Specimen #15 Hyperphyscia Lichen Sample 

Figure 1: Shows the green coloration and
the thallus is not inflated. Very flat to the bark. 

Name: Hyperphyscia
Common Name: Neil, I still need to find this
Family: Physciaceae
Collected Date: 9/8/16
Habitat: Found on the bark of trees in shaded dry areas
Location: Nelsons Ledges
Description: Surfaced by hyphae in lower cortex with smaller root like structures. Flat to their surface they are growing on. Thallus is mostly never inflated. Light green in color.
Key Used: http://ohiomosslichen.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/KEY-TO-OHIO-GENERA-OF-MACROLICHENS.pdf
Keying Steps:
1. Thallus some shade of gray, green, yellow-green, brown, or black
2. Thallus thick or thin, not gelatinous when wet
3. Rhizines lacking
4. Folisose with narrow lobes
5. Thallus not inflated or perforated, very tightly appressed
6. Thallus gray-brown, usually on bark

Specimen #14 Closterium Algae Sample 

Figure 1: Shows the two chloroplast
separated by the clear center that contains
the nucleus. Crescent-shaped.
  

Name: Closterium
Common Name: Green Algae
Family: Closteriaceae
Collected Date: 9/8/16
Habitat: Common in lakes, ponds, and slow moving streams. Can be abundant in sewage ponds at any time of the year but less frequent in winter.
Location: Nelson's Ledges
Description: Unicellular desmid with elongated cells tapering at both ends. Cells usually crescent shaped, never really straight. There is always two chloroplasts containing lots of pyrenoids- seperated in the middle of the cell by a clear area that contains the nucleus.
Key Used: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/algae/identification-guide/identify/guide/unicellular/cell-outline-crescent-shaped/closterium
Keying Steps:
1. Algae are unicellular- not joined to neighboring cells
2. Cell outline crescent-shaped with green content
3. Cells large and solitary containing two chloroplasts separated by clear space in cell center

Specimen #13 Hypnum Curvifolium Moss Sample

Figure 1: Over view of the entire sample. Good
Representation of color and shows how closely
compacted the leaves are to the stems

Name: Hypnum Curvifolium
Common Name: Curve Leaf Moss











Family: Hypnaceae
Collected Date: 9/8/16
Habitat: Tree trunk bases most often, but also rotting logs and on top of rocks.
Location: Nelson Ledges
Description: Carpets are shiny, dark green moss, with light green tips. Branches are regularly pinnate and densely covered in leaves. The leaves overlap, with tiny sharp tips curled way under, giving the branches the tight and tidy look of embroidery floss. Not much change when wet and dry. Often times produces a cloud of capsules.
Key Used:Karl B Mcknight, Joseph R Rohrer, Kirsten Mcknight Ward, and Warren J. Perdrizet. 2013. Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians 
Keying Steps:
1. Plants of dry ro very moist habitats, not submerged or kept constantly wet, leaves sickle-shaped on most of the plant
2. Leafy shoots less than 2mm wide, not appearing to be swollen; leaf surfaces flat or pleated lengthwise
3. Leaf bases held more closely to stem, spreading less that 45 degrees. leaf tips curing in the same direction to either side of the stem
4. Leaves curved but not forming ringlets
5. Plants larger
6. Plants branching regularly in pinnate pattern; shoots creeping; leaves appearing tightly braided 
7. Capsules inclined to horizontal, strongly curved 

Specimen #12 Fuligo Specta Slime Mold Sample

Figure 1: Fuligo Specta. Yellow in color.
powdery like substance.

Name: Fuligo Specta 
Common Name: Scramble Egg Slime
Family: Physaraceae
Collected Date: 11/7/16
Habitat: Found on rotten wood or liter or plants
Location: Hiram College Campus
Description: Can be white to yellow- brown in color. Transform into a sponge-like aethalium analogous to the spore-bear fruiting body. Spores have a two-layered wall and dense outer layer with spines and a fibrous inner layer.
Key Used: http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Mycetozoa_GSMNP
Keying Steps:
1. Fruiting Body type Aethalium
2. Spore mass color bright, dark, and light depending on the type of fuligo specta
3. Peridium can have a lime and some can be found without
4. There can be a true capillitium present while some will not show this particular characteristic

Specimen #11 Trametes Vericolor Mushroom Sample

Figure 1: Shows the coloration throughout the
top of the tranmetes vericolor. 

Figure 2: Can see the hairlike contents on top of the
mushroom. Shows the different coloration's that are
present. Can see the rigid sides.

Figure 3: back side of the
tranmetes vericolor. No gills
present and have tube like
structures. No root system
present.

Name: Trametes Vericolor
Common Name: Turkey Tail
Family: Polyporaceae
Collected Date: 10/22/16
Habitat: Often found in groups, fused rows, or overlapping clusters on dead hardwoods. Also, found on decayed sapwood and can sometimes parasitize fruit trees. 
Location: Hiram College Field Station
Description: Thin and leathery when fresh, rigid or slightly flexible when dry. Cap broad, tongue-shaped becoming fan-shaped or growing in circular rosettes. Plane or wavy, velvety to touch. Hairy zones on top of the fungus. A mixture of white, gray, brown, yellowish-buff. Often can be wavy and white or creamy when actively growing. Flesh is very thin, tough, and white. 
Key Used: David Arora. 1986. Mushroom Demystified
Keying Steps:
1. Not as above so spore-beading surface not composed of tubes 
2. Fruiting body knoblike, hooflike, bracketlike, stalk absent, growing on wood
3. Spore surface exposed; not growing on birch 
4. Not as above.. so pore surface differently colored 
6. Fruiting body normally with cap 
7. Spore-bearing surface with tubes 
8. Not with above features 
9. Not as above so fruiting body usual annual small to medium size 
10. Not as above.. so flesh white to yellow. Sometimes light brown or salmon
11. Not as above so no elongated pores
12. Not as above 
13. Not as above. Usually larger and widely distributed
14. Pore surface red to orange, orange-yellow or salmon in color

Pg 592.
1. Not as above so surface is not bright orange or red
2. Fertile surface not rosy or violet 
3. Not as above so fruiting body is not fleshy
4. Not as above so the tubes are not unequal in length or slotlike
5. Not as above so pores not broken up into teeth like structures
6 Not as above so pore surface is not gray to smoky-brown or black  

Specimen #10 Lycoperdon pyriforme Mushroom Sample

Figure 1: Overview of lycoperdon pyriforme.
Shows pear shape and granules produced
on peridium.

Figure 2: Closer look at the granules produced
on the peridium. skin is cracked which
allows them to pop up.

Figure 3: Lycoperdon pyrifome cross sectioned.
Closer look at the spores in the middle producing
a smooth center. Also can see the granules
sticking off the top of the peridium.

                                                                  
Name: Lycoperdon pyriforme
Common Name: Pear-shaped Puffball
Family: Agaricaceae
Collected Date: 10/22/16
Habitat: Scattered in clusters on stumps, rotting logs, and sawdust. Fruiting mostly in the fall and winter but old bleached out fruiting bodies can be found most of the time.
Location: Hiram College Field Staion
Description: Pear-shaped and has a stem-like sterile base. peridium whitish to pale brown when young. when older yellowish to dark rusty-brown. Smooth at first then becomes finely cracked to form small granules or particles. 
Key Used: David Arora. 1986. Mushroom Demystified
Keying Steps:
1. Not as above.. so fruiting body when young is not dark brown
2. Growing on wood, sawdust, or lingin-rich humus
3. Not as above.. so fruiting body never pitted, usually with white mycelial threads at bade or in surrounding substrate; sterile base well-developed; common and widespread.

Specimen #9 Chlamydomonas Algae Sample

Figure 1: Over view of Chlamydomonas. Green
in color and individual cells not joined
together

Figure 2: Closer look at cells. Able to see the
individual cells and how they are
unicellular

Name: Chlamydomonas
Common Name: Green Algae 
Family: Chlamydomonadaceae
Collected Date:10/22/16
Habitat:Found in the plankton of nutrient-rich lakes and ponds. Can be abundant in sewage ponds at any time of year. Some occur in low-nutrient habitats, soil and even snow.
Location: Hiram College Field Station
Description: Flagella emerge from the cell apex above a clear area in the cell.Flagella may be lost in older cells.  Chloroplasts occur singly and are cup-shaped around the inside of the cell perimeter, but may be deeply divided, incised, or lobed to appear as more than one, and may contain pyrenoids and/or an eyespot. Under some conditions, cells never possess flagella, becoming mucilaginous colonies of stationary cells.  These can still usually be identified because the clear area at the cell apex is still present, where the pulsing vacuoles may still be visible.
Key Used:
Keying Steps:
1. Algae is unicellular- not joined to neighboring cells
2. Cells with rigid cell wall, lacking shallow groove, motile, propelled by one or more waving hair-like structures
3. Ovoid spherical green chloroplasts. Two equal length flagella emerging symmetrically from cell. Cytoplasmic threads are absent 


Key Links Used:
http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/algae/identification-guide/identify/guide/unicellular/cell-with-rigid-cell-wall-and-motile/chlamydomonas