Pictures I took while mushroom hunting this morning

[Pogo]

I took these pictures with my little cell phone camera. Ain't the best but I thought I'd post them anyways.

The May Apples weren't up yet, so that's a sign that the mushrooms will be appearing a little later.

First, I ran across a foxhole. Mr Fox wasn't home but I kept an eye out for him.




I noticed some Dutchman Britches flowers. They aren't blooming yet but they aren't real common around here.
They are the leaves that sort of look like a fern.




And here is a Yellow Trout Lilly.




And a White Trout Lilly.




And some Rock Cress.




Oh yeah, I forgot. I was mushroom hunting. Here are some of the ones I found.
They weren't big enough to keep, but they might be big enough by Monday or Tuesday if the deers don't get them first.

Here is a small one hiding near a wild violet.






Here is a nice Yellow Morel when it gets bigger.




And another Yellow Morel.

[10 Bears]

That cell phone takes some great pictures after all!

I admire your ability to ID the various plants whose pictures you made.
Well done.

I found a big "growth" at the base of a rotten tree, not Shitake, but wonder if it's edible.
I need a picture of that thing, it's huge! (my opinion)

[Czubek]

That's neat how you planted the pictures of the mushrooms, and took pictures of them.

It's all a big conspiracy to get a laugh at ol' Czubek's expense.

I know how this works.

Ain't no such thing as Morels. All these people tell us how we sould be loaded with them, here, but we haven't found a one in ten years we've been here.

By the way, great pictures for a cell camera.

Brian

[Pogo]

I broke me off some pieces of Polypore and put them in a sack to bring home. But I forgot and left them at my buddy's farm. I was going to bring them home and fry them. They aren't nearly as good as morels, but they are edible.

[Desert Rat]

Great work, Pogo, and damn good spotting. The devils aren't easy to see in all that cover. I envy peeps who have 100 different kinds of mushrooms growing under every rock. Where I grew up and lived most of my life it's so dry few people even know how to spell the word, much less find one.

A couple of years back I read a good book on mushrooms written by one of the country's big hunter/experts on the subject. He says the stuff about many mushrooms being deadly poisonous is over-exaggerated bull shit. There are only a handful that qualify as really deadly. Most of the other toxic mushrooms would only make you various degrees of sick, as in puke your guts out for couple of days, etc.

The guy said if any doubt about a mushroom, take a tiny bite of it. If it tastes like shit or burns your mouth, etc, then it probably is shit and toxic. Leave it alone. But oddly enough, he was big believer in the taste test. Only an idiot, he says, could eat enough of most in this category to kill themselves or get seriously ill.

Luckily, most of the really deadly stuff if pretty easy to recognize. I buy all the mushrooms we eat in the grocery store and hope nobody there hates me.

[10 Bears]

Used to have some inlaws that were "expert" mushroom pickers.
Then my ex wife came down deathly sick from some they picked.

Understand they have changed their ways a bit.

One sis in law worked for "Forestry" or "BLM" or someone that kept her in a specific area for many years. She could ID the Mushrooms that the Chinks and Japs set so much store by.
Come the season for picking them that was what she concentrated upon.
Two kids, she had, a girl and boy, the lad had no interest in that activity, for many years.
His Mom finally got him out into the Oregon forests where they were picking.
Damned if that kid didn't find the biggest ever.
Called him mom over to be sure of the ID, it was one of the most sought after.
Short story...That ONE mushroom was worth over $600.00!
He was hooked!

[Desert Rat]

Damn, for $600 a pop, I'll hunt them.

I gathered from my reading that if a guy don't know what he's doing, caution is the watchword. Most won't kill you but they may make you so sick you wished you were dead.

And the tricky part is many people have an allergic reaction to various types of mushrooms. They may pick an edible mushroom but for THEM it's toxic. If it were me, I'd want some field training from someone who really knew his subject and could bring my dumbass home alive at the end of the day.

[Pogo]

A very good book on mushrooms is the Audubon Society Mushroom Field Book. It has pictures of all of the different varieties in North America. And it tells you how to identify lookalikes. That usually involves counting the gills on the underside of the mushroom or observing the color of the spores which fall off of the mushroom on a piece of blank paper.

As DR said, the number of poisonous varieties are overblown, with most of those that are poisonous only giving you an upset stomach. But this isn't an area to go out carte blanche and eat every piece of fungus you see. I have identified at least 20 edible mushrooms in this area. Some better than others.

By far my favorite is the famed morel variety. A close second is the meadow mushroom followed by the puff ball and the fawn mushroom. Dang, I'm getting hungry.

[Desert Rat]

I had the Audubon book you mention, Pogo, and it was a good one. I wish I could think of the guy who wrote the other book I liked so well. Only my natural sloth and laziness prevents me from tracking it down.

Anyhow, I wish I knew them as well as you...and that I had some mushrooms to hunt. As you know, the only thing we grow in Texas is wildfires.

[Sanders]

All I know is that if I were to eat the mushrooms that used to grow in my manure pile, then I'd see pretty colors and stuff....

[Pogo]

Originally Posted by Sanders

All I know is that if I were to eat the mushrooms that used to grow in my manure pile, then I'd see pretty colors and stuff....

Lots of hippies over the year have ended up in the morgue over confusing various poisonous little brown mushrooms with the Psilocybe mushroom in which they wanted. None of the little brown mushrooms are safe to eat, hence the mushroom gatherers saying to stay away from the LBMs (Little Brown Mushrooms).



And some mushroom gatherers have died from eating the Amanita phalloides (Destroying Angel Mushroom) when they mistakenly identified it as the Meadow Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) or Horse Mushroom (Agaricus arvensis).

You just need to know how to tell the varieties apart. It's not difficult at all, but you have to know what the differences are. A good mushroom hunter's book will explain the differences in detail.

[Desert Rat]

Over supper tonight, I was thinking about this post and our discussion of toxic mushrooms. Suddenly I remembered a lot of people have deadly reactions to some nuts and seeds. Probably everyone is allergic to one nut or another although they just haven't tried it yet.

I discovered to my sorrow that I'm moderately allergic to chestnuts, which is a shame since they can be super tasty. And I am deathly allergic to the innocent looking little sesame seeds. A sesame seed bun is the same as a cobra bite to me. Both require fast medical attention.

[dinkydow]

Nightshade.

[10 Bears]

Originally Posted by dinkydow

Nightshade.

Used to have a heck of a crop of nightshade around here.
Finally, through irrigation and my tiller and hoe, I believe it has been irridicated.
Very close relative to the tomato plant.

[Pogo]

Nightshade has a pretty little purple flower. My buddy's wife picked a bunch of it one day and put it in a jar for a flower bouquet.

My buddy told her to get rid of that poisonous shit. She didn't have a clue what it was.