Hello FungiLovers, and happy Mushroom Monday to you all! Today I would like to share a few fungal finds from my latest mushroom hunt in the woods. Despite this summer continuing to be very dry, leading to a relatively poor mushroom hunting season in comparison to last year's, a small fraction of the many species that had previously remained hidden in the soil and decaying wood around me have begun to show themselves in the woods.
My most exciting find of late has been a bounty of Golden Oysters (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) that continue to invade my region of the world. This non-native and highly delicious species is a welcome invader in my eyes, though I do have some concerns that this species may be outcompeting native species for resources as it seems to be so aggressive in colonizing dead and dying trees adjacent to the waterways and wetlands that dominate my region of the world. Whether this will lead to any meaningful decline in the native fungal diversity is yet to be seen, but in the meantime, I will continue to harvest and enjoy this gourmet edible mushroom. Pan-fried with butter and salt, they make for great mushroom tacos!
One of the more mature fruitings of golden oysters that I came across was particularly interesting to me since it allowed me to see the spores of this species being released and spread in person. Though it may be difficult to see in my pictures, silhouetted against the light of the sun, one can just barely make out thin, whispy, mist-like streams of particles emanating from the upturned caps of the mushroom. These tiny particles are the spores that, carried by the breeze, will settle elsewhere in this woods to colonize new woody substrate and perpetuate the life of this organism long after it has eaten through the downed log that it now calls home.
Along with the samples I collected for eating, I collected several caps be used for collecting spores on tin foil. My hope is to grow this species at home on grain spawn before transferring said spawn to buckets filled with straw. This will hopefully provide me with a reliable source of this delicious edible mushroom well into the future. I attempted to do this same thing a few months ago, but unfortunately all of my grain spawn became contaminated shortly after. Hopefully I have more success this time around!
Other notable fungi that I came across recently include a solitary Yellow American Blusher (Amanita flavorubens) as well as plenty of Crown-tipped Coral Fungus (Artomyces pyxidatus). As always, if you believe that I have misidentified any of the species shown below, feel free to offer your suggestions!
Golden Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus citrinopileatus):
Yellow American Blusher (Amanita flavorubens):
Beech Rooter (Oudemansiella furfuracea):
Oak Mazegill (Daedalea quercina):
Dead Man's Fingers (Xylaria polymorpha):
Turkey-Tail (Trametes versicolor):
Crown-tipped Coral Fungus (Artomyces pyxidatus):
Violet-toothed Polypore (Trichaptum biforme):
Northern Cinnabar Polypore (Trametes cinnabarina):
Neofavolus americanus:
Brittlegills (Genus Russula):
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