MUSHROOMS of the SOUTHEAST Todd F. Elliott and Steven L. Stephenson Timber Press Field Guide Copyright © 2018 by Todd F. Elliott and Steven L. Stephenson. All rights reserved. Published in 2018 by Timber Press, Inc. Photo and illustration credits appear on page 389. Half title page: Parasola plicatilis Title page: Mycena leaiana The information in this book is accurate and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the authors or Timber Press. The authors and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. In particular, eating wild mushrooms is inherently risky. Mushrooms can be easily mistaken, and individuals vary in their physiological reactions to mushrooms that are touched or consumed. Timber Press The Haseltine Building 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450 Portland, Oregon 97204-3527 timberpress.com Printed in China Series design by Susan Applegate. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN 13: 978-1-60469-730-8 Contents Acknowledgments 6 Introduction 7 Overview of the Region 8 Southeastern Fungi and Their Role in the Environment 11 Mushrooms as Medicine, Food, and Nutrition 15 Mushroom Toxins 18 Morphology of Mushrooms 22 What’s in a Mushroom Name? 23 Collecting and Studying Mushrooms 24 THE MUSHROOMS 28 Ascomycetes 30 Entomopathogenic Fungi 31 Morels and Relatives 42 Cup Fungi 50 Club Fungi 71 Plant Pathogens 86 Truffles 89 Mycoparasites 98 Wood Mounds 108 Basidiomycetes 112 Gilled Mushrooms 114 Boletes and Relatives 248 Coral Fungi and Relatives 273 Polypores and Relatives 289 Crust Fungi, Rusts, and Smuts 328 Puffballs, False Truffles, Earthstars, Stinkhorns, and Bird’s Nest Fungi 337 Jelly Fungi 359 Tooth Fungi 366 Slime Molds (Myxomycetes) 375 Glossary 384 Recommended Reading 387 Photo and Illustration Credits 389 Index 390 6 Acknowledgments Many individuals helped to make this has benefited from the expertise and assis- book possible, both through the writing tance in the field provided by a number process and in the years preceding its of other individuals, not all of whom are publication. We are jointly and especially mycologists. These include Denise Binion, grateful to a number of individuals for Jerry Cooper, Marie Farr, Peter John- editing taxonomy and providing detailed ston, Thida Win Ko Ko, Gary Laursen, input on specific groups: Rich Baird, Alan Eric McKenzie, Richard Leschen, Yura Bessette, Michael Beug, Hal Burdsall, Novozhilov, David Orlovich, Bill Roody, Michael Castellano, Efrén Cázares, Cathy Martin Schnittler, Rod Seppelt, Barbara Cripps, Roy Halling, Jay Justice, Brian Stephenson, and Hanh Tran. We are grate- Looney, Roz Lowen, Brandon Matheny, ful to Franni Farrell of Timber Press for Steve Miller, Kerry O’Donnell, Walt Stur- editing our manuscript. geon, Larissa Vasilyeva, and Rytas Vilg- alys. Species lists from forays within our region that assisted with species selection were provided by Charlotte Caplan (Ashe- ville Mushroom Club forays); Patrick Lea- cock, Glenda O’Neal, and Gabrielle Zeiger (North American Mycological Association forays); and Mycol Stevens (northern Florida species lists). Several contributing photographers (see “Photo and Illustration Credits”) provided images that were used in this field guide. Todd is particularly grateful for the inspiration, joint field excursions, friendship, and mentorship provided during this project by Cornelia Cho, Olga and Tradd Cotter, Carter Edger- ton, Doug Elliott, Yanna Fishman, Tramell Forney, Tony Heffner, Sam Landes, Kate and Peter Marshall, Kelsey Myers, Allein Stanley, Babs and Bob Strickland, Samuel Thayer, Jim Trappe, Camille Truong, and Armin Weise. Steve is forever indebted to the late Orson K. Miller, Jr., for introduc- ing him to the fungi. Over the years, he 7 IntroductIon For the purpose of this field guide, the The southern Appalachian Mountains Southeast is defined as extending from occupy portions of nine states in the northern Florida to Maryland and encom- Southeast and include three physiographic passing the states of Alabama, Arkansas, provinces. The Appalachian Plateau (or Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Cumberland Plateau, as it is known in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennes- Kentucky) occurs from western Maryland see, Virginia, and West Virginia. This to northern Alabama; this dissected table- region includes portions of seven different land is broadest in West Virginia, where it physiographic provinces in eastern North occupies more than half the state. Located America. A physiographic province is just east of the Appalachian Plateau is defined as a geographic region with a char- the Valley and Ridge, which also extends acteristic type of landscape and usually from western Maryland to northern Ala- a different type of subsurface rock (e.g., bama; this region consists of a series of sandstone or limestone). Both landscape well-defined alternating ridges and valleys and subsurface rock contribute to the trending from north to south. The Blue development of what is often a distinctive Ridge, situated between the Piedmont type of vegetation. and the Valley and Ridge, occurs from The Coastal Plain makes up the largest Maryland to northern Georgia. The high- land area of the Southeast, extending from est mountains in the Southeast are part eastern Maryland southward to northern of the Blue Ridge, with numerous peaks Florida and west to Louisiana. Virtually reaching elevations of 4,000 feet and sev- all of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well eral exceeding 5,000 feet in southwestern as major portions of southern and east- Virginia, western North Carolina, and ern Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee. North Carolina, and Virginia, fall within The Interior Low Plateaus of Kentucky, this province. The Coastal Plain is char- western Tennessee, and far northern acterized by a relatively flat landscape and Alabama occur to the west of the Appa- sometimes poorly drained areas. lachian Mountains and consist of rolling Located west of the Coastal Plain is hills. In central and northern Arkansas, a second physiographic province, the the Ouachita-Ozark Highlands province Piedmont, which extends from eastern contains two relatively low-elevation Alabama northward through Georgia, mountain ranges (Boston and Ouachita) South Carolina, North Carolina, and Vir- separated by the broad, flat Arkansas ginia to central Maryland. The Piedmont River Valley. is composed of more rolling hills than the Coastal Plain. 8 inTroducTion Overview of the Region The Southeast is characterized by diverse Unlike other regions of North Amer- topography, climate, and vegetation. In ica, fire plays a minimal role in most southern portions of the Coastal Plain, southeastern forests. The longleaf pine the landscape is rather flat, the climate is forests are an exception because this spe- almost subtropical (with warm, humid cies and other affiliated organisms depend summers and mild winters), and the for- on fire for their continued existence. ests are commonly dominated by pine or Some regions in the Carolina foothills oak hammocks. At higher elevations in are believed to have had irregular fire the northern portion of the Southeast, the regimes. Some of the spruce forests that landscape is often exceedingly rugged; the once covered large areas in the mountains climate is much cooler, and the forests are of Virginia and West Virginia were burned dominated by red spruce and resemble following logging operations in the late those found in southern Canada. Other 19th and early 20th century. Prescribed major forest types found in the Southeast burning is now carried out in portions of include oak-hickory, southern mixed hard- the Southeast. wood, northern hardwood, mixed meso- The patterns of vegetation in the phytic, and mixed oak. Mixed oak forests Southeast are a result of changes that have are particularly common throughout the taken place since the end of the last major Appalachian Mountains. The mixed for- glaciation, which ended about 20,000 years ests of the Great Smoky Mountains in east- ago. Except for a small area of Kentucky, ern Tennessee and western North Carolina the Southeast was not directly glaciated, are the most biodiverse temperate forests but the environmental effect of the gla- in the world, with more tree species than ciers that occupied much of the northern all of Europe! United States was profound. For example, High-elevation forests in the northern portion of our region are dominated by red spruce. overview oF The reGion 9 Oak-hickory forest, another major forest type found in the Southeast. Typical southern mixed hardwood forest.