Snowbank Fungi Revisited Snowbank Fungi Revisited Snowbank Fungi Revisited Snowbank Fungi Revisited Snowbank Fungi Revisited

The are a taxonomically and ecologically diverse group of fleshy that include both Basidiomycota and Ascomycota adapted to the unique microclimate provided by rem- nant snows in high-elevation conifer forests. This article is a brief review of what is known of the that occur in west- ern North America. One of my first encounters with the snowbank fungi was glis- sading down a snowy slope, when suddenly just before I hit bare ground, hordes of shiny gray mushroom heads appeared unex- pectedly from the snow glistening in the high elevation sunlight. It quite took my breath away. Later I learned that deep in the high-elevation forests of west- ern North America where snowbanks linger long into summer months, a unique group of macrofungi flourishes on the melt waters released by the white remnants of winter. Fruiting bodies initiate in the subnivean zone and push up through the snow as it melts around them forming small caverns. At the snow-soil inter- face temperatures hover around freezing. As warm air and sun reduce the snowbanks, an array of mushrooms and cup is revealed along margins in the adjacent melt-water zone. As the season progresses they remain as silent sentinels marking the out- line of defunct snowbanks with their bodies. The are a consistent feature of high eleva- tion western conifer forests in spring and early summer. They are reported primarily from the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range, but their distribution stretches from southern Canada to north- ern New Mexico at elevations of 1500 to 3800 m. I have ob- served them en masse in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Canada, and they are well known in the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra Nevada range of California, and the Wasatch Moun- tains of Utah. Many of the are endemic to west- ern North America. Others also occur outside the West but not in this unique ecological niche. Moser (2004) states we have noth- ing comparable in Europe. The snowbankers appear to be a unique western North American phenomenon. They are not associated with the open snow-beds of arctic and alpine habitats, nor are they associated with glaciers. They are not the typical spring mushroom flora, although a few overlap chronologically with this group. They have not been reported from the eastern USA as an ecological group. The are well-distributed where certain con- ditions are met. They proliferate in regions of high elevation with short, cold summers where snowbanks remain until July. Suffi- cient elevation is necessary for a deep snowpack in mature forests suffused with downed logs and abundant litter and woody debris. Spring and summer nights must be cool enough to retain the snow- banks, and days warm enough to provide melt water for the which fruit as the soil warms and dries. The can occur on steep slopes or level ground, but snowbanks persist longer on northern slopes and in deep shade where fruiting is protracted. Fruiting can stretch into July and August at higher elevations. The are associated mostly with the spruce-fir zone (mixed conifers), and particularly with Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Engelm.), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.), and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Laud.), although they also occur in mixed whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) forests. It is this particular set of trees that provides enough shade to protect against a quick snowmelt (unlike larch or other deciduous trees at high elevations). These trees are also associated with the myc- orrhizal snowbankers such as certain species of Hygrophorus and Cortinarius and they provide woody substrates for the saprobic species as well.

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