What the rain promises and more! The rains we have had over the past month have given mycophiles reason to rejoice. The remarkable abundance of mushrooms has given the serious student of fungi a golden opportunity for study. Species we rarely see are showing up, often where we have never seen them before. Mycophagists have found edibles for the table at every turn. It will go down as a season to remember.
At Salt Point, Jackson State Forest and points north, Craterellus cornucopioides (black chanterelles), Hydnum repandum (hedgehogs), H. umbilicatum (belly-button hedgehog), and Cantharellus infundibuliformis (funnel chanterelles) have been fruiting generously. Sparassis radicata (cauliflower mushroom) has been showing up in numbers at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland. I’ve found healthy fruitings of Hericium coralloides (oak coral hericium) in Marin and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Temperatures, by turns cold and unseasonably warm, have encouraged fruiting of both Clitocybe nuda (blewits) and Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom). Russula xerampelina (shrimp russula) has been showing up in collectible numbers under Douglas-fir. Coprinus comatus (shaggy manes) and Agaricus fuscofibrillosus (bleeding agaricus) have been showing up in the baskets of collectors at Land’s End. Lepiota rachodes (I beg your pardon, Macrolepiota rachodes, the new name folks!) have fruited during periods of warm weather.
But where, you ask, are the chanterelles?! There have been some decent collections. Connie Green reports that there have been major fruitings in, would you believe, the Paso Robles area! Only the keenest-eyed hunters have been able to find them in significant numbers locally. They seem to be hiding under a deeper than usual layer of duff. Those who know every square inch of their patches are able to reach down under to pull them out while others are walking past them.
But temperatures seem to be correct and precipitation is more than sufficient. Why, then, do they seem to be so shy this year? A detailed report in NAMA’s journal McIlvainea on a ten-year study of chanterelles by the Oregon Mycological Society may hold some clues. There seems to be a strong correlation of chanterelle fruiting with “average summer temperatures...the higher the average summer temperature, the greater the number of chanterelles”. The article also reports that there seems to be a cyclical nature to chanterelle fruiting. “Like apple trees, chanterelles may have “mast” years: consider the see-sawing of chanterelle abundance in control Plot B5 — 150 chanterelles in 1990, followed by 6 in 1991, 51 in 1992, 22 in 1993 and 111 in 1994". So fear not. You have not picked your chanterelle patches to death. In fact, according to the study, you may actually have encouraged them to fruit a bit more abundantly.
Meanwhile, we have had many wonderful days to get out in the winter woodlands to enjoy the beauty and fascination of the world of fungi. Any of us who have been out during the past few weeks have seen major, even awesome, fruitings of Amanita phalloides (death-cap). It has been a phenomenal season for the Hygrophoraceae (Waxy Caps). I spent a couple of days hiking with a friend at Big Basin. There was a riot of color underneath the redwoods: Hygrocybe flavescens (golden waxy cap), H. coccinea (righteous red waxy cap), H. punicea (scarlet waxy cap), H. miniata (miniature waxy cap), H. eburneus (cowboy’s handkerchief), H. conica (witches hat), H. psittacina (parrot waxy cap), and H. russocoriaceus, so pungent with the odor of camphor that it carried several yards away. Also noteworthy was a tanoak log with masses of Bulgaria inquinans (poor man’s licorice) and elsewhere a solitary Sarcosoma mexicana (starving man’s licorice: giant gel cup). Arora “has not seen (the latter) in our area” but we have also had reports of it from Soquel State Forest. And there was the splendor of Berry Creek Falls, always at its best at this time of year.
Other waxy caps, H. albicastaneus and the almond-odored H. bakerensis, were found at Memorial Park. The most interesting discovery was made by keen-eyed Brian Ali: the rare and beautiful Hygrocybe virescens (lime green waxy cap) at Point Reyes under Bay trees.
Fred Stevens found some interesting fungi at Memorial Park: Lactarius pallescens (purple staining milk cap), giant-sized Pseudohydnum gelatinosum (toothed jelly fungi) and an extensive fruiting of Thelephora terrestris (earth fan). Omphalotus olivascens (jack-o-lantern fungus) has been abundant throughout the area, especially at China Camp State Park. We see Pluteus cervinus (deer mushroom) so often that it was interesting to find Pluteus flavofulgineus at Portola and Memorial Parks and a rare appearance of Pluteus magnus, a robust species with a dark gray, pock-marked cap found in a chip bed on Westborough Boulevard. On the February 10th foray at Portola Park with the Greenbelt Alliance (with 32 eager participants plus press coverage!) Norm Andresen found Phylloporus rhodoxanthus (gilled bolete) which looks from the top just like a Boletus zelleri but, surprise-surprise, has thick, blue-staining gills.
A highlight of the period was the eminently successful January 21st Coyote Point Mushroom Fair which we co-produce with the Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education. Virtually all of the mushrooms came from San Mateo County. There was no problem finding mushrooms as the county was at the peak of its season.
The show came just at the beginning of the Amanita phalloides season and we made a special effort to educate the Peninsula public about the dangers of this species, both to themselves and their pets.
One of the stars of the show was a large and dramatic collection of Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) from Junipero Serra Park. Other Amanitas present included A. franchetii (yellow-veiled amanita), A. pachycolea (western grisette), A. vaginata (grisette), A. pantherina (panther amanita), and A. calyptrata (coccoli). In the Boletaceae, there were Boletus aereus (queen bolete), B. amygdalinus, B. citriniporus, B. dryophilus (oak-loving bolete), B. flaviporus (viscid boletus), B. spadiceus, B. subtomentosus (boring brown bolete), B. zelleri (Zeller’s bolete) and Leccinum manzanitae (manzanita bolete; red cap).
Specimens of the fairly rare Naucoria vinicolor were collected at Filoli and Huddart Park. A curiosity was Phyllotopsis nidulans, a wood inhabiter with the uncanny odor of sewer gas. There was Cystoderma fallax which, according to Arora, “is rather rare and one of the most attractive and delicately adorned of our woodland fungi”. There was a generous sampling of Entolomas including E. bloxami (midnight blue entoloma; formerly E. madidum), E. albolividum, E. nidorosum, E. rhodopolium. The hypogeous fungus Gautieria graveolens was found by Herb Saylor at Wunderlich Park.
Looking ahead to March, there will be plenty of Agaricus species to collect: A. bitorquis (banded agaricus), A. fuscofibrillosus and A. perobscurus (princess) at Land’s End. A. pattersonae can be found in the cypress groves along the San Mateo Coast and A. lilaceps (a prime edible) further south toward Santa Cruz and Monterey. Macrolepiota rachodes should be fruiting in the same areas and elsewhere. Springtime Amanita calyptrata, A. rubescens (blushing amanita) and A. velosa (springtime amanita) should be fruiting but beware of the deadly A. ocreata (destroying angel) which fruits at the same time. You should know A. ocreata and A. phalloides backwards and forwards before you begin to collect any Amanitas for the table. As the season for black chanterelles at Salt Point winds down the season for them at Soquel State Forest should be peaking. Camarophyllus pratensis (meadow waxy cap) is an excellent edible during this period if you can find them before the worms do. Later in the month there should be some Morels and Gyromitras along with Amanita calyptrata in the lower elevations of the Sierra. Be sure to check out the club hot-lines for current news on the Morel season in the Sierra. Larry Stickney is always abreast of the situation and generous with current information.
(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, Fred Stevens, Connie Green, Karen Folger, Brian Ali and Joe Dougherty who contributed to the preparation of this report.)