I came across a big dryads saddle today. I got Shep in there for scale, I would say it is about .25 sheps in diameter.

The other thing I love about these mushrooms is the trippy underside(I forgot to grab a video). Then I swear they smell like a watermelon rind when you cut into them but my wife argues against, so I could use a decider here. As always hope you all are enjoying the weather and get a chance to be in nature.

I have been finding lots of these guys over the past week.

When I first started hunting for morels I researched how to identify trees based of bark so I could hunt under the elms, tulips, sycamores, etc. what I ended up finding out is mushrooms grow where mushrooms want, rules of thumb be damned.

This patch here was 30 feet away from the closest tree and at that they were pines. Morels cannot be stopped apparently. Happy hunting folks.

Also would love ideas on the granules on the cap. Not snot, not bugs, but I vaguely remember seeing something that it could have been...maybe another fungus? I should have written it down lmao

This is another genus I never looked deeply into so others are welcome to chime in. If I had to guess I would go with brunnea over caroliniana but that is off memory so who knows.

The one thing I do know is that morels come shortly after I start seeing these guys. I already found ramps so just need to check morels off. Hope spring has arrived for you guys as well.

These are some of the first mushrooms to pop around me in spring. The red is always a welcome sight. Not great for eating but I have put them in salads more so for color then them actually tasting good.

I've tried to scale down a single fruiting medium to 100-200g, and it keeps failing time after time: at best, I get small needle-sized fruiting bodies (hypsizygus tessulatus, post picture) or primordia and then small malformed underdeveloped fruiting bodies (pleurotus eryngii, inline picture). Then development just stops. Medium is enriched (sugar) alder chips, contamination starts developing long after growth is stalled. Is it really scale problem? What's the reasonably smallest batch size?

Midwest USA, September 2025

Olympus E-M1 + Oly 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3

@ 43mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO-200, flash -1EV

Edited in darktable

"At a mushroom hot pot restaurant there, the server set a timer for 15 minutes and warned us, 'Don't eat it until the timer goes off or you might see little people,'" says Colin Domnauer, a doctoral candidate in biology at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah, who is studying L. asiatica. "It seems like very common knowledge in the culture there."

Domnauer is on a quest to solve the decades-old mysteries about this fungi species and identify the unknown compound responsible for its unusually similar hallucinations – as well as what it can potentially teach us about the human brain.

Sort of similar to the white coating on a blueberry where touching it leaves a mark. I don't think I've seen this on any other Russula or other mushroom I've come across and was wondering if there is a term for this. If I was smarter I'd have put it under the scope to take a look at the very surface. I don't think it was just dust from the road because this was found well into the woods and the roads weren't particularly dusty that day.

Midwest USA. September 2023

It has been a minute since I last posted here as my fungi options are limited with all this snow, so I'm going through my back catalog. I always seem to find COTW when on the river and unable to harvest. Not that that matters with this one, it's too far gone to be picked. I like how this one looks like a giant insect perched on the tree. These are definitely one of my favorite shrooms.

I spotted these guys today on a trail run in the East Bay, CA. It just rained so there were lots mushrooms and amphibians out! I pointed these mushrooms out to my son as cool organisms that are not to be eaten.

I saw all of the death cap features I've read about / been warned about, except for a volva. But maybe there's one buried under the leaves. These were growing under what might be oak trees.

I'm aware the Western Destroying Angel also grows in this area, and might be more likely to appear at this time of year?

Psathyrella sp.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39826218

California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.

The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.

“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible safe mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”

Obligatory reminder to not eat things you harvest yourself unless you're 100% positive on ID. Join your local society if you want to learn!

Found in Southwest North Carolina. They were all over the exposed root of a fallen tree, was really impressive to see.

If anyone is familiar I’d appreciate an ID for my own curiosity.

Tectella patellaris, if I am not mistaken.

All in all very pleased with this strain.