Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr., syn.: Pyropolyporus fomentarius (L.) Teng, Ungulina fomentaria (L.) Pat., Polyporus fomentarius (L.) Fr. Tinder Bracket, Tinder conk, Amadou, Horse's hoof, DE: ZnderschwammSlo.: kresilna gobaDat.: Oct. 20. 2017Lat.: 46.36242 Long.: 13.69997Code: Bot_1094/2017_DSC03421Habitat: steep mountain slope, south aspect; mixed wood, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, Fraxinus ornus and Ostrya carpinifolia dominant trees; calcareous ground; relatively warm and dry place; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, elevation 685 m (2.250 feet), alpine phytogeographical region.Substratum: dead, still standing Fagus sylvatica.Place: Lower Trenta valley, right bank of river Soa; between villages Soa and Trenta; Pod Stemerico place, above Trenta 2b cottage, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comments: Fomes fomentarius is probably the most common and easy to spot Polyporaceae in the Trenta valley and surrounding valleys. Only Fomitopsis pinicola living on dead Picea abies is eventually more frequent and also more noticeable with its orange-red rim of the pilei. This is so because deteriorated and rotten Picea abies trees and trunks are in abundance here. Namely, Picea abies is not really a 'suitable' species for this habitat and climate and hardly thrives bountifully in this region. Also, many trees now grow on former pastures, now abandoned for decades, which were covered with only a very thin layer of soil. Combined with their shallow root system they are almost regularly toppled by strong winds when they become a few decades old. Presence of many dead Picea abies trunks here around is a stage of natural forest succession process. This conifer is gradually replaced by Fagus sylvatica trees, which is a species truly 'at home' in Trenta valley.Fomes fomentarius is mostly easy to recognize as such when it has its typical pileate or hoof-shaped habit. Although, it many cases it looks quite different from most pictures in the books. The habit depends on substratum, position on it and particularly on the age of the sporocarps. When young they are like a roundish 'blobs' of whitish, grayish or yellowish-ocher color, without a pore layer. In the first year pilei are brownish or yellowish, sometimes of reddish tint (ref.: 6) and becoming zonate on upper side. After the first year hard crust develops on the upper sterile side of sporocarps, which becomes gray to brown, and deeply zonate. When old they frequently become hoof-shaped, but other, often bizarre, shapes are also possible. If moist the old sporocarps may look totally black and are frequently difficult to distinguish from old Fomitopsis pinicola pilei. The most characteristic traits of mature Fomes fomentarius are: hard crust on the upper, sterile surface of basidiocarp, and particularly a granular, roundish, dark brown core next to the substratum (seen only in cross section of the sporocarp; a good distinguishing characteristics against sometimes very similar Ganoderma species (Ref:3)), pores with thick tomentose dissepiments and yellowish brown fibrous context. Tube layer is more or less stratified and filled with white mycelium when old. Stratification is often weak (Ref.8.even states: non-stratified tube layer). Basidiocarps are consistently fertile only early in the spring, so there was no spore print with this find. This species is culturally very important. It was found already with 5.500 years old find of frozen body of tzi, also called "iceman", high in the Alps. He had a piece of Fomes fomentarius sporocarp with him. In men's history the sporocarps had been used as tinder for making and transporting fires for millennia.The sporocarps on the pictures were found on an old, dead Fagus sylvatica tree. There were more than 35 pilei present, from young ones to very old ones. The largest is 37 cm wide, 34 cm high and 22 cm thick! The tree has 2.2 m circumference at about half a meter from ground. SP none.Herbarium: Mycotheca and lichen herbarium (LJU-Li) of Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vena pot 2, Ljubljana, Index Herbariorum LJFRef.: (1) R. Phillips, Mushrooms, Macmillan (2006), p 307.(2) L. Ryvarden, R.L. Gilbertson, European Polypores, Part 1., Synopsis Fungorum 7., Fungiflora A/S (1993), p 254.(3) L. Ryvarden, R.L. I. Melo, Potoid fungi of Europe, Gilbertson, European Polypores, Part 1., Synopsis Fungorum 31., Fungiflora (2014 ), p 178.(4) J. Breitenbach, F. Kraenzlin, Eds., Fungi of Switzerland, Vol.2. Verlag Mykologia (1986), p 306. (5) G.J. Krieglsteiner (Hrsg.), Die Grosspilze Baden-Wrttembergs, Band 1., Ulmer (2000), p 519. (6) A. Bernicchia, Polyporaceaes l., Fungi Europaei, Vol. 10., Edizioni Candusso (2005), p 215.(7) J. Ginns, Polypores of British Columbia, Crown Publ., Technical Report 104 (2017), p 88. (8) D. Arora, Mushrooms Demystified, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley (1986), p 581.
Tricholoma ustaleBurnt Knight, DE: Brandige RitterlingSlo.: osmojena kolobarnicaDat.: Oct. 06. 2012Lat.: 46.42764 Long.: 13.61552Code: Bot_665/2012_DSC5508 Habitat: In mixed alpine forest, dominant Fagus sylvatica with some Picea abies and Abies alba; locally east, generally south oriented mountain slope, relatively warm place, calcareous bedrock however apparently at least to some extent acid soil (Vaccinium myrtillus abundant); mostly in shade, partly protected from direct rain by tree canopies, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 2-4 deg C, elevation 1.470 m (4.800 feet), alpine phytogeographical region.Substratum: forest soil under Fagus sylvatica.Place: Mt. Mangart region, northeast ridge of Mt.Planja, 1.553 m, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC Comments: Following the key of Tricholoma (Fries.1821) in Ref.:(3), p521 I come to Tricholoma ustale without problems. However, the color of the fruitbodies found seems too to be too bright and to have more yellow and less red as in most references. Not sure the determination is OK.Growing scattered, about 5 - 6 fruitbodies; pileus diameter from 6 to 8.5 cm, stipe up to 8.5 cm long; taste mushroomy and moderately bitter and burning, unpleasant; smell not strong, on earth (?); flesh whitish, bruising slowly with time, particularly at the base of the stipe; SP white (oac909), pilei strongly slimy, the layer of the mucus more than 1 mm thick.Spores smooth, elliptical. Dimensions: 7.1 (SD = 0.4) x 5.4 (SD = 0.3) , Q = 1.31 (SD = 0.08), n = 28. Olympus CH20, NEA 100x/1.25, magnification 1.000 x, oil, in water, AmScope MA500 digital camera.Ref.:(1) Personal communication with Mr. Bojan Rot,
www.gobenabovskem.si .(2) M. E. Noordeloos, Th. Kuyper, E. Vellinga (1999). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica: Critical Monographs on Families of Agarics and Boleti Occurring in the Netherlands. Taylor & Francis. p126. cited after
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricholoma_ustale (3) G.J.Krieglsteiner (Hrsg.), Die Grosspilze Bade-Wrttembergs, Band 3, Ulmer (2001), p 539. (4) R.M. Daehncke, 1200 Pilze in Farbfotos, AT Verlag (2009), p 236. (5) R.Phillips, Mushrooms, Macmillan (2006), p 111. (6) M.Bon, Parey's Buch der Pilze, Kosmos (2005), p 158(7)
healing-mushrooms.net/archives/tricholoma-ustale.html
Suillus viscidus (L.) Roussel; syn: Boletus laricinus Berkeley, Boletus aeruginascens Secretan ex OpatowskiSticky bolete, DE: Grauer Lrchen-RhrlingSlo.: siva lupljivkaDat.: Oct. 3. 2016Lat.: 46.40543 Long.: 13.74579Code: Bot_1012/2016_DSC5520Habitat: Near mixed wood edge, alpine pasture, in low grass; moderately steep mountain slope, southwest aspect; calcareous, fairy skeletal ground; sunny and relatively warm place; limestone bedrock; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 5-7 deg C, elevation 905 m (3.000 feet), alpine phytogeographical region.Substratum: soil.Place: Zadnja Trenta valley, close to 46. switchback of alpine road to Vri pass, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comments: Suillus viscidus is not a rare find in Slovenia. It is strictly bound to Larix decidua trees and best recognized by large angular pores and the fact that it is, frankly speaking, an ugly mushroom of indefinite color somewhere among dirty white, gray, beige or pale brown. The whole mushroom is like this. When I first found it I didn't take pictures of it because I thought it was already decayed and therefore determination impossible. But already young pilei look like this. There were more than 10 pilei present at the location, mostly solitary, on an area of about 6 by 6 m. All of them grew under the canopies of Larix decidua or close to them. Pilei diameter 3 - 8 cm, surface viscid, cuticle peels very easily; stem 4 - 9 cm tall, 10 - 17 mm in diameter; taste mild, mushroomy; smell indistinctive; SP faint, brownish, oac could not be determined.Spores smooth. Dimensions: 9,5 [10,7 ; 11,2] 12,4 x 4,3 [4,7 ; 4,8] 5,1 microns; Q = 2 [2,3 ; 2,4] 2,6; N = 36; C = 95%; Me = 11 x 4,7 microns; Qe = 2,3. Olympus CH20, NEA 100x/1.25, magnification 1.000 x, oil, fresh material; in water. AmScope MA500 digital camera.Herbarium: Mycotheca and lichen herbarium (LJU-Li) of Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vena pot 2, Ljubljana, Index Herbariorum LJFRef.:(1) J. Breitenbach, F. Kraenzlin, Eds., Fungi of Switzerland, Vol.3. Verlag Mykologia (1991), p 84. (2) G.J. Krieglsteiner (Hrsg.), Die Grosspilze Baden-Wrttembergs, Band 2., Ulmer (2000), p 306. (3) R. Phillips, Mushrooms, Macmillan (2006), p 294. (4) S. Buczacki, Collins Fungi Guide, Collins (2012), p 414.