Thanks to a series of storm systems which arrived in mid-December, our local mushroom season got off to a late but welcome start. Unseasonably warm temperatures along the coast, especially at year’s end, produced some interesting results. Normally at this time of year we are relying on Clitocybe nuda (blewits) for our fungal staple. But blewits prefer cold weather and so were in short supply. Instead, the warmish weather brought out an abundance of Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms). But more importantly it brought a late, rather brief, but fairly generous fruiting of Boletus edulis (king bolete). Salt Point and other areas along the coast were excellent hunting grounds from December 15 to 30. Lands End produced B. edulis in a somewhat later time-frame. Joe Dougherty found an edulis or two under some pines in the Twin Peaks area and several were found in the East Bay Hills. It was even warm enough to fruit some Agaricus augustus (the prince) and Lepiota rachodes (shaggy parasol) in San Francisco.
Cantharellus cibarius (yellow chanterelles) made sporadic showings under live oak here and there in the East Bay Hills, Santa Cruz Mountains and less so in Marin County. What we did find in live oak habitat were countless numbers of Mycena sanguinolenta. These little orange/brown-capped LBMs have a hollow stalk which is filled with a thin blood-red liquid, rather like a lab-worker’s pipette. Here and there in the oak leaf-litter could be found bright yellow, lilliputian Mycena acicula with 5 mm caps. There were mini-forests of Mycena murina fruiting in pine needles. At a Land’s End foray we found the bleach-odored Mycena leptocephala and the intriguing, violet-tinged Mycena purpureofusca growing on a Monterey pine cone. Who said that Mycenas were uninteresting?
Some excellent collecting for the table as well as an amazing array of fungal species happened early in January at Jackson State Forest where personal-use permits are free at the Fort Bragg Ranger Station. Mark Norton and I found our limit of Amanita calyptrata (coccoli), Cantharellus subalbidus (white chanterelle) and C. cibarius, Leccinum manzanitae (red cap), Russula cyanoxantha, Lactarius rubrilacteus (bleeding milk cap) and one Boletus edulis, a straggler from the December fruiting. The R. cyanoxantha caps, thick-sliced chanterelles, and the larger L. rubrilacteus were splendid grilled over mesquite the next evening. Visually striking were a small troop of Cortinarius sp. with a heavily striate, viscid, olive-brown cap and contrasting violet stalk. There was a major fruiting of waxy caps: the black-staining Hygrocybe conica (witch’s hat), the viscid white Hygrophorus eburneus (cowboy’s handkerchief), Hygrophorus bakerensis (brown almond waxy cap) with an odor reminiscent of marzipan and a troop of lovely rosy-capped H. pudorinus (Latin for modest, blushing). The latter has a bizarre odor which reminds some people of turpentine.
A week later Roland Cook, Galina Plisga and I checked out Salt Point and found Hydnum umbilicatum (belly button hedgehogs), Cantharellus infundibuliformis (funnel chanterelles), a few Craterellus cornucopioides (black chanterelles) just starting their season, Tricholoma flavovirens (man on horseback) and an abundance of Lactarius fragilis (candy caps). The inedible Lactarius xanthogalactus was growing among and mimicking the candy caps. The former has a concentrically zoned cap and creamy-turning-yellow latex while the latter has a burnt-orange unzoned cap and thin “skim-milk” latex. Be sure to check the cap and latex of every candy cap you collect. Other interesting Salt Point fungi included the violet Cortinarius traganus, the quite rare Aleuria rhenana (stalked orange peel fungus), Albatrellus hirtus (bitter polypore) and Polyporus elegans (black foot). In among the endless fruiting of Russula cremoricolor, keen-eyed Galina was able to find three lovely Tricholoma magnivelare (matsutake). The best area for matsutake, though, was reported to be the Anderson Valley area of Mendocino County and Nathan Wilson and friends lucked onto a major fruiting on the way back from a Salt Point foray.
In eastern Marin County, Bob Galvin reported finding Amanita calyptrata, Leccinum manzanitae, Boletus zelleri, Russula cyanoxantha and R. cremoricolor. I found a nice Hericium erinaceus (lion’s mane) in the area as well. In west Marin, Brian Ali found Boletus aereus (queen bolete).
Norm Andresen’s Joaquin Miller foray series got under way in late December. Interesting finds to date include Pluteus atromarginatus, Sparassis radicata (cauliflower mushroom), and Psilocybe cyanescens (potent psilocybe). P. atromarginatus is similar to P. cervinus (deer mushroom) except that the edges of the gills are dark brown to black.
A group of enthusiasts from our Society and members of the Coyote Point Museum joined me for a foray at Sam McDonald County Park on Sunday, January 13. We found examples from most of the fungal families (45 species) but most significantly a few specimens of Amanita phalloides (death cap) under the oaks. This species has been rare both last year and so far this year.
Foraying in the Santa Cruz Mountains has been quite good recently, judging from the abundance of species (260) at the Santa Cruz Fungus Federation Fair on the same weekend. Among the more unusual mushrooms at the Fair was Pulveroboletus ravenelii (veiled sulfur bolete) which has a bright-yellow cottony-powdery universal veil which covers the cap and the stalk of the young fruiting body. Agaricus osecanus (giant horse mushroom), normally a spring fruiter, made a surprising appearance. There was the viscid, olive- capped Phaeocollybia fallax with purple gills and the Polyporus tuberaster (stone fungus). The species Homo sapiens was abundant at the Fair with a total of 2,900 attending over the three days of the event!
The substantial rains we have had in mid-January bode well for excellent collecting in February. Among the Agaricus species, A. bitorquis (banded agaricus) and A. fuscofibrillosus (bleeding agaricus) should be plentiful at Land’s End. Look there for a few king boletes among the abundant Amanita pantherina (panther amanita). Amanita rubescens (blushing amanita) and A. velosa (springtime amanita) should fruit underneath and at the margins of live oak. The fruiting of chanterelles should have gathered some steam by the first of February. Funnel chanterelles and Hydnum repandum (hedgehogs) should do well at Salt Point. Black chanterelles will be there, at Soquel State Forest and in other Douglas-fir/tanoak habitats. Look for candy caps under oaks. Oyster mushrooms and blewits should continue to fruit throughout the month. Happy hunting!
(To contribute to The Forager, call me at 415-588-7634, post your findings on Wade Leschyn’s Natural World Bulletin Board at 415-261- 1212 or e-mail to fstev@rahul.net. Thanks to Norm Andresen, Bill Freedman, Mark Norton, Fred Stevens, Brian Ali, Joe Dougherty, Bob Galvin, Galina Plisga and Roland Cook who contributed to the preparation of this report.)