Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Corralitas Drive: Termites Dining On Dried Chicken Of The Woods

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  Several enormous Chicken of the Woods mushrooms sprouted from a dead Eucalyptus stump on Corralitas Drive.  Several were turkey platter size.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  When the fungus dries out, termites move in from the host tree.  The tendrils beneath the fungus are termite droppings.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  They grow in the same host trees year after year, prior to the rainy season, usually in October and November..
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  All of these mushrooms were growing from the same stump.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  In the Red Car Property Neighborhood, Eucalyptus is most often their host plant.

Read more: MykoWeb
All our neighborhood fungus

Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control on the issue of toxicity. MykoWeb is the resource everyone seems to refer to for mushrooms. The Los Angeles Mycological Society has a recommended reading list

If you are eating your way through the Red Car Property, we DO NOT recommend you eat any plant you find in the Red Car Property neighborhood without first doing your own research.