ameliageheran's Journal

I was most interested in the Fairy Ring Marasmius found in Lab 5, also known as Marasmius Oreades or the edible scotch bonnet because they tend to form fairy rings in temperate grassy areas which I also used to have in my garden at home. The rings that are formed begin at a single origin point and grow outward with the ability to independently evolve in sections. Different areas in the ring of mushrooms can be subject to different mutations and other evolutionary mechanisms making them very interesting to study as they develop.

Hiltunen, M., Ament-Velásquez, S. L., & Johannesson, H. (2021). The assembled and annotated genome of the fairy-ring fungus marasmius oreades. Genome Biology and Evolution, 13(7). https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab126

During my observations I was particularly interested in the ground ivy that I found and so I located it on the phylogenetic tree. Its scientific name is Glechoma hederacea which is part of the genus Glechoma, the family Lamiaceae and order Lamiales. As a non-native, invasive species in north america, ground ivy thrives well in areas that are shady that might not be as optimal for other plants, allowing it to spread fast. It is also stoloniferous meaning it can spread even from bits of root or stem, making it very easily spread. All of the species I observed had some sort of green leaves which are adapted to generate energy through photosynthesis because of the chlorophyll in their cells.