Summer Harvest Begins

I installed a new hard drive and reinstalled lost software onto my ailing computer. It is again humming at top proficiency. So, as a kind of inaugural post, I will show what's growing in my front yard as the summer season begins:


This is Lactarius camphoratus, the Aromatic Milk Cap. It is very aromatic and used to add a spicy, curry-like or maple syrup flavor to dishes. The aroma becomes more intense after drying, afterward the mushroom is ground and used as a spice. This is very similar to the Candy Cap found in the western U.S. Some have argued with me that Candy Caps (L. rubidus) are not found in the east, but this thing comes extremely close to the revered mushroom of the west.



This is Craterellus fallax, the Black Trumpet. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of these coming up, scattered around the oaks in my front yard. They are delicious and dry well, to be used in dishes at a later time.



Here are the Aromatic Milk Caps and Black Trumpets together in my mushroom basket. These were gathered quickly in the early evening on the day I found them. If the rest of the summer is as fruitful as this portends, I'll spend many a happy hour gathering.

Apologies

This is to inform blog followers that my home computer suffered a primary hard drive failure. I may have lost everything; photos, photo editing software, etc. I am in the process of getting a new hard drive and operating system and recovery software. I'm having withdrawal from my photo editing programs, which I hope to use to bring mushroom photos to the blog. When I get things going again, you'll see the photos get furiously posted.

More Early Season Stuff

These pop up in the front yard in the same spot almost every spring. It has a noticeable radish odor when crushed, which is usually characteristic of Hebeloma rather than Inocybe. But, the cap surface is dry and fibrillose rather than viscid, which is more like Inocybe. The dark, broad umbo is distinguishing. Neither genus offers good edibles as far as I know. Poisonous mushrooms are common in each genus.

Early Find ID Request

Critters were digging holes in the soil in the front yard. This is in the forest, and a large oak is near where I was finding the holes. Looking into a hole, I saw something light-colored, 3" or 4" down in the darker soil. I retrieved a small (~10mm), spherical object that looked like it had been broken open.

The peridium was hard with small, regular bumps (kinda like a basketball, I had to use a loupe to see them). The gleba was light-gray and pasty. On drying the gleba became powdery. Couldn't detect any odor. The taste is moldy. ID suggestions are welcome.

No suggestions as of yet (Apr. 11). I'm gonna hazard a guess; Leucogaster? This guess is based on the white mature spore mass, and the hard, rind-like skin/peridium. Animals (squirrels?) are still digging fresh holes where I found the first specimen. All the holes are concentrated in a circular area about 5' in diameter, with tighter clusters of holes within this space. I'll try to find another specimen, today or tomorrow. This being Easter weekend.

WTF? ID Request for Early Finds

These were found growing around the trunk of a standing dead pine tree. They appear widely-spaced around the trunk, not clustered. Average size is about an inch, some bigger some smaller. The golden-orange color attracted my attention.

The skin or peridium is very smooth, somewhat shiny, thick and tough. Initial appearance resembles a balloon being squeezed out under pressure from fissures in the tree bark. It resisted being cut with a sharp knife. Taste is bitter, more so than other puffballs I've tasted. On slicing, I was surprised to find it hollow. I will have to check others to see if they too are hollow. IDs are welcome.

A comment to this post suggests this is actually a polypore, Cryptoporus volvatus! If the chance arises, I'll return to the tree to see if the mushrooms have matured into a form more resembling a polypore.

Early Season Finds

Tremella lutescens, Witch's Butter


Lenzites betulina

Took a stroll in the woods to see what's up. It's still early in the season and not unusual for night temperatures to dip down to freezing. The top photo is Tremella lutescens (= T. mesenterica). It is edible but tasteless. I've heard some use it in soups. You usually find it on dead wood in damp weather.

Thanks to the 1st comment ever to this blog, the bottom picture is identified as Lenzites betulina. L. betulina is actually a Polypore, but it has gills as seen in the picture. Tough as shoe-leather and just as edible, some research indicates possible medicinal uses (antitumor, immunosuppressive). Might be able to grind and use in a tea?

Where I Forage

Above is a radar topographical image (courtesy of NASA/JPL) of the region where I forage for mushrooms. Fort Valley runs diagonally from the bottom left to the top right across the middle of the image.

Passage Creek is the drainage basin for Fort Valley. "The Fort" is bordered by the roughly parallel ridges of Massanutten Mountain. The North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River can be seen meandering along the base of Massanutten Mountain on either side. Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains are in the bottom right corner.

Luray, Edinburg and Woodstock, Virginia are towns found in the region pictured. Interstate 81 runs through Shenandoah Valley, on the left side of the image. Most of Massanutten Mountain is forest, and is a good place to find mushrooms.