Pulveroboletus ravenelii (Ravenel’s or Powdery Sulfur Bolete)

August-September, 2016. When I first spotted this mushroom, I was walking through a deeply shaded section in a mixed hardwood-pine woods. It stood out against its background.

It was a bright, ‘fluorescent’ yellow.

When I touched its stem, my fingers were covered with a yellow chalky substance. This bolete is covered with a bright yellow partial veil material when young; none remained on the cap of this specimen but it persisted on the stem.

The pore surface on young specimens was a bright yellow and bruised blue when damaged. The blue bruising observed with many boletes results when cells are damaged and a compound called boletol present in the cells is exposed to oxygen (oxidized) producing a color change from colorless to blue. (Interestingly, remnants of the veil are also visible at the margin of this cap.)

The pores on this bolete are relatively large - 2-3 pores/millimeter – round or angular in shape, and somewhat translucent in appearance.

In late September, I spotted a bolete with a duller yellow cap that had patches of orange. I thought it was a different species of bolete but, again when I touched it…

the yellow, chalky material, clearly visible in this photo, came off on my fingers. Immediately, I knew I had found an old specimen of Ravenel’s bolete.

The pore surface of this older specimen was a dark olive-gray that still bruised blue when damaged. 

During the period between late August and late September, I found Pulveroboletus ravenelii at three different locations along the trail between the beach and the fishing area. The combination of the bright yellow color and the presence of the yellow, chalky material were key characteristics in identifying this species. 

Pulveroboletus ravenelii is found in North and Central America, as well as in some Asian countries and Australia.

Related Post

Bolete MushroomSeason Is Here Again

 

References: 

Mushroom Expert: Pulveroboletus ravenelii 

Mykoweb: About Boletes
Discover Life: Pulveroboletus revenelii

Bolete Mushroom Season Is Here Again

September 4^th, 2016. We’ve had a particularly dry summer. Some of the mushrooms that fruit during early summer didn’t appear this year. Thunderstorms have brought some rain recently and it seems that some of the late summer fungi are going to make an appearance. These include mushrooms of various types.

Mushrooms, in contrast to other fungi, have a cap and a stem.

We usually think of mushrooms as having gills from which spores are released to perpetuate the species. However, mushrooms may also have pores or teeth.

Boletes are mushrooms that have pores instead of gills. Pores are simply small tubes in the cap from which spores are released.

When the boletes were first described by Chevallier in 1826, the family (Boletaceae) included five genera. In the most recent review of the family (Wu, 2014), 59 genera were recognized. More genera and species are being added, largely as a result of nucleic acid sequencing studies that show genetic differences among boletes that are not easily differentiated by other methods. 

Although I’m most interested in bracket fungi, I decided to devote more effort this year to documenting boletes that I encountered. Some boletes are very easy to identify. On the whole, however, identifying boletes can be challenging. Many are very similar in appearance. Thanks to friend on the Boletes of North America Facebook Group, I’ve been able to identify those that I didn’t recognize. 

Here are the boletes that I’ve encountered so far – since August 4^th - along a one-mile trail, and in order of my first sighting of the species.

Pulveroboletus ravenelii (Ravenel’s Bolete)

Heimioporus betula (Shaggy-stalked Bolete)

Tylopilus rubrobrunneus (Reddish Brown Bitter Bolete)

Boletus pallidus (Pallid Bolete)

Retiboletus ornatipes (Ornate-stalked Bolete)

Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus (Violet Gray Bolete)

Exsudoporus frostii (formerly Boletus frostii/Frost’s Bolete)

Tylopilus rhoadsiae (Pale Bitter Bolete)

Such a wonderful variety of boletes! Makes one look at mushrooms with a completely different eye, and the reason I may often be found sitting or lying beside the trail taking photographs. 

Note: These are among the easier boletes to identify. I know I’m going to see more boletes that will be much more challenging to identify.

References 

Wikipedia. Boletaceae. 

Facebook Group. Boletes of North America 

Mushroom Expert. Pulveroboletus ravenelii 

Mushroom Expert. Heimioporus betula 

Mushroom Expert. Tylopilus rubrobrunneus 

Mushroom Expert. Boletus pallidus 

Mushroom Expert. Retiboletus ornatipes 

Mushroom Expert. Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus 

Mushroom Expert. Boletus frostii (now Exsudoporus frostii)

Wikipedia. Tylopilus rhoadsiae

And There She Was…

August 12^th.  i turned into our drive and…

there she was, with her fawn.

Luckily this section of drive is down hill, so I turned off the engine and coasted down the drive, stopping periodically to take photos. This was the last one - zoomed, not that close up - before she decided that enough was enough, and took her fawn and left.

This has been a good year for White-tailed Deer in our area. This doe had a single fawn. Another doe that we see frequently had twins this year.

Reference.

NatureWorks: White-tailed Deer – Odocoileus virginianus

Something You Don’t See Very Often…

August 4th. I took a slight short detour from my usual route to look at an unusual mushroom by the trail. After satisfying my curiosity, I walk a little further along the trail to meet the main trail I wanted. 

I was surprised to see the trail cordoned off with caution tape. I’d never seen a trail blocked in this area before. In fact, I’d never seen a trail in this park every blocked from travel. I had to walk over and find out what was going on.

And here it was. ‘KEEP OUT – ACTIVE HORNET’S NEST’ 

That explained something else. I parked at the lot uphill from this section of trail. While I was gathering my gear, a couple of Southern Yellowjackets (Vespula squamosa) flew in through the open door of the car. They seemed more active than I’m used to seeing. I just stood back and they flew off within a few minutes.

Postscript. The trail was still blocked on August 11^th and I encountered a couple more yellow jackets in the car. Guess the trail will be closed now until winter at the earliest. The major nest building will occur this month, and will reach its maximum size in October to December. Hopefully this will be an annual nest and the trail will be opened again in winter or spring.

Reference:

Wikipedia: Vespula squamosa

 

 

Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans) In The Garden

July 2^nd – 9^th, 2016. A few years ago, we had to relocate a watergarden barrel during some renovations. I decided to move it back to its original location just recently.

The barrel had a couple of inches of wet leaf litter in the bottom. I tipped the leaf litter out onto the ground and moved the container to its new location. 

When I went back to get its bricks and plant container, I realized that a frog – a Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) - was sitting in the leaf litter near my foot. I picked it up and placed it back into the barrel. Some duckweed, re=introduced into the container, soon spread over the water’s surface to provide cover. 

It wasn’t long before the frog was comfortable enough to climb out in the late afternoon and…

sit on the side of the barrel to hunt for insects. Its tympanum, much larger than its eye, indicates that it is a male.

Recently, he has also begun to hunt at various times during the day.

When he’s not sitting on the side of the barrel, he may often be found…

floating in the duckweed.

Occasionally, he will make its way to another shallow container to hunt.

Recently a second Green Frog has joined the first one in the container where I’ve seen them siting together on the edge of the barrel. 

Reference:

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory: Green/Bronze Frog (Rana [Lithbates] clamitans]

Mighty Hunters

June 27^th-30^th, 2016. I found a Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) in mid-June. It had arrived near our water containers for the annual breeding season was chilling out on a window frame. Usually, that’s where we see them. Just hanging out. 

A few nights ago, I happened to look out closer to dark to find a couple actually…

hunting on the house wall. Their poses let me see the bright yellow color on the inside of their thighs that is a cardinal characteristic for identifying this species in this area. The patterns on their backs indicated that they were different frogs from the one I had seen in mid-June.

Reference.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) 

Related post: 

It’s That Time Of Year Again…

It’s That Time Of Year Again…

June 14^th, 2016. The breeding season for Cope’s Gray Treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) has arrived again. These frogs like to breed in small pools of water and will use watergarden containers, of which we have several near the house. 

As the breeding season approaches, we’ll often hear soft, chirping calls as they settle in near the containers. This year was no exception and prompted us to check the window frames on the front of the house where we’ll often find one or two encamped.

This young frog – judging by its size – was hunting insects on the side of a window frame.

I caught it and it managed to wiggle free. I was, however, able to hold it so that I could photograph the…

bright yellow color on the inside of its thigh. This color serves as a key characteristic for distinguishing a Cope’s Gray Treefrog from a Bird-voice Treefrog (Hyla avivoca) in areas where both species are endemic.

Although the frog was desperate to wriggle free from my grasp, once free, it was quite content to…

sit on my hand and pose for photos from several angles. Perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of my hand because it was reluctant to…

return to the window frame.

Sure enough, within a couple of days the frogs began their raucous mating calls and eggs are visible in some of the water containers.

Reference. 

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)