Fungi and Lichen Walk in Fleetwood Park

On Friday, November 16, our class went on a nature walk in Fleetwood Park to look at fungi and lichens. We found many different types of fungi and lichens. From the three types of lichens: the fructicose, foliose, and crustose, I have spotted only the foliose and crustose, mostly on trees. Here they are in picture form:

Foliose lichen on a small twig


Foliose lichen on the bark of very old tree


White crustose lichen on the bark of a tree

These lichens are very cool, especially with the different shapes and form of their structure. The two foliose lichen have different sized "leaves", or thalluses, and the two white crustose lichens grew in different shapes on the bark of the tree. It is amazing that these little guys are so unique and interesting in many ways. The symbiotic relationship between the fungus and the cyanobacteria / algae was a very interesting topic for me, and although I did not see the protection-nutrient relationship in action, the structures of the lichens that I saw made a slightly clearer picture in my mind on how this seemingly magical yet so simple two-way mutualistic relationship. 

Even though I couldn't personally see the other amazing type of lichen--the fructicose lichens. Luckily, I found a detailed colour photograph at Te Ara--The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. This website is amazing for it contains many other photographs of lichens in astonishing detail and vibrant colours. Here is the fructicose lichen:

Greenish-grey fructicose lichen from New Zealand 

I found some more information about lichens here

The fungi that we found were much more interesting due to their many varieties in shape, colour, size. We found many little orange dots, which were jelly fungi, some bracket or shelf mushrooms. Theses all belong to the phylum Basidiomycota, or club fungi. We also found a sac fungi (ascomycete) and some white fuzz growing on trees which I believe to be oomycetes or water molds. Here they are in picture form:

Bracket fungi on dead tree

Water molds (white fuzz)


Bracket fungus on tree (side and top)


Orange jelly fungi

Water molds (white fuzz)


White sac fungus

Orange jelly fungi

Jelly fungi

Little club fungi mushrooms

On the walk, the fungi that I saw were so unique, each in their very own way. Even the ones that looked almost the same, I could always carefully pick out the differences between each one. This diversity of shapes, colours, sizes, and the different things they were attached to. To be honest, I was expecting this to be extremely simple, just looking at the bottom of random trees and finding tons of mushrooms. When I found out that was not the case, I looked in every crevice and under leaf piles. This careful exploration opened my eyes to a world of fungi that were not the stereotypical "mushrooms". I saw orange jelly fungi, shaped in tiny round dots, some white and fuzzy water molds (apparently they don't all grow in water!), and a little round sac fungus attached to the trunk of a tree. I also explored into the river and caught a glimpse of a fascinating bracket fungus. I was intrigued by the way it could attach itself to a tree and grow perpendicular to the tree, making a "shelf", or as I like to call it, a "bench". How does the fungus know which way to grow? And why does it always grow perfectly straight outwards away from the tree? 

I found some more information about fungi here

There is so much to be learned from the natural world. From large areas, like BC, or even small parts of a forest, such as a dead trunk carved into a face, there are countless number of living organisms to be discovered, viewed, and to satisfy a person's thirst for knowledge. This walk allowed me to see the wonders of the natural world (in this case, fungi and lichens), and knowing that it is right in our own back yard. This walk also taught me to appreciate the little details in life, for there may be more than meets the eye.


To all of you readers not in Canada:
See what great things other than snow we have in Canada?
cough*Americans*cough