Fungi Variety

Hi, Krista W. here. Wanted to post some pictures of the various fungiI found while morel hunting with my kids a couple of weeks ago. I took samples to identify when I got back home, but most of them were too dried out after processing the morels. I'm hoping that some of you may know one or two of these by sight. If not, no worries. Just enjoy the pictures. We had perfect weather for hiking with convenient breaks in the rain. These first two pics are of "pink" mushrooms that had popped up all over, right along with the morels. Most were 8 - 10 cm, with a pink cap and a streaky pink stipe. The stipe broke like chalk, which made me think Russula...Pleasant smell.


I think these are a Lentinus/Lentinellus. White spores, growing mostly on Birch logs, pleasant smell, with ragged gills.


A pile of bluish translucent "snot." =)





Pretty beige mushrooms with concentric circles on the cap. The stipe was shiny, with a little bit of fuzz.



A tuber-like fungus(?) that we found near the bases of fir trees. We only saw them when they had been dug up by something. I assume more were there, but were underground. Something large, like deer, or maybe bear, seemed to have dug them up and worried them a bit, but those we saw didn't look to have anything eaten off of them. I thought they were a slime mold at first, but they were quite tough and didn't break up unless you really tromped on them.


Buttons of a light-greenish-yellow-capped mushroom. Greyish-green gills. The color is not very good in this picture. The top was a rather vivid green.







Last of all are these medium-sized (4-6 cm) conical capped mushrooms.

Blue Mountains

Hello this is Kevin S. I made a trip over to a place in the Blue mountains that I have found Boletes this time of year last weekend. I was hoping that the cold weather would let me catch them before they got to buggy. As it turned out I found about 5 in my secret spot but the main crop hadn't come up yet. The elevation is around 3600 feet. I hunted around and found morels in various states of age but no more Boletes. I tried to follow the Grande Rhonde over to Granite but snow was blocking the way. I think the Anthony lakes trip may run into a lot of snow. I went up Ladd canyon off of I84 and did find some morels but most were already over ripe. Wendy and I plan to look for Boletes in the lower elevations near McCall next week-end.

Bear Basin a bit slow

Just a note to let you know that Bryan and I went up to Brundage Road to get to Bear Basin. Unfortunately, the Honda was stopped by snow prior to getting to the four corners. The further you got up the road, the fewer the mushrooms. We walked Brundage Road, and did find a variety of fungi, including most everything we found at the foray two weeks ago. There were a few morels out in a variety of age classes, but nothing to get excited about! We did scare a sow bear and two cubs, so be careful.
The Cambridge area is now slowing down on morel production, so we will continue to search at higher elevations next weekend. Good hunting!

Verpa

Hello
Kevin again. I went up to McCall again this last week-end. I found some morels but they were really full of bugs. I have enclosed a photo of some slim mold, a trillium flower which are really out this spring and a shot from the Forey showing the Verpa compared to a true morel. The one where the stipe goes up under the cap is a Verpa bohemica which you shouldn't eat compared to a Morchella elanta which is great to eat. You need to make sure the stipe is attached to the cap at the base of the cap not up under the cap. Thanks to Hope we had a very nice side by side comparison. Note the cotton inside the stipe of the Verpa.