Wrinkled Peaches

Wrinkled Peaches (Rhodotus palmatus)

With the colder weather drawing in and the invertebrates getting more scarce, I went into the woods after a few days of rain to see what kind of fungi might have sprouted up. I didn’t expect to find these wrinkled peaches as they are fairly scarce, mainly because they almost exclusively grow on elm which isn’t as common now given the spread of Dutch elm disease. They are actually a red listed species of mushroom so it’s illegal to pick them. There were a few growing on a fallen tree, all at different stages of development. Looking online it’s amazing how much variation there is in appearance with this mushroom, some look like completely different species with how vivid their colours are and how defined the wrinkles in the cap can become. These two above were probably the more textbook examples, the others were either too small to have the wrinkles or they had grown out as the cap flattened over time. Something I didn’t notice at the time, because the mushrooms were too awkwardly positioned to get a closer look at, was the conical shaped snail shell just in front of the lower ones stem. I usually associate that kind of shape with underwater snails so that was quite an unexpected discovery. As was the tiny purple springtail hanging from a small stick just bellow the lower peaches cap. I definitely appreciated it staying put to be a part of the focus stack.

Wrinkled Peach (Rhodotus palmatus) In the early stages of growth, exuding lots of droplets known as ‘guttation’

The mushroom above was the first wrinkled peach I found on the tree trunk and I almost didn’t photograph it as it was so small I initially dismissed it as a fairly standard mushroom. The presence of the amber-like droplets was enough for me to get the camera out although I had no idea how incredible they looked until I got a closer look at the shots together on the computer afterwards. These golden droplets are released from the mushroom almost like sweat and it’s known as ‘guttation.’ Only a few species of mushroom do this and its purpose is shrouded in a bit of mystery. It certainly brightens up the surface of a damp, drab looking log and almost gives it a Santa’s grotto aesthetic. I’m not only glad I photographed it but I’m glad I did so the day I found it. I returned a few days later to find that most of the droplets had dried and it was looking nowhere near as photogenic. The guttation happens at different points in the mushrooms development so hopefully it will be allowed to grow, unharmed and I can photograph it again at a later date.

The same mushroom, photographed above, three days later