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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
[PA] Star-shaped fungi gave rise to rare plants at Presque Isle
    #13352462 - 10/18/10 01:16 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Star-shaped fungi gave rise to rare plants at Presque Isle
October 18, 2010 - goerie.com

Yes, there really is a fungus called bird's nest. And yes, there really is one called earth star. When we see them, as I did for the first time at Presque Isle State Park a few years ago, we can tell immediately why they received those common names.

Bird's nest fungus really does resemble a small, cup-shaped bird's nest. There are even "eggs" inside -- actually, they are egg-shaped packages of spores. Though we're told that this fungus is common throughout the United States, I've seldom seen it. But since it grows on the debris of blackberries, raspberries and willows, that's where we should be looking.

As for earth stars, though they are not bright like a star, they definitely are star-shaped. If you like detective stories, then facts about that fungus and its relationship at Presque Isle with a plant called bearberry should be of interest.

First, we need to know some facts about bearberry. It's a trailing woody plant, a heath, whose leaves are said to have been used in medicines. Its scientific name is Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. The earliest known Presque Isle specimen of it dates back to 1868; the latest is 1938. It has not been seen in Pennsylvania, where it has always been extremely rare, since 1959.

For three years, from 1930 to 1932, Warren Witz, an instructor at the Lake Lab on the peninsula, studied bearberry, kept records of the temperature of the air and soil where it grew, and made graphs to compare the daily average evaporation of the 10 stations where he found it growing. In 1933, he submitted his 88-page study to the University of Pittsburgh in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctorate.

It is interesting to note, in reading his study, that Witz found bearberry to be "one of the hardiest of plants on Presque Isle." The vegetation of the extreme western end of the sand plain and over about half mile of Long Ridge, he said, was characterized by that heath formation. His statement that the "building of jetties and pile-projection (had) greatly modified the action of the waves along the shore line" may be why bearberry was, as he said, "thickly scattered over only about a fourth of the peninsula."

Knowing that the roots of most heaths contain threadlike strands from the underground portion of fungi, he examined the roots of the peninsula's bearberry. Under the microscope, he saw the expected twisted strands.

As you've probably guessed, the strands probably came from an earth star fungus. According to fungi experts, earth star "is apparently world wide in distribution and almost universal in habitat." But Witz discovered this astounding fact: "The Geaster (the genus name of earth star) is found on Presque Isle only in those regions where the Bearberry is growing."

It was 1984 when I photographed earth star at Presque Isle. Could bearberry have been growing nearby when I saw it? If only I had seen it, and known then what I know now about its association with bearberry. What a "wow" moment that would have been.

Has anyone seen earth star out there recently? If so, it would be a good idea to let botanists know where they've seen it. Even if it doesn't lead to finding bearberry nearby, it could lead to discovering another one of earth star's interesting plant relationships.

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Offlinexswaveyx
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Registered: 08/22/08
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Re: [PA] Star-shaped fungi gave rise to rare plants at Presque Isle [Re: veggie]
    #13353371 - 10/18/10 04:20 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

I visit presque isle to do other outdoor activites all the time. This is very intersting... I have never heard of such a thing and i live very very close. Should post up some more information


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