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This all started because of my little girl and me being over protective. I dont want my little one eating anything shes not supposed to while playing outside, which is basically alot lol. But all in all I got interested in Mycology got all the books from the library I could and still reading them. I am here to get a better sense in identifying mushrooms, further my experience, and hopefully understand them to the point I can use that to support my family.

Found in North Carolina

Hello everyone. Thank you to all who helped with my last identification. Alas, I think I figured this one out myself. I was hiking this evening in NC and found the cool mushroom in the pics. I scavenged a zipbag from my day-pack and harvested the specimen. I photographed it and took it home to spore print and identify. (See pic, please.) I tried an app to identify it and it came back as something completely wrong, with several more suggestions that were easily ignored. I will not name the app. A few minutes on the internet, and I am fairly certain it is a Volvarialla bombycina. Being new, I am hoping someone could help with a confirmation. I have also concluded that I would be wrong. It could be a different subspecies of Volvariella or Volvopletus or worse something completely frightening but all signs seem to point toward the Variella b. mushroom. Again, no one is eating it, just learning. Let's see if I can do this right and sound intelligent. OBSERVATIONS: 1) The mushroom was growing alone in some "Mulch" in a dead hardwood tree on a small freshwater island in NC in early August. 2) The mushroom smelled similar to a portabella or variant. 3) The volva was intact upon discovery. 4) The gills (lamellae) were salmon colored. (Similar Copic Marker RV42 Salmon Pink) 5) The cap (pileus) was "fuzzy" looking up close. (See pic Volv6) 6) When separating the stem (stipe) from the cap (pileus) it was firmly attached and broke into three pieces as seen in the pic (volv1). 7) The pieces were very moist and it took nearly an hour to get a good spore stain. 😎 The spore stain is a rusty reddish brown color. (Similar to Pantone 18-1248 TCX swatch) 9) Ants were on it. (Not sure this is relevant.) 10) Cap was approximately 4"-5" in diameter. Thank you all for your patience and help.

Hello, noob here. I found this on a backpacking adventure in mid July (About a week ago) in Central North Carolina. It looks delicious, thought not being an expert, I didn't and probably will not harvest or eat it. I am curious what it is and whether it has an look-a-likes or other things to be concerned with. Again, not going to eat it but I do think it is a shame that I don't know more about what I can and can't eat in the mushroom world, so unless I chicken out, wild mushrooms may be a new adventure. I tried looking it up and it looks to me like something akin to A Chicken of The woods but I have no idea what I am talking about. Also there were a ton of inch tall orange mushrooms I had no idea what were. They were super bright orange-red. Surely they looked like something Snow White would do best to avoid. Any info on the topic would be appreciated. Thank you.

I know almost nothing about mushrooms and these were in my yard. I was just curious what kind they are.

I came across these cool rusty polypores. They look like melted iron! I was in Northern Georgia/Western North Carolina hiking the appalachian trail in December. I am unable to identify these even a little bit. The last pic shows what i believe to be unrelated species found on the same tree.

I found these beauties on a moss-covered tree in late december. I believe these are panellus serotinus given the time of year but could they maybe be pleurotus ostreatus? There appears to be little or no attaching stalk, kidney bean color, crowded gills that appear a lighter shade of the caps.

Hello all, happy to find my way here. I live in Western NC, near the Tenn. border, on an old, rundown farm surrounded by Pisgah Nat Forest. This is my 3rd year hunting edible and medicinal mushrooms. I hike and run in the forest and one day found an entire fallen Beach tree covered in Oysters, that's how I got started. I ate so many of those I smelled "funny" according to my GF. That first year I also found Chicken (Sulphur Shelf) and Fried-chicken mushrooms, but they were old and buggy. And, I ate my first Chanterelle that summer. Also, I burned off around some old Apple trees on my property and last year Morels came up! This year was hot and dry and only 1 Morel bloomed I'm going to irrigate next year if necessary. I race off-road motorcycles and often follow the logging roads and fire roads deep into the forest. Last year I started foraging while taking a break, along with my usual efforts at collecting the trash that the Bear hunters leave each year I was rewarded with my first Latex Milky and abundant Chanterelles. This year I ate my first Boletes, Painted and White Suillus. I rate both as choice btw. Now I'm finishing what may be the last of the Latex Milky, though I'm still hoping more will bloom when it rains again, Chanterells are up and there's so many Oysters I've started drying them. Summer Boletes are up, but nothing edible yet, only B. sensibilis and today a Violet-gray Bolete. Also this year I hit the Reishi jackpot. I drank fresh tea for over a month and have 7 quarts of dried slices. Sorry for the long post, but I don't have anyone else interested to tell it to. I guess I should join the local club soon. Looking forward to learning more and hopefully contributing a little

Hello folks! I'm a lucky newbie to wild mushroom forging. I've posted some pictures on the facebook sites, so apologize for double post, but just wanted to share some pictures of a recent find and some background information. For the last few years I've had shitake logs that have produced some, about 30 this fall, which was the largest harvest yet. After a heavy period of rain this past spring and then again in the fall, a mushroom explosion in our back 1 acre forest got me thinking hard about forging in the wild. We've been in the self suffiency mindset for a few years now and this hobby is a natural progression towards that goal. Anyhow, the first trip to a local park in Oct did not net anything other than some experience picking out mushrooms from distance. I was most amazed at how many there were if you just looked at the ground closely. The second trip was one of the most amazing experiences that led to this ephipany that free wild food in the form of mushrooms is as easy as a Sunday walk in the woods. As I walked down the trail a few white clusters caught my eye. Now my shitake logs grew something similar that must have been a mixed up plug of hericium erinaceus, so the heart started beating harder and sure enough, my first legit wild mushrooms, two lions mane about six inches in diameter. An hour later while making the turn around a large oak, two clusters of mushrooms were grown at the base. Sure enough, two 5 lb clusters of maitake. With a basket more than full, I left complelely euphoric. Since, I've been back a few times and idenfified a couple of down trees with oysters, but after a cold Oct and Nov, pretty much figured mushrooms would not be back until spring until last week when my new mushroom id book spoke about oysters being one of the few that flush during warmer winter periods. The next day by chance I was walking our fence line trying to find where our dogs broke through the fence and low and behold, a small fresh cluster of oysters. I just had to go back to see if some of the trees from Oct were producing. Here are some pictures prove that even after some really cold weeks of weather, you can find oyster mushrooms in NC during the colder months of the year. These were two weeks ago... went yesterday (Dec 22) and found a couple more like this producing. Charger the mushroom dog showing off his find :-)