Botany & Mycology

Earth is a very green planet, brimming with vegetation. But how do the tales of trees and roots intertwine with our own? Here you’ll learn about fire, fungus-farming ants, and what lake cores can tell us about habitats to help set a frame on the verdant world we live in.

GET CURIOUS

Watch as Museum Member and actor Ty Burrell takes us behind the scenes in the Museum’s botany and mycology collections and Dr. Jason Cryan hosts a conversation with Museum scientists.

IMAGES FROM THE BOTANY & MYCOLOGY COLLECTIONS

Leaf through our gallery of herbarium specimens!

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Ramalina menziesii (Lace Lichen)

This lichen is the official state lichen of California and was collected in the coastal region of the state. It’s known as “lace lichen,” because its thallus (body) forms a lace-like net that cascades from trees like a bridal veil in order to capture moisture from the air and sunlight. Lichens are technically classified as fungi, but they are actually a community of at least two different organisms. Each species of lichen has different algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically with a fungus. The photosynthesizing partner in this community makes food from sunlight, while the fungus provides a sturdy structure for the algae or cyanobacteria. Recent research has revealed that lichens also have other kinds of bacteria living within their community structure. While Utah has many lichens, their diversity in and around the Wasatch Front is low because they are highly sensitive to air pollution.

Pinus contorta subs. latifolia (Lodgepole Pine) cross section

The lodgepole pine is a common evergreen conifer in western North America that is under attack. Throughout the mountain west, large swaths of forests containing lodgepole and ponderosa pine are disappearing. The reason? Climate change has made these trees’ habitats warmer for longer, allowing the tiny bark beetles to swarm and damage the bark of these trees. This image shows a trunk section collected in 2019 of a tree that was damaged by these beetles. These insects, coupled with droughts, have weakened otherwise healthy trees. While these are natural parts of the lodgepole pine’s habitats, the amount of beetles and lengths of droughts are devastating forests. More dead trees means more fuel for wildfires, which then release more carbon into the atmosphere and further aggravates climate change. Lodgepole pines can recover from these forest fires because their cones are serotinous (closed) and only open in the extreme high temperatures of wildfire, which allow them to grow afterwards.

Ophiocordyceps sp. (Zombie Fungus) (UT-M0000295)

This fungus is an unidentified member of the Cordycipitaceae family, also known as “zombie fungi”. Zombie fungi are parasitic fungi that prey on arthropods, like wasps and ants. The fungus penetrates the animal’s body (in this case, a wasp) and grows inside it, gradually taking control of its behavior and “zombifying” it. The fungus drives the animal to seek height where it will develop a reproductive structure that ruptures out of the host’s body. The spore-producing tissues are then free to disperse their spores far and wide onto other hosts. Researchers collected this sample in 2016 on an expedition to Cameroon. This genus of fungus was the inspiration behind the book and movie The Girl with All the Gifts, where an Ophiocordyceps species starts taking root in humans and zombifying them.

Boletus edulis (porcini mushroom) (UT-M0000002)

This is a specimen of porcini mushroom that hails from right here in Utah. Porcini mushrooms (also known as king boletes or penny buns) are highly valued wild, edible mushrooms native to the Northern Hemisphere and can occur in great abundance in Utah’s mountains. This mushroom exists in symbiosis with the roots of forest trees, especially Douglas fir, where it exchanges nutrients for sugars the plant makes through photosynthesis. This mutually beneficial handshake is known as mycorrhiza and nearly all plants on Earth depend on it for survival. The entire genome of this specimen was sequenced in the Genetics lab at NHMU in 2018.

Tylopilus sp. nov. (UT-M0000030)

Researchers found this icy blue, undescribed species of mushroom while on expedition in the tropical forests of Cameroon. The museum’s team has observed this species only once over several years of systematic collecting in plots established in 2015. This fungus is in a mutualist relationship with forest tree roots (called mycorrhiza), exchanging soil nutrients for photosynthesized sugars. The entire genome of this specimen was sequenced in the Genetics lab at NHMU in 2019 to place it in a family tree, allowing us to classify it for the first time. Results are still pending. It may seem unbelievable that there are still new-to-science species of anything out there, but there may be as many as 12 million species of fungi in the world and scientists have only described ~150,000 of them.

Asarum canadense (Canada Wild Ginger) (10844)

Despite sharing a name with the ginger used in culinary pursuits, wild ginger is not a close relative. It gets its name because of its warm, spicy fragrance. The flowers are deep brown-red, leathery urns that sit on the ground in leaf litter where they lure fungus gnats to pollinate them and ants carry their seeds away to help them reproduce. It’s a favorite of Allison Izaksonas, our collections manager for the Garrett Herbarium at the museum, and she often crushes up a heart-shaped leaf and keeps it in her pocket when hiking in their terrain in the Eastern U.S.

Scoliopus bigelovii (Fetid adder’s tongue) (23201)

This plant is a flowering plant in the lily family. It has the average three-petaled lily flower structure in shape, but with an additional dark red-brown pinstripe on its petals and a dark, claw-like trio of anthers (structures that contains pollen) that reach outwards. It’s a beautiful flower with a not so pretty common name. It earned the “fetid adder’s tongue” moniker by being particularly attractive to fungus gnats, their pollinators. Its large leaves are a shocking shiny green with purple mottling. This coloring, along with their musty smell, mimics decomposition and attracts their main pollinators. It’s the favorite flower of our Collections Manager for the museum’s Garrett Herbarium, Allison Izakonas.

Fritillaria meleagris (Checkered Lily) (108641)

This plant from the lily family has a distinctive checkered pattern on its petals. Despite its wild design, no human breeding was involved in this feature. It just looks this way all on its own. Its native habitat is damp forests and meadows in Europe that flood periodically. This flower is endangered in the wild because their habitats have been developed and changed by humans. Fortunately, gardeners around the world love them for their delightful patterns and continue to cultivate them, keeping their populations going.

Tripterocalyx micranthus (small-flowered sand-verbena) (113807)

The flowers on this Utah native are tiny--each trumpet-shaped pink or green-tinged flower only reaches up to 1.8 centimeters in length and up to half a centimeter wide. They live in the sandy, scrubby desert and sagebrush regions of the North American southwest. The spherical head of the seed capsules are shiny and papery, and reflect iridescently in the sun. Up close, they almost look like insect wings. This plant is one of Allison Izaksonas’, Collections Manager for the museum’s Garret Herbarium, favorite Utah plants. She first saw and collected the seed capsules in person 10 years ago while hiking in Southern Utah, but it wasn’t until she was working in the museum’s herbarium that she finally put a name to the plant. She’s never seen it flower in person.

BOTANY & MYCOLOGY STORIES

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Rock crags and pine trees in a Wasatch Front forest.

Why are There so Many Wildfires Right now?

Understanding the history of wildfires requires many different types of information, from satellites to ancient charcoal.

5 Common Utah Wildflowers

Utahns are spoiled by majestic, snow-frosted mountain views, rustic red rock, and breathtaking forestland. With so much beauty all around, it can be easy to miss the little gems we see every day.

Decoding a Herbarium Sheet

Herbarium sheets are used in our permanent flora collection, and they contain not just the specimen, but a ton of other important information.

BOTANY & MYCOLOGY VIDEOS

Go deeper into our herbarium with this guided virtual tour!

How do scientists press plants for collections? Find out how!

Some pine cones need some extra heat to open. Check out this cool adaptation.

SCIENTISTS AT WORK

Botany and mycology can open entire worlds of research, from the museum to the field.

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Photo Credit: Bryn Dentinger, Ph.D., Curator of Mycology & Associate Professor of Biology

Chile Expedition, 2019

Assortment of Fungi from Chile Expedition

Photo Credit: Bryn Dentinger, Ph.D., Curator of Mycology & Associate Professor of Biology

Field Location: Costa Rica, 2019-2020

Costa Rican fungi

Photo Credit: Bryn Dentinger, Ph.D., Curator of Mycology & Associate Professor of Biology

Location: Uintas, Utah

Bryn hails from Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota for his PhD, where he studied the molecular systematics of clavarioid and porcini mushrooms. He has carried out fieldwork all over the world, including exciting collecting trips to Vietnam, Brazil, and Cameroon.

Photo Credit: Bryn Dentinger, Ph.D., Curator of Mycology & Associate Professor of Biology

Location: Uintas, Utah

The Dentinger lab studies fungal diversity using collections-based research, integrating fieldwork and molecular data to discover and understand the awesome and often weird world of Fungi. We routinely employ DNA barcoding to identify fungi collected from all over the world. More recently, genome sequencing has become standard practice for phylogenetic inference, metagenomic discovery in complex samples, and comparative approaches to elucidate natural product biosynthesis and genome evolution.

Photo Credit: Jeremiah Watt

Mitchell J. Power, Ph.D. Curator of Botany with Students
NHMU Field Work - Uintas, Utah

Mitchell Power, curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, is fascinated with the mechanisms that cause changes in plant communities since the last Ice Age. His research explores the linkages among vegetation, disturbance, climate, and people through time. During the last 20 years he has traveled to many ecosystems around the world conducting fieldwork and exploring the importance of historical processes and climate change.

Photo Credit: Jeremiah Watt

Mitchell J. Power, Ph.D. Curator of Botany

Mitchell Power, curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, is fascinated with the mechanisms that cause changes in plant communities since the last Ice Age. His research explores the linkages among vegetation, disturbance, climate, and people through time. During the last 20 years he has traveled to many ecosystems around the world conducting fieldwork and exploring the importance of historical processes and climate change.

Photo Credit: Jeremiah Watt

Mitchell J. Power, Ph.D. Curator of Botany with Students
NHMU Field Work - Uintas, Utah

Mitchell Power, curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, is fascinated with the mechanisms that cause changes in plant communities since the last Ice Age. His research explores the linkages among vegetation, disturbance, climate, and people through time. During the last 20 years he has traveled to many ecosystems around the world conducting fieldwork and exploring the importance of historical processes and climate change.

Photo Credit: Jeremiah Watt

Mitchell J. Power, Ph.D. Curator of Botany with Students
NHMU Field Work - Uintas, Utah

Mitchell Power, curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, is fascinated with the mechanisms that cause changes in plant communities since the last Ice Age. His research explores the linkages among vegetation, disturbance, climate, and people through time. During the last 20 years he has traveled to many ecosystems around the world conducting fieldwork and exploring the importance of historical processes and climate change.

Photo Credit: Jeremiah Watt

Mitchell J. Power, Ph.D. Curator of Botany with Students
NHMU Field Work - Uintas, Utah

Mitchell Power, curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, is fascinated with the mechanisms that cause changes in plant communities since the last Ice Age. His research explores the linkages among vegetation, disturbance, climate, and people through time. During the last 20 years he has traveled to many ecosystems around the world conducting fieldwork and exploring the importance of historical processes and climate change.

Understanding nature requires that we get a little dirty, especially when looking for outstanding insects and other arthropods.