Yellow Milkwort Blooming in May

Polygala rugelii, a Florida native grows as an annual revealing it's "poly" petals in early summers. Here I've found this Yellow Milkwort blooming in early summer although it can be found blooming later into the warm season, even into early fall.

It's location was a pine flatwood forrest.

According to Walter Kingsley Taylor's guide, Florida Wildflowers, the yellow milkwort is endemic. Its range from "counties south of Taylor, Suwannee, Colombia, Clay, and St. Johns.

Polypore Bracket Mushrooms

     The polypore mushrooms that grow on woody substrate such as a dead trees or branches are known as bracket fungi for the way their fruit bodies grow outward from their medium. Of course bracket mushrooms are not always polypore (meaning their gills are in the shape of pores - many pores). Some have gilled undersides; either true gills or Schizophyllum (gills appearing longitudinally split). 

     Polypores, or Polyporaceae, bracket fungi are common in Florida. Out of all the bracket mushrooms I've found in the woods 9 out of 10 have been polypores; but of course that is only during my short lifetime on Earth thus far. 

     From my small collection of Polyporaceae bracket fungi fruits, below is one of my favorite finds.


                                 

     You could imagine how this striking specimen with its bright orange hue immediately caught my attention amongst the wild growth I found it in. The fallen branch approximately 4 ft. in length in its natural habitat populated with this fungi must have had at least a dozen bright fruiting bodies. Some of which looked "over ripe" and soon to begin decaying off. This sample specimen has been sitting in my collection for about 6 months now, preserved in the state I found it in. I'm wondering if the attached mycelia is still alive and possibly dormant?

     Take a look at the pores of this mushroom, so tiny and fine that they seem to not be there at all.

Why the Oyster Mushroom Didn't Fruit

These aren't the first mushrooms I've tried to grow. I have failed and succeeded with mushroom cultivation before; but this is the first Pleurotus in a bag...that failed.

1. Not enough air exchange

Honestly, I was unprepared to grow these. Even though they are deemed as "easy to grow", but it wasn't you mushroom, it was me. I didn't have a proper place to fruit these mushrooms at the time and the weather out was too cold and dry for them to have accomplished any fruiting. So with the only materials I had at the time I mustered up a plastic box humidity chamber. But oh problems: the box didn't fit the bag of aggressively colonizing mycelia. There was little air space between the fungi and the walls. The filtered holes in the box were not enough for adequate air exchange. There was barely enough space for the oyster to extend its pins and comfortably fruit.

2. Not enough light

The location of the fruiting chamber was in a spare room used as storage with only one dim lamp for light. So that's all I used. Like I said before, all my fault.

3. Dip in humidity

In a sad attempt to increase airflow, I pointed a fan towards the box from 4 ft away. Several hours later I find a very dry humidity chamber with some slightly dehydrated looking fungi. At least this happened after day 5 of unsuccessful fruiting. By then I had already given up on indoor fruiting and made sure to reprimand myself for my half ass efforts.

But thankfully, this bag of mycelium didn't have to go to waste. By the time I had finished at failing my fruits, the weather got a bit warmer and we got some rain. Enough to reproduce the suitable conditions for this Oyster and get me plate full of shrooms!!