Photo: Dog vomit slime in Naikoon Provincial Park by Jason Headley
Around October we start to celebrate bright fall leaves, sweaters, pumpkin everything 鈥� and leading up to Halloween, all things creepy crawly. In honour of this spooky time of year, we鈥檝e rounded up some of the strangest, grossest, and most Halloween-y species found in B.C.鈥檚 provincial parks and protected areas.
Eyelash cups (厂肠耻迟别濒濒颈苍颈补听species)
Photo: Jason Headley in Monkman Provincial Park
The name might sound innocent enough, but the dark eyelash-like hairs ringing this bright orange cup fungus gives it the undeniably unnerving appearance of sightless eyes growing out of rotten wood. There are a few very similar聽Scutellinia聽species in B.C.; some expertise and a microscope may be needed to tell them apart. Look for these creepy eyes on dead wood and nearby soil from spring to fall.
Meadow deathcamas聽(Toxicoscordion venenosum)聽
Photo: Jason Headley in Monte Lake Provincial Park
This lovely lily is deceptively sweet-looking: it is deadly poisonous. When not in flower, the bulbs and leaves could be easily confused with those of common or great camas (颁补尘补蝉蝉颈补听species), two root food plants of great cultural importance to the Coast Salish First Nation. Even its scientific name,聽Toxicoscordion venenosum, warns of this cheery-looking wildflower鈥檚 dangerous nature. You can find it in open habitats in southern B.C.
Dead man鈥檚 fingers聽(Halosaccion glandiforme听补苍诲听Codium fragile)聽
Photos: Lena Dietz Chiasson in Duu Guusd Consevancy and Naikoon Provincial Park
At least two seaweeds found along shorelines in the Pacific Northwest have been granted this unsettling name. It doesn鈥檛 take much imagination to see the waterlogged digits of a shipwrecked pirate in either the hand-like form of the green seaweed,聽Codium fragile, or the inflated 鈥渇ingers鈥� of the red seaweed,聽Halosaccion glandiforme. Look for both seaweeds in the intertidal zone on rocky marine shorelines, such as Haida Gwaii.
Common witch鈥檚 hair聽(Alectoria sarmentosa)聽
Photo: Katie Kushneryk in Drizzle Lake Ecological Reserve
These whitish wisps of lichen can be found hanging from the branches of conifer trees like accidental snags of hair left by woodsy witches. Like this example,聽found on Haida Gwaii, witch鈥檚 hair grows best in open and wet forests where enough moisture and sunlight can reach and nourish lichen-festooned branches. These requirements make old growth forests especially important habitat for hanging hair lichens like witch鈥檚 hair and the similar old man鈥檚 beard聽(Usnea longissima)
Witch鈥檚 butter聽(Tremella mesenterica)
Photo: Lena Dietz Chiasson in Top of the World Provincial Park
Known either as witch鈥檚 butter or yellow brain, it鈥檚 easy to see how this squishy, slimy, greasy-looking fungus earned both common English聽names: some examples look like miniature gelatinous brains, while others look like magically glowing clumps of lumpy butter. This fungus grows on dead deciduous wood year-round and is hard to misidentify except for one lookalike: the similar orange jelly spot fungus聽(Dacrymyces chrysospermus)聽grows on dead conifer wood.
Dog vomit slime mould聽(Fuligo septica)聽
Photo: Kiara Gannon in Naikoon Provincial Park
Slime moulds are eerie to begin with: despite being brainless collections of single-celled organisms, these weird masses 鈥� some form blob-like cushions while others form very organized shapes 鈥� can exhibit behaviour and 鈥�.鈥澛燚og vomit slime mould takes a generic lumpy form. It changes shape and colour with age, but still lives up to its disgustingly descriptive name at all stages and colours.
Swamp beacon聽(Mitrula elegans)聽
Photo: Robby Deans in Cypress Provincial Park
Swamp beacon belongs to a group of mushrooms known as earth tongues. This itself is a bit of a gruesome moniker, further increased by the slightly sinister visual of the luminous golden yellow fungus lighting the way through a dark swamp or bog (脿 la the Dead Marshes from The Lord of the Rings). Find this miniature beacon growing on decaying leaves in wetlands in spring and summer.
Insect-egg slime聽(Leocarpus fragilis)聽
Photo: Jason Headley in Top of the World Provincial Park
True to its name, 鈥渋nsect-egg slime鈥� looks like a slimy mass of yellow, orange or reddish-brown egg casings, waiting to burst open with some unknown wriggling or flying insect. Luckily for the squeamish amongst us that won鈥檛 actually happen, though these misleading clusters growing on rotting wood and dead leaves are still an unsettling sight.
Devil鈥檚 matchstick聽(Pilophorus acicularis)聽
Photo: Robby Deans in Strathcona Provincial Park
This spooky-sounding lichen grows on rock from a thin white crust; this one was found amongst mosses and liverworts in Strathcona Provincial Park. Rock-colonizing lichens such as this play a role in soil formation by loosening rock particles and settling particles on rock for other species to grow.
Red-juice Tooth聽(Hydnellum peckii)聽
Photo: Lena Dietz Chiasson in Top of the World Provincial Park
It鈥檚 a bloody mushroom! This is a red-juice tooth, also aptly known as a bleeding tooth fungus. This tendency to 鈥渂leed鈥� a thick red fluid makes this mushroom difficult to miss or mis-identify 鈥� and a fitting fungal find with Halloween approaching. Fun fact: the process of 鈥渂lood鈥� droplets oozing from this mushroom is called guttation.
What other spooky species have you found?
Have you spotted any strange species while exploring in B.C.鈥檚 parks this fall? Take photos of your floral, faunal and fungal finds and share them on聽聽or the free iNaturalist app. You鈥檒l get to show off your shots, get identification help and document biodiversity with the聽. You can also join the project to share your ID expertise!
to learn more and get started and tag your observations with #iNatBCParks and @bcpf on Instagram and Twitter to have your photos featured in our newsletter and social media channels.
Kelly Fretwell works on the BC Parks iNaturalist Project in her role as Citizen Science Project Coordinator with the BC Parks Foundation. Her love of coastal biology and ecology comes in part from growing up exploring shorelines and forests near Victoria BC, as well as from her post-secondary education in biology, environmental studies and marine management. Kelly lives in Victoria, where she enjoys spending time in nearby natural spaces and forcing friends to stop on hikes so she can take photos and try to identify things.
This article was and has been re-published here with permission.
