I'm excited about the imminent start of the season in this region! So although I don't have a photo yet to post, and since polypore and polyporoid things are in view, I'm wondering if anyone in the forum besides me is interested in becoming skilled at easily telling Cerrena from Trametes in the field? Although keys say the pores of Cerrena age to a mazy pattern that makes them easily distinguishable, I've found some non-mazy-pored "Trametes" that appear to have the black layer in the flesh noted to be a Cerrena quality. If anyone feels anything like confident about these two, I'd love to hear your comments on this. Are there any other qualities of the fruiting bodies, habitat or habit, that help distinguish these from each other? thanks. -frog
Hiya Frog.......as much as I'd love to participate in this? Our Trametes versus Cerrena are more obvious here I think....our mossy's DEFINATELY look mossy...and the beautiful multi-colored turkies? Just aren't...lol I actually have more issues telling False with the t.versicolors....... I wish I had a microscope to help with studies like this. Visuals are just not always 'true' sadly. Good luck!
Thanks C.Wick :-) ... But if you do have Cerrena in your area, even (or maybe especially) if it is completely easy to distinguish from Trametes, you may know things that could be helpful. For example, have you noticed whether they appear on same or different kinds of wood, or if they tend to shelve in different patterns, or anything about their relative appearance that looks different? When you say mossy, do you mean they tend to come in moss? I'm hoping to find other field characters other than pores that become mazy as they age or black lines in flesh. Just curious ya know, no urgency :-) thanks! frog
Thank you KBaron - I've often found subtle distinctions like that to be helpful, particularly when being able to add them all up to make a call on the ID. I'm intrigued to read Michael Kuo's interesting story of Cerrena's possibly symbiotic relationship with the ichneumonid wasp - http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cerrena_unicolor.html Clearly the wasp can tell'm apart - maybe i just need a better nose ... -frog
I just read the info you sent by Kuo....Now I'm curious if it is actually wasp maggots I found on the bottom of some of these Cerrena...I'd originally thought they were fungus beetle larva but.....?
