#yellow staghorn fungus

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, October 2023

Yellow staghorn fungus (Calocera viscosa)

I always find these pretty little things are more orange than yellow when young, then their colour pales a little as they mature.

[csolarstorm]

Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain...

Source: Bulbapedia, Wikipedia, Bulbapedia, Enchanted Nature

Xerneas and Yveltal are my favorite legendary designs. There's something weirdly alien about these bio-luminescent approximations of fauna, like they're trying to look like animals and failing. I've always thought they looked a little bit...fungal.

Xerneas and Yveltal are like batteries. They're life energy brokers; Xerneas distributes life, while Yveltal drains it. Supporting and draining life is one of the main characteristics of fungi. In fact, it's like their whole thing.

Some fungi have a mutualistic relationship with their hosts, where they actually benefit their health. And in general, fungi are essential to supporting the ecosystem. Then there's fungi that are simply parasitic.

Fungi can also go dormant, as well as their spores. Staying still is their thing, just chilling in dark places. Xerneas and Yveltal's dormant forms are especially weird, showing just how anomalous these creatures are.

Now allow me to lichen fauna to fungi.

Sources: Bulbapedia, New Forest Pics, Wikipedia, Mushroom Diary Blog

This is xylaria hypoxylon, also known as Stag's Horn fungus. (Not to be confused with Yellow Staghorn.) It reminds me a lot of the dormant form of Xerneas, or the "deactivated" form it takes in the PC.

Stag's Horn is also bio-luminscent, which means the tips of the fungus faintly glow - much like the tips of Xerneas's antlers.

Speaking of the first legendary Fairy Pokemon, mushrooms are often associated with fairies. Fairy Rings are circles of mushrooms that are connected by mycelium underneath. (I'll get into mycelium in just a second.) There are too many myths about Fairy Rings to get into here, so for now I'll just point out the Fairy Ring around Valerie's Gym in Laverre City.

Sources: Bulbapedia, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Enchanted Nature, UK Wildlife

I'm not sure whether Bulbapedia or Dr. King on Pokemon Amino first likened Yveltal to Devil's Fingers, but the similarities are uncanny. Like Yveltal emerges from its cocoon, Devil's Fingers emerge from what is called their "egg stage". I tried to find the least unsettling picture of this that I could. Enjoy...?

I mean, what kind of bird turns into a cocoon, anyway? Honestly though, fungus isn't supposed to hatch from an egg either, so this is all mixed up.

Okay, so Xerneas and Yveltal are based on different aspects of Yggdrasil. But if you were going to design Pokemon based on Yggdrasil, the World Tree that connects the universe, wouldn't you base it on fungi rather than an actual tree? Mycelium can actually partner with the roots of plants and other fungus to create a widespread beneficial mycorrhizal network, a truly interconnected ecosystem of organisms.

Source: BBC News - How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other

And that's why Xerneas and Yveltal are fungi. Or it could be part of their inspiration, at least. They're not necessarily inspired by these specific fungi, but I think the concept may be part of their design. Either way, Gen VI is especially fun to research!

Reviewed by @fluffybunnybadass.

Check out my posts about Pokemon Legends: Z-A:

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Is Z-A Just Zygarde-A? (%1000 Zygarde and the Fragments of the Tree of Life)

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

[ifelten]

Almindelig guldgaffel (Calocera viscosa)

  Yellow Staghorn (Calocera viscosa)

[stellinnaflora]

Yellow Stagshorn or Antler Jelly. I love how they look lile tiny little flames under a Petrify spell !

[whataniceone2]

Yellow staghorn jelly fungus :)

©wano

[hedgewitchcrone]

Yellow Staghorn Fungus my woodland find last week

[earthfriendss]

Hello! List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! Learn to know your mutual and followers! :D

1. yellow staghorn fungus

2. calling mcdonalds ‘dickmondalds’ i do not know why it is so funny

3. golden tortoise beetle, any kind of tortoise beetle rly

4. the entire tally hall discography

5. vine kids putting objects on their head to signify that they were their mom

[emhghtn]

Foraging Information

To be included in small booklets on each page.

Foraging Tips

Wild Leeks (Allium tricoccum)

Features

Large, dagger shaped green leaves

Red and white stem

White bulb with roots in the ground

Onion-y aroma

Habitat

Grow among hardwoods, need some sunlight

Cooking Notes

Edible raw or cooked

Look a-Likes

Lily of the Valley – Thicker, waxier leaves, no onion smell, eventual white hanging flowers with floral odour, poisonous – do not ingest

How to Harvest

Ramps take seven years to grow from seed to mature plant, and because of this slow growth the improper harvesting of ramps has decimated populations in some areas. To sustainably harvest ramps, dig slightly into the ground and cut the bulb off right above the roots, leaving the roots intact and in the ground. This allows them to regrow the following season. Even more sustainably, just cut off one leaf from each plant. Never harvest more than 10% of the plants in one area.

Fiddleheads (Matteuccia struthiopteris)

Features

Bright green, tightly curled sprouts of the Ostrich fern

Multiple fiddleheads grow out of one crown/mound on the forest floor

Covered in a brown, papery coating that falls off with age

Deep, U-shaped groove up the stem

A dead, brown fern frond often remains on the crown throughout winter

Habitat

Hardwood canopies near rivers or stream beds

Moist areas but not submerged

Grow best in shade or dappled lights

Cooking Notes

Must be thoroughly cooked, steamed, or blanched before eating

Look a-Likes

There are many types of ferns that are not edible. Do not eat any that are furry, or the brown papery coating is difficult to remove, or there is no or only a slight groove in the stem.

How to Harvest

Harvest fiddleheads while they are between 6-15cm, only picking while fiddleheads are tightly coiled

Can be cut or snapped off

Only harvest 1/3 of the fiddleheads from each crown, or else it is possible the plant may be damaged or die and not regrow the following year. Do not harvest from crowns that have less than 4 fiddleheads growing from it.

Morels (Morchella sp.)

Features

Cap colour ranges from blond to black

Caps are fairly uniform, with ridges and inward pits (honeycomb-like)

Hollow inside from the tip of the cap to the bottom of the stem

Cap is attached directly to the stem

Spore print is light coloured, cream to pale yellow

Habitat

Grow in areas where there are ash, aspen, elm, oak, and apple trees

Grow naturally in pastures, meadows, and orchards, and often appear the spring after a forest fire

Cooking Notes

Cook thoroughly before eating. Avoid soaking or cleaning with too much water, a brush or damp cloth will suffice.

Look a-Likes

Verpa Bohemica – cap is not attached directly to the stem, cap hangs over stem like a skirt. Stem is filled with a cotton-like fluff. Edibility is debated.

Gyromitra species – convoluted cap but no real pits, more wavy. Wider than it is tall. Cap is red, stem is not hollow. Edibility is debated.

Verpa Conica – small, only slightly ridged cap. Cap has skirt-like attachment to stem. Questionably edible.

How to Harvest

Pull or cut from ground (cutting is cleaner).

Daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva)

Features

4 parts of the daylily can be eaten: shoots, tubers, buds, and flowers

Shoots are green, sword shaped leaves that unite in a cylindrical shape at the bottom

Tubers are under ground, small, light brown, whitish flesh

Buds appear before the flower, green, yellow, orange, and cylindrical

Flowers are orange, funnel shaped, growing from an unbranched stem. 6 ruffled petals are mainly orange but also show red and orange.

Habitat

Grow in cultivated habitats, gardens, roadsides, riverbanks, parks, open woodlands and meadows.

Avoid picking daylilies that are next to busy roadsides, as the plant can absorb chemical runoff from the road.

Cooking Notes

Chop up shoots and saute

Cook tubers like a potato

Steam, boil, stir fry or pickle buds

Flowers can be eaten raw, dried, or cooked.

Warning: some people experience intestinal distress when eating daylilies, especially raw, so always sample a small amount first and wait before consuming larger quantities

Look a-Likes

Tiger Lily (Lilium tigruinum) –flowers are spotted, and stem bears many leaves. Do not ingest

Iris shoots may resemble day lily shoots, but the iris leaf arrangement is much flatter and the plant does not have tubers

Cultivated daylilies have many genetic variants to produce different coloured flowers, and edibility is questionable. Stick to the common orange flowers.

How to Harvest

Young shoots (less than 10cm) can be cut off just above soil level to be eaten.

Tubers can be dug up from late fall to early spring. Don’t remove all tumors from a clump if you would like the plant to come back.

Buds can be picked while still green, closed, and firm.

Flowers only last one day, and can be cut and used while open

Black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis)

Features

Berries ripen from green to red to deep purple/black

Smaller fruits than blackberries

Hollow core (like a raspberry) when plucked off the stem

Grow on large, thorny brambles

Leaves have whitish underside

Habitat

Grow in disturbed areas—logging roads, open woods, edges of meadows, streams, lakes, trails, and roads

Cooking Notes

Can be eaten raw

Look a-Likes

Raspberries, blackberries, thimbleberries, and dewberries all look similar to the black raspberry, but fortunately for us, all these berries are edible  

How to Harvest

Wear long pants and if you can tolerate the summer heat, long sleeves. Berries can be extremely thorny.

Pluck berry off stem, should be able to be removed easily if ripe. Collect in a bucket

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Features

Upright, cone shaped fruit cluster, with small, fuzzy dark red berries

Branches are covered in light, velvety fuzz

Large (1 to 2 feet), green, compound leaves, with oppositely placed leaflets. Leaflets have serrated edges

4 to 15 feet tall, highly branched

Habitat

Hardy, grows in open areas –roadsides, forest edges, clearings

Full sun, tolerates most soil types

Cooking Notes

Can be dried like any spice, or made into a tea or syrup

Look a-Likes

Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) – should not be touched, let alone eaten. Key distinguishing feature is white-green berries.

How to Harvest

Cut off fruit clusters at their base with a knife or sheers

Do not harvest immediately following rain, as flavour diminishes

To find the best drupes, flavour can be tested by rubbing berries between fingers and licking fingers

Do not harvest from highly trafficked roadsides

Riverbank Grapes (Vitis riparia)

Features

Climbing, multi-stemmed, woody vine with forking tendrils and sticky discs that can envelop trees and bushes

Grape vines are thicker and higher than most vines

Deeply lobed, dark green leaves, similar to cultivated grapes. Heart shaped at base. Leaves should also taste like grapes

Fruits grow in hanging clusters that are blackish, dark blue, or purple, often with a powdery coating

Habitat

Grow along roadsides, fences, trail edges, and riverbanks. Need sun to grow.

Cooking Notes

Grapes and leaves can be eaten raw or cooked

Grapes contain large seeds, so they are generally more pleasant to juice or make into jelly than eaten whole

Look a-Likes

Moonseed (Menispermum canadense) – similar leaves, however fruit contains a single flat seed, instead of a round seed like the grape. Grows in shaded areas, and tendrils do not have sticky discs. All parts of this plant are poisonous.

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus sp.) – has compound leaves with 3 to 7 leaflets on each leaf, instead of single leaf like the grape. Not poisonous, but not pleasant.

How to Harvest

Grapes have sweetest flavour after the first frost. Cut bunches off tree right above fruit cluster, removing any bad/old/wrinkled grapes

Apples (Malus sp.)

Features

Deciduous tree growing 6 to 15 feet tall

Leaves are alternatively arrange, simple green ovals

Fruit can be 1 to 4 inches in diameter, ranging from yellow to green to red

Habitat

Well drained nutrient rich soil and moderate sunlight, can stand alone on roadside or in groups in forest groves.

Cooking Notes

Can be eaten raw, however many wild apples are very astringent and better suited for cider

Look a-Likes

None

How to Harvest

Remove apple from tree by twisting fruit

Fallen fruit may be harvested from the ground, as long as not too old and rotten

Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sp.)

Features

Bright orange, fan shaped bracket fungi, often growing in a shelf formation

Smooth or wrinkled

Yellow or white underside, no gills, just small round pores

Flesh is thick and soft

White spore print

Habitat

Grows on dead or dying hardwood trees, commonly oak but also cherry and beech

Cooking Notes

Must be thoroughly cooked

Some people experience intestinal distress when eating, so sample small amount first

Look a-Likes

Few look-alikes, ensure underside is yellow or white with pores

How to Harvest

Use a knife to cut fungus off tree

Remove tough stem part

Older specimens may be entirely tough and not pleasant to eat

[mushroomgay]

Barnet, London, UK, September 2019

Yellow staghorn (Calocera viscosa)

My next tiny but exciting find of the walk was this baby coral fungus, which has not yet grown enough to develop the branched tips for which it is known. Mature specimens can be up to 10cm tall, and look wonderfully like tiny orange antlers. 

[milkionaire-blog]

[mushroomgay]

Barnet. London, UK, December 2018

Yellow staghorn fungus (Calocera viscosa)

A tiny alien landscape of Yellow staghorn surrounded by an impressive collection of slime moulds. 

[ifelten]

Almindelig guldgaffel (Calocera viscosa)

  Yellow Staghorn (Calocera viscosa)

[mushroomgay]

High Wycombe, UK, October 2018

Yellow Staghorn (Calocera viscosa)

These are young fruiting bodies of the yellow staghorn - as they grow, the tendrils will branch into patterns remarkably reminiscent of antlers.

This fungus is tasteless and insubstantial, but some sources do list it as an acceptable edible.