this is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw
if you are looking for lots of good edible mushrooms that are easy to find all in one place then Kuehneromyces mutabilis sheathed woodtuft is just the thing
they are common, have a long season and usually if you find some there are lots of them
there's more than enough for a meal on a single stump so no need to pick every last one. perhaps they are not as tasty as the absolute best wild fungi but they fill your basket quickly and once you've tasted them you'll likely understand it's not difficult to bring out the best in them.
notice how they resemble fried eggs sunny side up. there are a few fungi that they can be confused with in the beginning but there are sure indicators to look for when identifying them. you need positive identification before you attempt to eat them
the spores are chocolate brown and the lower caps are likely to be covered with spores. no problem, they are fine
there is one potential look alike you definitely need to know
this innocent looking handsome fungi is Galerina marginata funeral bell. you can tell by the name this is not one to eat.
though these young specimens are uniform in color, they typically become two toned with changes in humidity
like the sheathed woodtuft, they grow on dead wood and even though they may grow in clusters it won't be in numbers enough to fill your basket. regardless don't pick sheathed woodtufts until you are sure you can identify both it and the funeral bell as well.
here's another species of fungi growing on dead wood but these almost got me stumped
the outer fringe sure looks like Phlebia tremellosa jelly rot but what's that in the middle- it looks like a dead leaf but it is a perfect fit. if it's a leaf then it landed exactly right and just sunk in and covered everything except the woolly fringe. i think i see the stem of the leaf...
oh yeah. it's a leaf alright. there's another one and it doesn't fit so well...
that is definitely a leaf. it molded itself to the form of the fungus like the first one but the shape is not the same. anyway i never took much notice of jelly rot before. the name is enough to tell you that it is not edible. it does look cool though, like wet wool or better yet wool soaked in vaseline to give it that gelatinous look
it gets dark early. time to go and cook up some dinner.
like i said in the title October is a good month for mushrooms
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