text! leafdesigner writes:

“This mushroom with the mouthful of a scientific name is sometimes called the “western flat-top agaricus”. A member of the same genus as the cultivated or “button” mushroom, it is poisonous. The odor of crushed flesh is disagreeable, being described as “creosote-like” or “smelling of library paste”. A good field mark is the bright yellow staining that occurs when the base of the stem is nicked, although this also happens with the equally poisonous Agaricus xanthodermus.”

I'll add an additional link: Agaricus praeclaresquamosus via Mykoweb.

Botany resource link: the Fungus Identification Forum, recently separated out as its own discussion area on the garden's forums after a request from one of the forum members. Identification of fungi can be extremely challenging, often requiring the use of a microscope and “spore prints”. Unlike lichen identification, though, you don't need to walk around with a chemistry set (a story for another day). Despite often requiring lab work, identification to genus is possible for many fungi with a good image and description, like so: Hydnellum peckii (which I absolutely have to find one day for BPotD!).

Tom Volk covered shaggy manes as his Fungus of the Month for May 2004, so I'm going to refer you to his site to read about some of the science behind this fungus, one of the previous “Foolproof Four”. I do have to share one term with you regarding the genus Coprinus: autodeliquescence (doesn't that roll off the tongue?), or self-digestion. These fungi break down their own tissue as a way to aid release of spores – Dr. Volk goes into more detail on the phenomenon.

You can also read more about Coprinus comatus via MykoWeb or see the original non-close-up image of this photograph on the UBC forums.

On a different tack, I'd like to thank Beverley for volunteering to add zone information in comments where applicable. Gardeners, please remember that zones are simply guides and may not accurately reflect your situation.

If you haven't read the comments from yesterday's entry, I'd encourage you to do so. Peter Wharton shared his recollections about the expedition where he collected the seed for the Gleditsia, adding a personal touch.

Also, Victoria Weber posed some interesting questions about plant taxonomy, which I had to think about how best to address. I've come to the conclusion that since I can't think of a site that answers her questions compactly, I'll answer them over time within BPotD entries. I can then collate the writings and publish it somehow as a separate article on the garden's web site or journal. Does this approach work for you, Victoria? I know it's not an immediate answer.

I've also been contemplating Tim Bray's essay on Memory, particularly the concluding bit about the ephemeral nature of the electronic and his suggestion to commit pixels to paper. If I were to self-publish a BPotD book using one of the online high-quality photographic book services available (which I'll likely do for myself in any case), would you be interested?

Photography resource link: Mark Hobson's article on Book Publishing (via Nature Photographers Online) seems an appropriate accompaniment to the above.

Poisonous, hallucinogenic and attractive to maggots - what's not to love about fly agaric mushroom? Related to the deadly “liver-transplant-required-if-you-ingest-it” Amanita phalloides (or deathcap mushroom), Amanita muscaria is not as fatal, though still very unpleasant for anyone consuming it.

Native to north temperate regions, Amanita muscaria has spread to countries like Australia and Argentina via soil imported with plants.

Photography / Botany resource link: CalPhotos contains over 95 000 images from California, almost all with a natural history theme (over half of the images are of plants).

This photograph is a lesson on ensuring that you have adequate notes written to accompany your nature photographs if you plan on actually identifying the species. In this instance, I didn't, so I can only be tentative at best with the identification of the orange-coloured fungus on the fallen tree.

Assuming that the fallen tree is a conifer, then I think my identification is correct. On the other hand, if it is an alder (which I'm doubting because of the angle of the branches to the tree), it is perhaps Tremella mesenterica, which superficially resembles Dacrymyces palmatus, but differs quite a bit at the microscopic level. The inescapable fact, though, is this: to identify fungi, lichens and mosses, know thy substrate!

Read more about Dacrymyces palmatus and Tremella mesenterica on Mykoweb.

This is another photograph taken in MacMillan Provincial Park (Cathedral Grove) last October.

You might note the resemblance of this fungus to coral, and that's reflected in the common name assigned to the group, the coral fungi. I took this photograph at the end of October last year in the stunning MacMillan Provincial Park (often known as Cathedral Grove) on Vancouver Island. I don't have a lens that lets me take photos of tall trees that I'm happy with, so despite being surrounded by giants, I took many photos of the small things.

You can read more about yellow pitted rot on the Natural Resources Canada site (that'd be the common name used by those who see this fungus as a disease), or get a slightly different perspective on fungi in the genus Hericium from Tom Vogt's Mushroom of the Month at the University of Wisconsin. Selected quote from the latter site: "As a bonus, it's quite delicious, with a taste reminiscent of lobster if it's properly prepared."