From Sunday’s hike in Huckelberry Preserve (Oakland, CA): Entomophthora aka Fly Death Fungus. It’s hot and dry so I wasn’t really expecting to see much fungal action but in a humid ravine with a spring there was an elderberry with 30+ infected! #Entomophthora #fungus #FlyDeathFungus #oakland

Found an Ophiocordyceps on a beetle yesterday in Oakland’s Huckleberry Preserve! I’ve rarely seen Cordyceps in California let alone in Oakland #cordyceps #ophiocordyceps #oakland #mushroom

The Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden is incredible during the day: a great diversity of desert adapted plants from across the world. At night they light it up and it’s almost a psychedelic experience with the way they have things lit, but be on guard for plant spines #phoenix #cactus #DBG

Found a cute little wind scorpion after work in Phoenix this week. Was going to go for a walk at under a 100F but at midnight it was still triple digits so just went for it and it was worth it. UV fluorescence on left #phoenix #Solifuge

Passiflora edulis Oolong tea - a great use for passion fruit leaves. Wash, allow them to wilt for 1 day, roll the leaves to damage them, let them sit in the sun for 2 hrs and then pan roast to dry. Great sleep inducer due to GABA receptor antagonists. #tea #passiflora #homemade

Really excited that this rare native California sunflower is taking off on my sidewalk strip. Will be sharing seeds once they mature in a few months. Helianthus winteri can grow for multiple years and bloom all year round … we will see! #sunflower #CaliforniaNativePlants

Dichelostemma ida-maia (Firecracker flower) One of my favorite flowers of Northern California. I thought I had missed it this year, but randomly saw it on the side of the road while coming back from Mendocino last week. #flower #CaliforniaNative #mendocino

#Moth lighting is an incredible way to see night time #insect #diversity. My setup: 1) shower curtain liner with fishing string run through grommet holes so that it's easy to hang 2) USB powered mobile DJ light with a wavelength close to 395 nm. 3) USB battery bank of ~10,000 mAH

Mountain Gooseberry ( Ribes montigenum ) at the top of Mt San Jacinto. Stunning plant that gets to bask in this phenomenal views. #ribes #flowers #SanJacinto

Led a walk @ Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens Sunday on pollination. The cool Weather drove home how Important FLY POLLINATION is as by far they were the ones out in force, even the maligned mosquitos (males) were pollinating. Hover fly in pic 1&2, larval stage eating aphids #pollinators #flies

Found some thrips today that appear to be sporting #Laboulbeniales. Complete serendipity that i happen to be teaching a pollinator class and photographed one that wa acting weird. Just popped 7 of them in EtOH in their own PCR tubes. @dhaelewa.bsky.social any interest in these?

Penstemons aka the Beard Tongues are such an amazing group of plants and I don’t know why they aren’t used more in landscaping. Most are drought tolerant, pollinators love them, and they come in stunning colors. A few from ABQ’s Sandia Mountains yesterday #penstemon #flowers #bees #NewMexico

It’s been a while since I’ve bumped into one of my favorite #plants of western North America: The Monument Plant ( #Frasera speciosa), called such bc it’s huge, these were taller than me. This plant flowers once and then dies (monocarpic) after growing a big green rosette for years. #NewMexico

Bumped into the Striped Coral Root Orchid (Corallorhiza striata) in ABQ’s Sandia Mountains yesterday. This Mycoheterotroph (gets nutrients exclusively through a fungus) and pairs up with Thelephoraceae fungi like Tomentella. #orchids #mycoheterotroph #Corallorhiza #NewMexico

Lucked out and bumped into the Zephyr Eyed Silk Moth ( Automeris zephyria ) while I’m ABQ’s Sandia Mountains. The larva is venomous, but luckily for my nose not the adult #moths #lepidoptera #facemoth #NewMexico

Next weekend I’ll be giving a talk and a walk at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg, CA on Pollinators that need PR help: Diptera (flies) and the native California plants that rely on them www.gardenbythesea.org/events #pollinators #Mendocino #events

The deck is finally done for next week’s talk. A dive into species I encountered in QLD and WA with some species calls backed by DNA sequencing.

Interested in Australian #fungi? @damontighe.bsky.social will talk next week about Fungi of Western Australia and Queensland, covering logistics, time of year, and what animals not to pet. PDT: Tues 9 Jun 7PM AEST: Weds 10 Jun noon Free registration: forms.gle/vEgTCPcVqpSt... #WildOz #mycology

Was cleaning out a failed oyster mushroom cultivation jar and I have to admit this contaminate is beautiful. Might have to pop some in my next sequencing plate to see who it is

Excited to announce I’ll be back at @fungifestival.bsky.social this September. It's an event that brings in all the threads of the fungal world into one incredible weekend of talks, live music, art, forays, and much more. #mushrooms #fungi #ATFF

Morchella snyderi was up it great numbers around 6800 this past weekend on the east side of Mt Shasta. This is one of the black “natural morels” and one of the better tasting morels of Western North America #morels #morchella #mushrooms #fungifriendsn

Oak tree hopper (Platycotis vittata) from last weekend’s camp out at Mt Shasta. #insects #macro #biodiversity

What allows the ancient Bristlecone pines to eek out an existence in the high and dry White Mountains of California? Mycorrhizal fungi, none of which have been vouchered to my knowledge but last week I found a Rhizopogon with one which will get sequenced and into a Fungarium as part of CA FUNDIS

Dendronotus venustus - one of the hardest to see Nudibranchs in the PNW unless it crawls onto something with contrast. Seen this morning in Newport, Oregon. #Nudibranchs #oregon #tidepools

Cascade head, Oregon. Looking for a rare flower but well distracted by the view #oregon #cascadehead #hiking #PNW

What an odd mushroom year in the SF East Bay. Due to the HOT dry weather for a month followed by decent rain in April, many saprophytic fungi that usually fruit in fall are fruiting. Agaricus xanthodermus “Yellow Skinned Agaricus” from my yard today #mushroom #fungifriends #fungi #Agaricus

Chlorociboria aeruginascens seen earlier today at Lake Chabot on some well rotten California Bay Laurel. It’s a mushroom I don’t see much of because it often fruits in the warmer weather, outside our normal mushroom season. #mushroom #Chlorociboria #oakland #citynaturechallenge

Calochortus monophyllus x albus. A natural hybrid that is seen in California’s Sierra Nevada. I observed the beetle Eschatocrepis constrictus in both parental plants (images 2 & 3) and thanks to different pollen colors could see C. albus pollen on the beetle in C. monophyllus. #flower #calochortus

Had the pleasure of meeting Nemacladus richardsiae today in Riverside County,CA. Incredibly good reminder of how much good stuff is not at our scale. #nemacladus #flower #rare

Self directed sisyphean task of removing star thistle pays off yearly when the native #Streptanthus glandulosus gets to put on huge floral displays in the seasonally cleared serpentine slope. 250+ plants in bloom this year. There is always a smile behind the boulders in life #plants #oakland