Specimen #6

Ascomycetes

Figure 1: Leotia lubrica

Figure 1: Up close photo of Leotia lubrica

Name: Leotia lubrica

Family: Leotiaceae
Common Name: Jelly Baby

Collection Date: 13th Sept. 2011 

Habitat: Found underneath trees amoungst some rotting wood.  

Location: South Chargin Reservation
Description: About 1-1.5 inches tall. Yellow-olive green in colour- stalk and fruiting body same colour. Fruiting body irregularly shaped (lumpy) and gelatinous.

Collector: Olivia Benjamin

Key used: Orson K. Miller Jr. 1977. Mushrooms of North America. E.P. Dutton New York.
Keying Steps:

Introduction Key pg. 341
1a. Fruiting body with a stalk and head...2
2b. Head variously shaped but not cup shaped...3
3b. Fruiting body not flattened at top...4
4b. Head round, depressed, or cylindric, sometimes branched...5
5a.Head oval, wrinkled, yellow-green, viscid, stalk greenish and viscid ---> 411. Leotia lubrica.

Ecology: This fungi is a saprotroph, usually found growing under conifers and hardwoods during late spring - fall. They are widely distributed and common througout North America (Kuo, 2003).

Links
Kuo, M. (2003, June). Leotia lubrica. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leotia_lubrica.html
http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Leotia_lubrica.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leotia_lubrica