Eugene Weekly : It’s About Time : 10.1.09

By David Wagner

Golden chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus)

According to some traditions, October is the month the gods take vacation, so it behooves us to see that sacred places are kept secure and tidy. As the gods have taken care of our surroundings, we must help take care of theirs.

There seemed to have been fewer flies than usual this past summer. Perhaps it was because the spiders were so plentiful? Are they not like arctic foxes and hares, whose populations cycle up and down in opposition?

A change of seasons is taking place. The rains blow down from the north, carried in on cold air. The cold air produces what fall color we enjoy, most of the reds coming from vine maple and poison oak. In good years the bigleaf maple turns a lovely yellow gold. As the maple leaves turn brown, notice little green islands sporting black spots on many leaves. This is the tar spot fungus, a living antibiotic hosted inside the maple leaves. It becomes visible only at the end of the season, when it borrows a small piece of the leaf’s food factory to reproduce: The black dots are its spore bodies.

While the cold air is shutting down the deciduous trees and flowering herbs, the rain is stimulating the fungi under the forest canopy into action. This is the season of most prolific growth of mushrooms. The favorite of the region, the golden chanterelle, reaches its best in October. Remember the wonderful mushroom show at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum on the 25th.

David Wagner is a botanist who has worked in Eugene for more than 30 years. He teaches mosses and is president of the Eugene Natural History Society. He may be reached at fernzenmosses@me.com

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

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Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

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