Because of our wonderful temperate climate here in Western Washington, even in December, the mycology of the landscape is awake and thriving. Most mushrooms are not edible, but there is still so much to learn from our fungal friends. I took a walk around the property and photographed what was growing on around the land here at EEC Forest Stewardship. This Helvella lacunosa is a wonderful example of a common winter mushroom you night find in the woods or across the pasture. Though they are not recommended for eating, they are an unusual shape (though not for the family) Helvellaceae. Note the stem shape, it’s actually chambered within those ridges, making the identity of this mushroom rather easy. I love sharing the common nae of this mushroom, “Elfin Saddle”.
Other mushrooms are not so easy to identify, and are often small and overlooked, especially in grassy terrain. These modest little Hygrocybe marginata is recognizable to those with a discerning eye. Waxy cap mushrooms are named for their texture and feel. This species has a bright orange cap, and is not edible, but these little guys are working hard to decompose plant matter to enhance the soil for future growing.
One of my favorite little guys to see popping up are in the mycena genus. These mushrooms sometimes come in bright colors like pink or teal green, but more often, you’ll see cream colors like this. These are Saprotrophic mushrooms, meaning they oxidize electrons from donors in the plant and soil community to obtain energy. The chemical complexities of mushrooms is a long rabbit hole to go down here, but for those interested in the chemical breakdowns fungi provide, the internet is full of complex diagrams like this. I’m not a chemist, but let’s just say that mushrooms play a crucial role in soil and plant health by unlocking and exchanging many hard to get chemicals in the environment. Without fungal activity, much of the complex ecological structures like forests and even desert sand would be missing key ingredients to support life.
You’ll often find communities of different mushrooms together in one place. This speaks to the diverse range of chemical decomposition each mushroom offers the soil and plant life around it. When you see one mushroom, take a moment to look around, there are probably others nearby. I would like to see more studies on the communal relationships between different species of mushroom in the environment. So far, we’re still working to even map some of the DNA in mushrooms and discovering that certain families we groups mushrooms into are way off from the actual DNA signatures they present. Humans have an endless quest to understand nature. If mushrooms are any indication, we are still clueless about mush of the mycological world, or it’s crucial role in nature. It concerns me that with such limited understanding, we the people still impose vast changes on our environment to suit our own short term needs.
Some mushrooms are hard to identify, especially after aging. Old mushrooms are usually brown and mushy, almost completely unidentifiable. People like to send me pictures of mushrooms and ask what kind they are. Rarely, I can ID them, most of the time I make broad speculations- and say so, because mushrooms are a huge, complex family tree, and the subspecies change a lot, because new DNA research is starting to show us just how expansive and diverse the mushroom kingdom is. I made an educated guess that the white mushroom pictured above might be in the Pholiota family. Then I went a little deeper to see if I could track down a specific species and hit the usual DNA roadblock. It’s very common to not know a mushroom in the field. Many species can only be narrowed down though a microscope. You look at spore prints to see the unique shapes produced by that species to get a better idea of who it is. I’m not at that level of ID, and certainly not with just a picture to go on.
What I can say is that if you want to use photos to go deep, you need pictures of the cap, stem, gill structure, surrounding material you see the mushroom growing in, and specific location it was found. Then be prepared to just not know. As I mentioned earlier, mushroom DNA research is letting us know that we really know nothing about mushrooms. That’s fine by me, because I really just like to do a bit of foraging and basic ID in the field. That’s still a lifetime of learning. With just over a decade of wandering around in an attempt to get to know them, my mushrooming skills help me know what’s edible in my specific bioregion and no where else. That’s another thing about mushrooms, they may look similar in other parts of the world, but are rarely the same family you know back home.
Sometimes we completely miss a mushroom right under our feet. This decaying brown group of fungi looks like typical Marasmius oreades, but I would not bet on it, knowing how much a mushroom can change as it ages. In my quest to identify this species, I ran across a great little site with a specific entry on lawnmower mushrooms. It’s always fun to see what others are learning in the field. Though no mowing goes on here, the sheep can easily spread spores as they graze about. Animals often carry spores on their fur. I often see a trail of fruiting fungi along animal paths in the woods. It’s a fun detail to note when you are mushroom hunting. Remember that fungi can be very toxic, so wash hands if you do handle them. If you are unsure, just leave them where they are. It’s ok to just take a picture and move on. You probably won’t get a clear ID, but just taking a little time on the world wide web to look at what’s out there is worth the time and learning.
EEC Forest Stewardship 