Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Strange is the fungus' mysterious ways

A few days ago when we took a walk in Hutcheson Memorial Forest, I found these strange things on the ground. The little pretty spring flower Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) was attacked by and covered by this rust fungus. When I came home I googled 'rust fungus' and 'Claytonia virginica' and immediately found out that only one species of rust fungus is known from this species - Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae. After talking to our mycologist at work, I found out that this is a host-switching fungus, so it jumps back and forth between two species within a year. Those orange things are where the spores are produced and spread. It is amazing how many complicated, unusual, and unknown species there are out there in the green mess.

3 comments:

Olle said...

And what was the other species it uses (I understand the fungus somehow jumps from Claytonia to something else?)?

LS said...

I don't know what the other plant species is, I would have to look it up. Yes, most rust fungi do host switching...

LS said...

I have looked around and I didn't see any information about the other host species, even if there is one. I need to ask our mycologist at work.