The Stereums- the garbage disposers

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

as promised, I think it was paulsbrash that mentioned that he sees stereum everywhere! So to help cleary define these most abundant and prevalent Fungi, a thread dedicated in honour of them alone, after all they deserve respect for they do a great service within the ecology of arboreal systems.

 

There are more stereums than i alone have images for at this time, though i am waiting to confirm a few so will add as and when definative sets avaliable.

 

In the meantime, anyone with (quality) definate examples of the stereums not thus far added please feel free to add them.

 

i hope this helps and gets you all "at it":thumbup1:

 

So, the Stereums, lets start with the basic most common forms.

 

Kingdom: Fungi

 

Division: Basidiomycota

 

Class: Agaricomycetes

 

Order: Russulales

 

Family: Stereaceae

 

Genus: Stereum. Hill ex Pers.

 

Type species Stereum hirsutum (Willd.) Pers.

 

 

Fungi having a shape similar to a Stereum are said to have a stereoid shape. Stereum contains 27 species that have a widespread distribution. Stereum species are found on all kinds of deadwood or hardwood or dead leaves (saprobic). Sometimes they are also found on living leaves.

 

Stereum hirsutum

 

 

 

 

In this image, we also see the "Leafy brain" which is a parasite of stereums, there are several parasites of Stereum Sp, due to the abundunce of stereums in the arboreal eco systems. If you wish to find a "leafy brain" Tremella foliacea, old hazel coppiced woodland will be the environment of preference.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Tony Croft aka hamadryad

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Stereum rugosum (Pers.) Fr., 1838 (Bleeding Broadleaf Crust)

 

from my personal observations i think this Fungus has the potential for being a little parasitic as apposed to fully saprobic, but thats just speculation at this time.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Stereum subtomentosum Pouzar, 1964 (Yellow Curtain Crust)

 

 

[Albedo]

Thanks for going to the effort H.

Here's a bit I lifted from mushroom expert.com......

 

Stereum hirsutum is a hardwood-loving crust fungus that develops fairly substantial, medium-sized cap structures that often fuse laterally with one another. It is smaller and more frequently fused than Stereum ostrea; it is larger than, and not as orange as Stereum complicatum. It does not "bleed" a red latex when injured, like several other Stereum species do. Under the microscope, it features "normal" hyphidia that are not adorned with projections or spikes.

 

However, the name "Stereum hirsutum" is generally applied by mycologists to a group of species (or, perhaps, forms of a species) that tend to blend into one another; as one Stereum expert (Welden, 1971) writes, forms of Stereum hirsutum "are defined by external morphological features, and these are not dependable." Thus Stereum hirsutum, Stereum complicatum, and Stereum gausapatum, at a minimum, might best be seen as positions along a continuum, and would-be Stereum identifiers should probably be prepared for collections that don't quite settle themselves neatly into one or another position.