Back-Yard Fungi

Abstract

For a number of years, while caring for flower beds, lawn, and shrubbery at his home, the writer has collected fruit bodies of those fungi which have been observed. The result-ing list includes representatives of 138 species in most groups of fungi. While none of these is new to science, several records present interesting range extensions. In a search for fungi, any habitat in which a fungus will grow is a potential source of records. The most intimate set of habitats is that found on one's own property. In routine work on flower beds, lawn, shrubbery, and trees, macroscopic fruit bodies of many kinds of fungi have been readily observed and collected. Soil samples were tested for molds when laboratory facilities were available, and certain mold-type fungi were noted occasionally. Within the limits of the com-munity in which this property occurs, a number of types of fungi may be expectable on the basis of past records for the occurrence of fungi in Ohio. A few of these species require less distributed locations or locations disturbed infrequently. If it is true that there is at least one fungus to form a saprobic, parasitic, or mycor-rhizal relation with each vascular plant, this list is very incomplete. However, it gives an indication of the variety of fungi which can be found in a small area, and it gives an idea of the complexity of the artificial ecosystem put together by the small householder in his search for serendipity in modern suburbia. The address, 1135 Wilshire Court, represents a lot, measuring 50 x 142 feet, located in the Sun Ray Development of Anderson Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, approximately 15 miles east of downtown Cincinnati. In late 1945 or early 1946, before this subdivision was started, the lot was probably covered with a meadow-like association of native and adventive plants which were probably iManuscript received June 1, 1972.