Notes from our Naturalist Training Series - Winter Wonders: Mushrooms, Lichens, and Slime Molds
- meravvon
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
On Wednesday 1/21/26 we hosted our 12th Naturalist Training Series webinar. Our wonderful experts, Damon Tighe, JJ Johnson, and Alison Pollack, presented about mushrooms, lichens, and slime molds. You can view the webinar recording here, and the entire series here. In this blog post, I will present a few ideas, suggestions, and screen shots (with permission) from the webinar. I hope you'll find these useful.
I always wanted to learn more about these three groups of organisms, and for a few years have been dreaming about inviting these great experts to share their knowledge with our group. I'm so glad they agreed!
MUSHROOMS (from Damon Tighe's section)
Mushrooms are fungi that produce big fruiting bodies. In fact, the mushrooms we see ARE the fruiting bodies of a larger organism, the mycelium. Out of the many species of fungi out there, mushrooms belong to only two groups - Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. You can find them in many terrestrial habitats in the wet season. Go out 2-3 days after the first major rain event, and look closely!
One point I found interesting about mushroom ecology was the distinction Damon made between mushrooms found on dead or living trees - these mushrooms might look similar to the untrained eye, but in fact their interaction with the tree is very different!
Identification
Even though I have been documenting mushrooms, slime molds, and lichens for years, I don't know enough about them, and don't feel comfortable identifying most of them. I think the presenters did a great job providing tools for basic identification. Damon shared this nice key, taken from The Fungi of California website. This key will be useful when trying to identify mushrooms into their general groups.
Documentation
When we document mushroom on iNaturalist, for example, it is important to take photos from different angles: the top of the cap, the gills, showing their attachment to the stipe, and the stipe base.
And this is why it's important - we need a good view of the cap, and we need to see how the gills attach to the stem (stipe) -
Photos are not always enough. Since mushrooms are difficult to ID, it's helpful getting additional information, such as habitat, nearby plants, smell, chemical reaction, and even a spore print or a microscopic image of the spores.
Lichens (from JJ Johnson's section)
Lichens are symbiotic organisms, including fungus, green algae, and/ or a cyanobacterium and yeast = 3 or 4 organisms from different kingdoms living together!
The algae is photosynthetic, and will change color after the rain.
I really like this quote that JJ shared - "Lichens are Fungus that discovered agriculture", by Trevor Goward.
You can find lichens in many places, including on trees, shrubs, and even on leaves. Lichens are also found on old wood, rocks, and soil. They are everywhere!
There are a few lichens growth forms, which are useful to know when searching for lichens -
The easy 8 - common lichens you could find in urban or rural settings in the Bay Area. Not all can be identified to species from photos only (sometimes you need to run more test):
Lace Lichen (Ramalina menziesii) - our state lichen! Very common in the Bay Area. Very variable in shape.
Common Sunburst Lichen (Xanthoria parietina) - nitrogen loving lichens. Found on plants, metal. Take a photo of the underside for ID.
Oakmoss (Evernia prunastri) - branches like elk antlers. The underside is white, the top is usually light green.
Lung Lichens (Lobaria) - A large lichen, found outside the city. They have cyanobacterium and can fix nitrogen! Have little speckles on the underside. Less common than the others, needs clean air.
Tube Lichens (Hypogymnia) - the tubes are hollow. The inside of the tube and the tips are helpful for ID, so don't forget to identify them.
Beard Lichens (Usnea) - easy to ID to genus anywhere in the world! You can pull the thread and reveal the core, which is important for ID to species.
Ruffle Lichens (Parmotrema) - black silia (=hair-like structures) on the edges help identify it to genus.
Pixie Cup Lichen (Cladonia) - have little cups, in different shape and sizes. They are difficult to ID to species - should leave at the genus level.
Slime Molds (from Alison Pollack's section)
Slime molds are not animals or fungi. They are related to amoebae, classified as Protista. The mature form comes in many different shapes, many of them change colors over a short period of time.
What do they eat? Who eats them?
Where to find slime molds? In wet habitats, or places that were recently wet. Just like mushrooms, try going out 2-3 days after the rain. They could be on decomposing logs, woody debris, and leaf litter, especially when it's wet. Don't forget they are very small! It's recommended to use a light source and a magnifying glass. Alison likes using 10x magnifying lens and a flashlight. Try looking for slime molds in your yard!
The most common species on iNaturalist are the larger species, which are the easiest to find and observe, like Dog Vomit Slime Mold. They are probably not the most common species in the field. Smaller species might be more common, but less frequently observed. Some small species are easy to find because they have bright colors. There are approximately 1,200 species of slime molds world wide! Some are restricted to snowmelt areas - about 100 species in California can be found only near the edges of snowbanks. Additional species can be found in snowmelt as well as other habitats.
Watch the full webinar here, for much more info and beautiful photos and stories!
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