Jump to content

Have you guys seen this Mushroom???


Lily

Recommended Posts

I've heard of Cauliflower / Sparassis mushrooms a lot in China. Some call Cauliflower mushroom a sunshine lover. According to Chinese people the Cauliflower mushroom is The king of mushrooms who loves the sunshine. I've never seen any Cauliflower mushroom in my mushrooms hunting experience. I'd like to find some of it my own if it grows in PA. 

 

 

 

Sparassis.crispa.-.lindsey.jpg.28cf5a82013a445ab7a08ce14346df86.jpg

 

Photo from internet .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cauliflower Mushroom (Sparassis) is found in Pennsylvania. There's more than one species that grows in eastern NA   http://www.mushroomexpert.com/sparassis_spathulata.html   Personally, I haven't had much success finding these. But I know people in my area --NE PA-- who find them. They prefer oak woods. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Dave W said:

Cauliflower Mushroom (Sparassis) is found in Pennsylvania. There's more than one species that grows in eastern NA   http://www.mushroomexpert.com/sparassis_spathulata.html   Personally, I haven't had much success finding these. But I know people in my area --NE PA-- who find them. They prefer oak woods. 

I joined an organized foray in Michigan one time where one was found. The leader of the foray called it a 100 mile mushroom. You have to walk a 100 miles before you find one. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The western species, Sparassis radicata, is relatively common, but not abundant where I live: southwestern Canada.  It is very similar to S. crispa and has only recently been differentiated on the basis of genetics.  I don't think that they have much flavor, but their texture is interesting; so I regularly check only a few spots where they have come up near some more interesting mushrooms in my GPS database.  All of the ones that I've found have been at the base of either a pine tree or Douglas-Fir.  Here's a couple of photos of the same spot in an area where I look for Hedgehogs.  The first was found this year on Oct 26 and was just the right size to barely fit in my 6 liter picking pail.  The knife handle is about 3.5 inches long.

IMG_1891.thumb.JPG.842a421ef2d306baf19ccf98a84788aa.JPG

 

The second photo shows the same location on Nov 16, 2013, with my dirty, old day pack for scale.  The larger of the two specimens was too old, but I harvested the upper one.  This location didn't produce anything between 2013 and 2017, and I have never found a location that fruited in consecutive years.

IMG_1376.thumb.JPG.3a01daab5fca38e3c4fd06bfff9aceb6.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, GCn15 said:

 

Chinese people cultivate this mushrooms. I like wild ones and  pick it by my own hands.   http://www.canyin88.com/shicai/2016/01/36933.html

14 hours ago, Staveshaver said:

I live in Western Pa and have found 3 of them in the last few years... none bigger than a cantaloupe. Two were growing on opposite sides of a young pin oak, and the one i found this fall was under shingle oaks. I found them all in the fall while I was hunting Maitake.

What is the difference between pin oak, red oak, white oak ? to me, they all have big prickly leaves. I often heard oak trees host good mushrooms. I need to learn trees then. 

7 hours ago, vitog said:

 

Vitog, I thought cauliflower grow in Summer. pretty interesting! You even found them on Nov. 

1 hour ago, diana said:

I have found it here in the Tampa bay area only much smaller.

This even better! I'm glad the cauliflower can be found in FL too! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, it certainly helps to be familiar with trees when shrooming. Pin oaks and red oaks have pointy, lobed leaves, while white oak leaves are lobed but rounded. Mushrooms tend to like growing near the bigger mature oaks, and the big, old reds and whites are generally shaped differently in their basic structure, i.e. how their branches grow out. The branches of the biggest whites tend to grow more horizontal than the reds, such that they can often be identified from a long, long ways off. Maitake love those big majestic white oaks around here.

 

Departing from oaks a bit... I found a BUNCH of chanterelles under mature shagbark hickory trees this June/July, with nary an oak in sight. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stave, Thanks ! I never knew there are so many different oaks!( There are 615 species of Quercus, of which 450 are from the subgenus Quercus and 188 are subgenus of Quercus.-baidu.com) When I was a child, I only knew one type oak and the the only one grew in my countryside which we picked the oak acorns to play with. 

Years ago, I came to here the U.S.A. One day I found some hickory nuts on the ground," You white guys are so big and tall. Why your nuts are so small?" People had no idea what was I talking about.  Because I never saw hickory nuts in my life. I thought they were walnuts. 

daacbb538e35674ad0443ce933b6d693.jpg

19 hours ago, svs said:

I find those in NJ but not often. 1 or 2 per year, usually during summer but this year found one in September when hens were in season.

Yes, they are not very productive. you are lucky! 

16 hours ago, CamilleR said:

I found some sprassis in August but they're different than the ones above pictured. They look like Elizabethan collars.

Camiller, I also found this kind of cauliflowers a lot in my areas. But they seems to be very tough. I never picked them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.