Mushrooms- Foraging, Identifying, and growing

This blog is of mushrooms I have found/identified or grown. This blog is a secondary blog so I cannot follow back.

[mymushroomfinds]

Unidentified mushroom

Found this mushroom in the park after a period of heavy rain and warm temperatures in south Texas.

[mymushroomfinds]

Unidentified mushroom

 I found these mushrooms in abundance growing in and around a mulch pile after a week-long rain earlier this fall. While I am disappointed I cannot identify this mushroom, I enjoy it's smooth cap and how many of these mushrooms were growing all in one spot.

[mymushroomfinds]

Peppery Milky

Lactarius piperatus

I found this mushroom growing from the leaves and soil of an Ohio state park in August. While I find white mushrooms to be the most difficult to identify, these mushrooms are distinguishable by their crowded gills and thick stem. I enjoy this mushroom because of it's paper-white color and the trumpet-like shape of it's cap.

[mymushroomfinds]

Lemon-Yellow Lepiota 

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii

This trio of Lemon-Yellow Lepiotas was found growing in the mulch and soil landscaping around a tree on campus after a week of rain. These mushrooms are distinguished by their textured cap, ring, and pastel yellow coloring. This mushroom is not edible. I enjoy this mushroom because of the unique combination of textures on it's cap.

[mymushroomfinds]

White Worm Coral

Clavaria fragilis

These tube-like mushrooms were found growing from a ground of dead leaves, and have a white, flesh-like texture. Although the White Worm Corals are white, as the name suggests, they do tend to yellow a a little as they mature like they have in the photo, I enjoy this mushroom because its small size and unique tubular shape.

[mymushroomfinds]

Violet Toothed Polypore

Trichaptum biforme 

This shelf-like mushroom, the Violet Toothed Polypore was found growing near the base of a tree near a walking trail. Although it looks similar to Turkey Tails (Polyporus versicolor), this mushroom has a more toothed-like ridge and colors that more closely resemble the set of color found in the Violet Toothed Polypore. I enjoy this mushroom because of how it grows in overlapping clusters.

[mymushroomfinds]

Poison Puffball

Scleroderma aurantium

Characterized by it's round puff-ball shape, I found this Poison Puffball growing in the woods among mud and unidentified grass-like flora. This mushroom's common name gives away it's inedible and poisonous nature. I enjoy this mushrooms unique shape and outer-texture.

[mymushroomfinds]

Dryad's Saddle

Polyporus squamosus

These mushrooms were found on a park trail in Ohio growing on a dead tree stump, These are the largest mushrooms I've seen thus far. I attempted to capture the size of these beautiful mushrooms by taking a picture with my hand by them. Two of the three mushrooms exceeded the size of my hand. According to my guide, these mushrooms are edible and have a melon-like taste, but as always one should be careful when eating wild mushrooms. I like the Dryad's Saddle because of it's enormous size which made it all the more exciting to find. 

[mymushroomfinds]

Although I am having issues Identifying this mushroom species, it is safe to say it falls in the genus Algaricus. I generally do not disturb or pick the mushrooms I identify, but this mushroom had already been plucked from the soil, so I took the opportunity to get a closer look at it. There were no other mushrooms near where I found this particular mushroom, but when I revisited the area a few weeks later, several of this same mushroom had grown. 

[mymushroomfinds]

School just laid down new mulch and is having warm weather and good rain. I see some mushrooms sprouting.

[mymushroomfinds]

This mushroom was very hard for my to identify for me because the majority of bonnet mushrooms look the same taking into consideration the similarities in color, shape, habitat, but this mushroom had contradicting features like the color of the young cap, light coloring of the mature cap, and the pale-yellow stem color making a specific species Identification difficult. Although I cannot make a distinct identification, I can tell that this is from the Mycenaceae family/ Mycena Genus. I enjoyed the small size of these mushrooms and the large clusters I found them in, although I do not have a photo in this set, there were much larger troops of the same mushroom in the vicinity. 

[mymushroomfinds]

Here are some photos of the inoculation of my maitake mushrooms (Grifola frondosa). This is my first grow, and it took a lot of time especially because I'm not exactly skilled with the power drill and the instructions were a bit confusing. Anyways, I'm hoping that this is a successful grow, if not, I will not be discouraged and I will try again perhaps with a different mushroom species. Wish me Luck!

[mymushroomfinds]

Lemon Peel Fungus

Otidea onotica

I found this mushroom at the beginning of last fall growing from freshly laid mulch on my college campus. I was having trouble deciding if it was a Lemon Peel fungus or an Orange Peel fungus, but because of when and where I found it, it's color, and how the mushroom cup is slit to the base, I decided it was a Lemon Peel fungus. The photo I took was taken from my phone, so the coloring is a little off, but the coloring of the inside and the outside of the cup was a pale yellow.Technically you can eat a Lemon Peel Fungus, but it is not advised or recommended, nor do I advise eating the majority of any wild mushrooms found. unfortunately, it can be sometimes difficult for me to identify mushrooms now from photographs I had taken months ago, so my identifications may not always be 100% correct. I like this fungus because out of the different species of mushrooms I found in the mulch pile, this mushroom had the most unique shape, and I had almost overlooked it because it was not a stem and cap mushroom and I had not come across a cup/disk shaped mushroom before, nor of that color of texture. 

[mymushroomfinds]

Artist's Fungus

Ganoderma applanatum

I found this mushroom hiking in Ohio growing on a dead log. This mushroom was rather hard for me to identify due to mixed results from various references. I enjoy this mushroom because of it's fan-like shape, and bright white smooth underside. 

[mymushroomfinds]

Cauliflower Fungus

Sparassis crispa

Growing on a tree stump, I found this unique  white Cauliflower Fungus in Ohio in the summertime during a hike. This mushroom was fairly large compared to other species, but small compared to how large the Cauliflower Fungus can potentially grow. This species of mushroom is edible. This mushroom interests me because it almost looks like the human brain. 

[mymushroomfinds]

Chanterelle 

Cantharellus cibarius

I found this nice troop of common Chanterelle on a hiking trail in Ohio a few summers ago. Although this mushroom is edible, it is commonly confused with the highly poisonous Jack O' Lantern mushroom, Omphalotus olearius. This mushroom is one of my favorites because of its bright colors and smooth texture.