Blog Post #6: Pine-Ridge

On a cold Friday morning (9:30 am), October 27th, we all met at the parking lot of Pine Ridge Park in Edmonds. The weather forecast called for a warmer day, but because the park is in a valley and the second-growth trees were so tall, very little of the warmth made it to the park level early on this day. The park appears to be a mixed coniferous forest area surrounded by established homes. There was a lot of fungus that was growing in the park, much of it I believe is prevalent due to indirect sun and the height of the trees.


During our trip to Pine Ridge Park we observed the Western Redcedar (Thuja heterophylla), Sword fern (Polystichum munitum), and Ragbag Lichen (Platismatia glauca). Neither of us have ever been to Pine Ridge Park before. One thing we learned about fungi was that the lines underneath the top of the mushroom were called “gills”. The Western Redcedar was near the entrance of the nature trails by the parking lot. The tree stood out because it was growing on another broken, decomposing trunk. This characteristic told us that the tree was a hemiepiphyte. Hemiepiphyte means that one plant can survive by growing on another plant. The Western Redcedar had scaled needles that covered the twigs of the branch. The bark of the tree was a brown-red color. Multiple Sword fern plants were also near the entrance. The shrub was large and had slender fronds arising in a bunch. Lastly, the lichen we observed was on the ground in a pile of dirt. Lichen is a composite organism that can photosynthesize and take up pollutants. It was cool to learn how it doesn't grow very large in size, so if you see a lot of it… it has been there for hundreds of years.

what fungus is this?

The other organisms we observed was the Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Oregan grape
(Mahonia aquifolium), and a Candy Cap (Lactarius rubidus). We identified the Western Hemlock by its singular needles that lie flat. There were several Western Hemlock conifers in the park. There were also many Oregon Grape evergreen shrubs throughout the park which we noticed because of their bright colors that they maintain through all the seasons along with the sharply toothed leaves which aided us with the identification process. The Candy Cap mushroom was brought to our attention by our guest speaker and found a localized pile of them.

Isa and I learned a great deal about fungi organisms at the park today. They are multi-nucleate organisms that can take over and grow in and on decomposed matter. Older Western Redcedar trees produce a chemical called thujaplicin, a natural fungicide.

One question I had from the trip… what is the largest mushroom on Earth? How big is it? Additoinally there was a fungus growing on the side of one of the Redcedar trees that I was unable to indentify (pictured above), has anyone identified it?

Works Cited:
Mathews, Daniel, "Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains", Timber Press Field Guide, 2016


Pojar, Jim and MacKinnon, Andy, "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast", Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 2014