Subject: Identifying fungus, wildflowers

From: [email-masked] (Azureus)
Date: 12 Mar 1995 17:28:27 -0500

I went for a walk in my woods today, and I saw a type of fungus
I've never seen before.  It was covering the forest floor, attatched to
dead wood, and seemed to be flourishing, even though last week was
very cold and snowy.  Each fungus was *bright* red on the inside, and
a dusty pink on the out side.  It was vaugely cup-shaped, and very
fleshy--it reminded me of red bell peppers.  Does this sound familiar
to any fungus fanatics out there?  The land is located in Iowa, close to
the Missouri river, zone 4 or 5, I can never figure out which one we're
in.  My second question is, can anyone reccommend a good field guide for
Iowa (or Midwest) wildflowers and other native plants?  

Thanks,

April

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 13 Mar 95 13:59:08 -0600

> Iowa (or Midwest) wildflowers and other native plants?  

You're probably in zone 5... I'm in zone 4 up here in Waterloo.
I'll bet the fungi you saw were Sarcosyphe, scarlet cups, but
this is a wild guess from the distance.  What diameter (approximately)?

As for wildflower books:  well... the Peterson Wildflower guide
is probably the best "all purpose beginner's" book for Iowa, and I
highly recommend it.  You may also want to look at the books written
by Dean Roosa and Sylvan Runkel: there's one on common prairie plants,
and another on woodland plants.  There is a good series of 
publications from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation  that are
very nice for folks in the southern part of Iowa, and of course, there's
Pete vanderLinden and Don Farrar's book on native trees.  And don't
forget the book on fungi, written by Don___, Lois Tiffany, and George
Knaphus, with wonderful color pictures.  Sorry I'm blanking on exact
titles, but much of my library is packed at the moment.  The trees
and fungi books are available from Iowa State University Press, Ames,
Ia and the Missouri books (the ferns and orchids books are *very
nice*) are available by writing the Missouri DOC in Jefferson City, MO.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]