Our June All-Levels Foray was an engaging and educational morning, learning to look at familiar backdrops through a new lens. We discussed the habitats that mushrooms love and the likelihood of them being found in our chosen location. Together, we agreed on a hike path, found lots of interesting flora and fauna, and practiced using foraging knives!
Wow! We had quite the fun foray, if we do say so ourselves! Even when we don't have a harvest, there's so much to learn. Here are just a few of the things we checked out on our walk.
Cerioporus squamosus
Dryad's Saddle
Also called "Pheasantback," referencing the scales on its cap that resemble the markings of a pheasant
Fertile surface area is pored
Smells like cucumber or melon rind
Dryads grow directly on dead or dying trees and wood
More of an early spring mushroom, the Dryads found on this foray were past prime and nourishing flies and forest
Ganoderma tsugae
Reishi
Has a glossy, lacquered cap
Finely pored fertile surface
Reddish-brown, banded cap with a "peripherally inserted" stem, which gives Reishi its beautiful fan shape
A cousin of Reishi! See how they are both part of the Ganoderma family? I just wouldn't eat an Artist's Conch!
Grows right on the wood in shelves and brackets
Has a matte cap
Pored fertile surface area
Great fun to etch into the pored surface of fresher Conchs. The lines quickly darken. Let your Conch dry out, then use as ornamentation in your home or garden!
Xylaria polymorpha
Dead Man's Fingers
Saprobic; grows on decaying matter, and not necessarily associated with the local mycelium
Elongated, upright, strap-like, club-like stromata that pokes out of ground, looking like fingers
"Polymorpha" refers to its "many forms" of the fruiting body
Usually fruit in clumps of 3-6 "fingers"
Spores are whitish blue
Megacollybia rodmanii
Broadgills
Saprobic; solitary to several on and near deciduous logs, stumps, wood debris or on ground from buried wood
Fungus with one of the longer seasons, from May through October, so when we see rodmaniis, we know it's time to forage!
Gills Attached; white; broad; edges uneven to ragged, appearing eroded
White spore print
White, smooth, often with white rhizomorphs present at the base
We don't recommend consuming rodmanii
This of course isn't an exhaustive list—we also found Jack-in-the-Pulpit, May Apples, overwintered Turkey Tail, Winter Berries, Red Elderberries, and lots of other plants and inedible mushrooms.
More highlights from this foray
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