Nature Impact Factor

Monday, January 2, 2023

[New post] What’s in a Name?

Site logo image roadsendnaturalist posted: " It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. ~Oscar Wilde I enjoy cold winter days as I tend to pay more attention to the little things in our woods like patterns, surprise colors, and living things that I somet" Roads End Naturalist

What's in a Name?

roadsendnaturalist

Jan 2

It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things.

~Oscar Wilde

I enjoy cold winter days as I tend to pay more attention to the little things in our woods like patterns, surprise colors, and living things that I sometimes pay less attention to in warmer months when birds, insects, and flowers seem to always demand my attention. Mosses, lichens, slime molds, and fungi suddenly take more prominence (although they really deserve our appreciation all year).

This has been a good season for fungi in our woods, and one group, in particular, really caught my eye. In November, I spotted several clusters of round white blobs on downed trees or the mulch in our yard. As Fall progressed, I began to recognize them as puffballs, so named for their spore dispersal mechanism. As they dry, they develop splits on the surface and any physical disturbance, such as raindrops, the tap of a finger, or an accidental footstep, will send clouds of brownish spores up in a tiny billow of "smoke". I photographed one on a pathway in our yard back in November and again right before the holidays. Below are the photos and a short video of the spores being released.

A cluster of Wolf-fart Puffballs in our yard in early November (click photos to enlarge)

The same cluster in December

When I came across some drying puffballs in the woods a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't resist making puffball smoke by gently poking them with my finger. Here's a slo-mo clip of puffballs doing their thing.

-- A slow motion video of what happens when you touch ripe puffballs

Thinking I might want to post this, I decided to learn more about these unusual fungi. When I put the photo in SEEK, the all-things-natural identification app, I loved the common name that came up - Wolf-fart Puffballs. Yep, that's what I said, wolf fart. The scientific name is Lycoperdon pyriforme. It turns out the translation of that name defines the common name - "Lyco" means wolf in Greek; "perdon" means to break wind. Together, they mean wolf fart! People understand how the word fart came to be favored given the visible puff that comes up when one is touched, but why the association of wolves? Who knows. And "pyriforme" means pear-shaped referring to the shape of some of the structures.

After laying next to a clump to get the ground level video, and having a breeze blow some of the spores my way, I thought that perhaps it is not a good idea to breathe in the spores. And with some research I discovered that I was right! If you inhale large numbers of spores you may suffer from respiratory problems. But, medical experts say it requires inhaling a large quantity of spores to show any signs of lung distress, so I suffered no ill consequences.

As always, I am amazed at the wonders just outside our door. Take some walks this winter and see what catches your eye.

Comment
Like
Tip icon image You can also reply to this email to leave a comment.

Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Roads End Naturalist.
Change your email settings at manage subscriptions.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://roadsendnaturalist.com/2023/01/02/whats-in-a-name/

Powered by WordPress.com
Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
at January 02, 2023
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

No comments:

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

[New post] Woods Hardware Building – Cincinnati, Ohio

...

  • [New post] Jungle Waterfall
    Markosun posted: " Tumpak Sewu, also known as Coban Sewu, is a tiered waterfall that is located between the Pronojiwo D...
  • [New post] Fake it till you make it: How to use what you don’t know to grow
    victo...
  • [New post] Mornings are always good in The Gallery at Redlands
    davidtripp posted: " Preparing to return to work on the "mules" watercolor I managed to rise early enough ...

Search This Blog

  • Home

About Me

Natureimpactfactor
View my complete profile

Report Abuse

Labels

  • 【ANDROID STUDIO】Await and Async
  • 【FLUTTER ANDROID STUDIO and IOS】animated opacity
  • 【GAMEMAKER】Parallax
  • 【PYTHON】Mean Estimated Accuracy Logistic Regression
  • 【Visual Studio Visual Csharp】Mutex
  • 【Visual Studio Visual VB net】Map Network Drive Wizard

Blog Archive

  • August 2023 (660)
  • July 2023 (866)
  • June 2023 (796)
  • May 2023 (775)
  • April 2023 (809)
  • March 2023 (905)
  • February 2023 (834)
  • January 2023 (905)
  • December 2022 (865)
  • November 2022 (878)
  • October 2022 (940)
  • September 2022 (786)
  • August 2022 (745)
  • July 2022 (823)
  • June 2022 (903)
  • May 2022 (1064)
  • April 2022 (967)
  • March 2022 (786)
  • February 2022 (638)
  • January 2022 (726)
  • December 2021 (1190)
  • November 2021 (3136)
  • October 2021 (3242)
  • September 2021 (3141)
  • August 2021 (3246)
  • July 2021 (3249)
  • June 2021 (3143)
  • May 2021 (301)
Powered by Blogger.