Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 5, 2015

Suillus pungens, commonly known as the pungent slippery Jack, is a species of fungus with a slimy convex cap up to 14 cm (5.5 in) wide. The young cap is typically whitish, later becoming grayish-olive to reddish-brown or a mottled combination of these colors. The mushroom has a dotted stem up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. On the underside of the cap is the spore-bearing tissue with angular, yellowish pores; milky droplets on the pore surface of young individuals, especially in humid environments, are a characteristic feature of this species. The mushroom is considered edible, but not highly regarded. The fungus—limited in distribution to California—fruits almost exclusively with Monterey and bishop pine, two trees with small and scattered natural ranges concentrated in the West Coast of the United States. Several studies have investigated the role of S. pungens in the coastal Californian forest ecosystem it occupies. Although the species produces more mushrooms (mostly through efficient transfer of nutrients from its host) than similar competing fungi in the same location, it is not a dominant root colonizer, and occupies only a small percentage of root tips. (Full article...)

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