Dave W

Funny how the "best" morel regions do not always offer the best spots to collect morels. Here in NE PA morels are very scarce. After years of searching around here, by the mid 1990s I had managed to identify a few good spots within 20 miles of where I lived back then. Most of these spots were old unattended apple orchards, pretty good back then, but most of the apple trees have since died. ( I tested the soil for lead content... no problems detected. Numbers of morels in these dying orchards have steadily declined since 2000.) One other local area is a forest of tulip poplar and white ash, where at least four species of Morchella occur (in variable annual amounts; blacks have declined with the loss of white ask trees). Since then, I found another spot that's got a lot of elm trees. This is currently my best morel walk... a bushwhack, followed by a stream crossing via an obscure defunct railroad bridge, another semi-bushwhack, a quick scurry across a narrow piece of posted land, and then into the Promised Land, a 3-5 acre plot of elms... some dead, some looking healthy, some small... where I have found some of the nicest morels I have ever seen. The upshot of this... When I drive over 100 miles away to areas where morels are more common, there are more morel hunters but sometimes fewer morels than in my local spots. And, those local area I already mentioned... never ran into another morel hunter.

Alaska is on my bucket list... and Washington, at the right time of year. (I visited WA in early August once. Not much in the way of mushrooms, but a beautiful state nonetheless.) When I was maybe 12 years old, trout-fishing in a small stream in the Poconos. Right across the middle of the stream, a large cluster of mushrooms on a downed tree. My Uncle John immediately IDed them as "popinki" (Armillaria). Filled up my fishing creel. I think this was the beginning of what has evolved into a multi-faceted hobby for me.

Adawg, when I click on the nugget photo to initiate zoom mode, the photo does not enlarge. I think this indicates the file is very small. Maybe a year or so ago, only small-file photos would post at this website. This issue has since been resolved. The photos I have been posting are all ~3.0 MB. An old-timer who lives on my road told me he used to pan for gold in some streams only about 20 miles from where I live. But that nugget is the first evidence I've seen of anyone finding gold here in eastern NA.

It's also a function of quantity. What people see here represents the top 10% of the top 15% of the photos I snap in the field. I once snapped thirty-something photos of a single morel. Most of these were discarded. But, a handful of nice shots are stored in my files. This one is an honest in-situ. Also, this small "yellow morel" was found April 6 2012, an extremely early date for this type mushroom.

I use a Canon Powershot ELPH 160. It's your basic $100 digital camera. I use the M1 setting for resolution. On the camera display it says this res level is 10M, but the photos record at about 3 megapixels +-0.3 megapixels. I set it on AUTO and snap a lot of photos, especially if the subject (mushroom) is unusual or a particularly good example of a type. IMO, lighting is the most important thing. Almost all my mushroom photos are taken outdoors, in natural light. The trick is to get good ambient lighting without too much glare or too much shadow. Sometimes, finding a spot where there's a bit of shade near an open brightly lit area is all it takes to get decent photos. Position the subject so that direct sunlight and any reflections of sunlight are avoided. My camera seems to take the best mushroom photos when it's held maybe 8"-10" away from the subject. If the backdrop behind the subject includes a lot of depth of field (distance), then the camera may fail to focus on the mushroom, which occupies a relatively small area of the frame. Placing the mushroom onto the ground, atop a log, stump, or rock, or just on my hand helps the camera focus at the desired distance. In-situ shots are trickier. Sometimes I will move a mushroom into a spot with better lighting/backdrop and create a faux in-situ (by imitating the natural conditions). I carry a white translucent photography umbrella inside my knapsack (also comes in handy when I'm surprised by rainfall :-) I also carry a light reflector which consists of aluminum foil glued onto a piece of cardboard. Generally, I don't put a lot of effort into photographing a typical mushroom of a fairly common type. But, if I find something particularly interesting --or if I'm making a collection that's likely to be included in a study-- I may take 10-15 minutes adjusting lighting and positioning. On a 2-3 hour foray I'll typically accumulate 300-400 photos (if there's plenty of mushrooms to find). At home, I load all the photos onto my laptop, sort through them, and label the ones I decide to keep. About 70%-80% of the photos I take on a given foray end up in the trash. I like to cover a lot of ground and get photos of lots of different things I see. So my emphasis is more on quantity than quality... except for when something really captures my interest. Something I should have --keep forgetting to get one-- is a small stabilizing beanbag... used to keep the hand-held camera steady. I do not use a tripod.

Okay, John. I'll look for your MO post. It'll be certain to attract the attention of Rod Tulloss. BTW, do you know the identity of the mushrooms in photo #7? (A type of bolete I think; there's a 1960 nickel in the photo.)

There's actually quite a few genus names of fungi beginning with the letter X. Xanthoconium affine is called Boletus affinus in older guidebooks. Cap/stem color are highly variable. Some years I see a few examples of Xanthoconium purpureum, other years none at all. But 2106 was a banner year for this species. I saw large fruitings in several different locations. The ones in the second photo... at first I did not recognize these as X purpureum. Xerocomellus chrysenteron is called the "Cracked Cap Bolete". Color is a bit muted in these two photos. The flesh exposed by the cracks in the cap is pink. Xerocomus hortonii has a deeply wrinkled/pitted cap. This next photo shows what was IDed as Xerocomus illudens via DNA extraction/analysis. But it's a bit unclear whether this is the correct name. Older material documented in gen-bank as X. illudens may have been misidentified. Xylobolus frustulatus looks like a tile mosaic on a log. X would not be complete without Xeromphalina. The two most common species are X. campanella and X. kaufmanii. These small orangish mushrooms grow on wood.This photo is from 2014. Xylaria polymorpha is called "Dead Man's Fingers". A different Xylaria species.

Interesting. I think this is something other than Hericium. Some fungi produce "mushrooms" that are called anamorphs. These are asexual growths that are said to resemble masses of mold as opposed to well-formed mushrooms. Perhaps this is an anamorph of the Pleurotus species...? Just a guess. I don't know very much about anamorphs.

Starting a new thread for X.

Nice photos, John. That first one, white Amanita. I think this may be a rare species. Looks to be virtually white mushrooms representing a species from genus Amanita section Amanita subsection Pantherinae. It seems like a longshot, but this may be an example of what has been called Amanita frostiana var. pallidipes. Here's a description from the Amanita Studies website. http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita+frostiana+var.+pallidipes The ones seen in this post have the "rolled sock" volva (structure/bulb on the base of the stalk), a trait associated with this subsection of Amanita.. It would be interesting to see this photo posted on Mushroom Observer. You need to be a member to post there (free, no SPAM). If you'd like, I could post the photo to MO. I'd just need you to email me the photo.

"Whites" are what many Russians call Boletus edulis and related edible non-staining boletes (Porcini, Ceps, Penny Buns, King Boletes, Borowik, Steinpiltz)

Those are "Birch Polypores", Piptoporus betulinus. In his "One Thousand American Fungi" author Charles McIlvaine (1840-1909) said the young fruit bodies were edible. I tried some once, but found it to be bitter. The fungus has been used as a razor strop. Wikipedia reports that this fungus contains healthful substances. I have not tried using it for this purpose. I'm guessing the ones seen in the photos are post-mature, having over-wintered. I think fresher material, with a white pore surface, would better serve any of the purposes mentioned. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/piptoporus_betulinus.html

And if you can manage doing three things at once, also have a glass of vodka while looking at the pictures and eating the soup made of "whites" and barley. I am guessing you can manage that :-)

I like the "roof". Helps keep mushrooms from falling out of the basket.

Inmar, why not enjoy the beautiful pictures, and eat the delicious mushrooms? One could do both at the same time! Exquisite photos. I counted at least 13 decent-to-excellent edible types (if you include the couple of Lycoperdon species).

Okay, my friend Boris from graduate school --one of the first ex-Soviets to arrive in America-- served me pickled Armillaria mushrooms that we had picked together. This was accompanied by vodka. The "oopyeta" mushrooms were preserved in vinegar. I have heard about the salting method. This is popular in Scandinavia. I wonder which types of Lactarius mushrooms are best. And I wonder about the details of the salting method.

A week before the day when I took the photo of the thermometer I was cross-country skiing about 30 miles from my home. Forecast for tomorrow night calls for low temps in the single digits F. Wacky weather for sure!

Yes, nice job. The gills are not free. They appear to be "decurrent", meaning they run down the stalk. Here's another guess... Pleurotus dryinus. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/pleurotus_dryinus.html The stalks on the ones seen in this thread are unusually thin for Pleurotus. But the lengths of the stalks --long when compared with other Pleurotus species-- are in character with P. dryinus. I think there's a good chance these are P. dryinus.

Rob, those temperatures you mention... Celsius, I presume. We had 76F here in PA a week ago (~24.5C). This broke the old record for highest temperature ever recorded during the entire month of February by 3F...! Below is a photo of the thermometer that's in a sunny area of my front porch. Although when one considers "extreme" weather events, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, droughts, or sizzling heat come to mind, this 76F temp in February is perhaps the most unusual weather event I have witnessed during my entire life. And, as a bit of colder air descended upon the heels of this warmth, there was an EF2 tornado that cut a 10 mile swath about 15 miles from my home. First ever observation of a tornado here in February. The previous record mean monthly February temp was shattered by nearly 2F.

Probably a species of Leucocoprinus. Note the onion-stalk shaped stem and the flaky material on the stem (cap also appears to feature flaky scales... little difficult to see). Also, I think I see the remnant of a ring on the one stem. Judging from the appearance of the gills, looks to be a white-spored mushroom species. This is a really interesting find. There are a few different species that routinely occur indoors. One of these is Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, which is definitely not the type of mushroom seen here (yellow cap, grows from soil in flower pots). Pleurotus species are also known to occur indoors, another non-match for the ones seen here. Species of Coprinellus are also known to occur indoors. But these are black-spored mushrooms, definitely not a reasonable match for these. Some Peziza species --"cup fungi"-- occur indoors... which these clearly are not. Here's my best guess, Leucocoprinus cepaestipes. http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leucocoprinus_cepaestipes.html Inandout, could you describe whether the gills are attached to the stalks, or are they "free" of the stalk... terminating a short distance from the stalk?

That's an interesting suggestion, rob, about the possible edibility of very young R. badius. When they first pop, they have a softer texture than the mature version. I almost always see some while hunting morels in areas with dead elms.

These are all polypores that probably fruited last fall. The resilient mushrooms withstand being frozen and buried under snow. First one (top photos) looks like Royoporus badius (formerly Polyporus badius). If correct, the undersides should be almost smooth (pores either too small to observe or barely observable). Numbers 2 and 3 I don't recognize. A possibility for 3 may be genus Trametes. But there are other possibilities. Once these type fungi endure the freezing/thawing overwinter cycles, the appearance may change somewhat. For example, the fertile surface (pores) may become eroded or begin to pull apart, or the color of the cap may change.

First photo shows a lichen. Is the wood in the second photo hardwood or conifer? I'm guessing it's some kinda pine. In this case the fungus would be Dacrymyces, "False Witch's Butter". Actually, over two weeks ago I found a large cluster of old Oysters that had apparently fruited before the mid-February snowstorm here. Nice snowdrops.

No shortcuts to edibility of wild fungi. One learns edible types by learning to recognize individual species. And even then it can be tricky. For some edible species there are look-alike species that may be inedible or even toxic. If there is a mushroom club in your area, I'd recommend joining. Experienced members will help you learn about the local types of fungi. Here are a couple based in S CA. San Diego: http://www.sdmyco.org/ Ponoma: http://lamushrooms.org/index.html

True Turkey Tail --Trametes versicolor-- has very small pores on the (usually white) fertile surface. "False Turkey Tail" --Stereum ostrea-- has a smooth fertile surface. The pore openings are so small that a microscope is needed to see them. Otherwise, these two species produce mushrooms that are very similar in appearance. Neither type is edible, form a culinary point of view. Trametes versicolor is used to make a tea/tincture that some people believe has health benefits.