May Mushrooms

It's May, and for mushroomers that means you're either riding high from a successful morel season or, like me, disappointed once again by your failure to find morels (not that I've been at this long, or tried more than a couple of times). A lot of mushroom enthusiasts are just now waiting for the showier mushrooms of summer and fall to appear. I caution you, though: if this is your thing, don't write off May! Quite a lot of good edibles grow around this time, and it's when you really start to see some variety out there. From this point until about November in this region, you can more or less count on finding some mushrooms of at least middling interest if it's at all wet outside.

So, what's to be found in May? Well, I'll start you off with some species I encountered on the stroll that inspired this post.

I initially thought that the mushrooms depicted above and to the right were wine caps (Stropharia rugosoannulata) based upon their superficial appearance, the season, and their growing on mulch. When I returned I discovered I was mistaken: wine caps have a distinctive ring which seemed to be lacking, though I do note what appears to be a ring zone near the top of the stem. Wine caps also have white gills which turn purplish black - never the brown color seen here. On top of all that, these don't really look anything like any images I can find of wine caps, after all. The question of course becomes, "well, what are they then?" The answer, to my chagrin, remains "I don't know."

I began and remain quite confident that these (above photo only) mushrooms are scaly inky caps (Coprinopsus variegata). The coprinoid mushrooms are possessed of gills which deliquesce as they mature. Most are edible, although the alcohol inky, so named because it is known to contain a substance which inhibits your body's ability to metabolize alcohol, can make you sick if combined with a couple of beers. I have seen this particular spot produce these mushrooms in spring for three consecutive years.

These two photos show varying stages of the mica cap (Coprinellus micaceus), another coprinoid mushroom that's pretty common around here. This one is easiest to distinguish by the tiny granules on the cap (you might have to expand the picture at the left to see them clearly). However, these have a habit of washing or blowing away quite early in the mushroom's life, so you may need to rely on characteristics. Honestly, I haven't had much trouble getting a fairly positive ID on the little guys most of the time regardless. If you plan to eat them, though, just be sure you DON'T have alcohol inkys instead.

Of course, we couldn't forget our old friend dryad's saddle, could we? These things might get boring fast, and might wind up with the record for most appearances in this blog.

At left are some pictures of a few unidentified mushrooms from the later part of my little stroll. I didn't bother collecting these for later analysis, or taking detailed notes, but I coudn't resist a few quick photos. The first specimen could be a small fawn mushroom, or a large fairy-ring mushroom, or something completely different, like an agrocybe. That's a convoluted way of saying I can't tell from my photograph, because it only offers a limited view of one specimen. I won't bother with my wanton speculation on the identity of the second.

What I've shown you thus far hardly exhausts the list of mushrooms one might find in May. I myself have encountered mower's mushrooms (Panaeolus foenisecii), fairy ring mushrooms (Marasmius oreades), orange dog stinkhorn (Mutinus elegans), and crown-tipped coral (Clavicorona pyxidata), among others. The stinkhorn is one of the foulest living things on the planet. It gets is name because it looks kind of like a dog's penis. It has a slimy, oily secretion which attracts flies and smells and looks like feces. When cut, it smells like I imagine Oscar the Grouch would smell.

I will close with an anecdote related to the above picture. Those tasty morsels are oyster mushrooms which became part of last night's dinner. I was biking home from work, which is what I'm usually doing at 5:30 or so on a Thursday afternoon, when I noticed some mushrooms hanging from a stump right at the edge of the path. Maybe a hundred yards later, my mind said "waaaaaaaaaaiiiiiit a minute! Those looked like oysters - and in good shape!" I brought my bike around and pulled off to the side. Sure enough, oysters they were. I didn't have any wax paper, so I put them in the messenger bag I carried and crossed my fingers against their destruction. Think that meal was satisfying? It most certainly was.

Species Feature #4, Oyster Mushroom

Since everything so far in these capsules has been an animal, I decided it was time for a change. Since mycology is a pretty major focus of my naturalist activities, it's only appropriate to highlight some fungi for you. The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) is very common, very delicious, grows gregariously, can be found year round, and is relatively easy to identify. In other words, they are fungal ambrosia. One thing I should throw out there as a technicality: there are several similar species which, for all intents and purposes, are the same. However, we have to trust our scientists, and if they tell me that a specimen I have is really Pleurotus populinus I won't argue. But, unless there's a practical difference I don't much care. I'm glad I'm aware of this, but I also won't split hairs. If it's close enough to be referred to as a "species complex" differentiating the species from one another is probably beyond me at this point anyway.

This mushroom is quite variable in appearance, but this I think is a good general photo. Classically their growth pattern is a little different.

Pleurotus ostreatus Quick Facts

Common Name(s): oyster mushroom

Taxonomic Breakdown:

• Kingdom -Fungi
• Phylum - Basidiomycota
• Class - Agaricomycetes
• Order - Agaricales
• Family - Tricholomataceae
• Genus - Pleurotus
• Species - ostreatus

Range: Worldwide (with some exceptions) in temperate and subtropical woods and forests

Here it is found glowing atop a log instead of hanging from the side of a tree or stump. Different configuration, slightly different coloring, same mushroom.

If I tried to describe the mushroom's features (cap, stem, gills, growth habits, substrates, etc) I would only be copying the work of others - and there are only so many ways to say "stem absent or lateral" and so forth. Instead, I will link you to some quality sites.

It's a bold move to call your site Mushroom Expert. It may even seem pretentious from anyone other than a doctor of mycology. Here's the thing: it isn't. Michael Kuo, who runs the site, absolutely knows what he's talking about. He's an English teacher, so he's also knows how to talk about it. Anyway, here's Kuo's writeup of oyster mushrooms.

Tom Volk is another expert, albeit one I'm less familiar with.
Mycoweb is another excellent site.
And another, which points out some of the other similar and hard to separate species.

There is a species (or maybe many species) of beetle which REALLY loves this mushroom. I have only found it referred to as a "small black beetle" but it has been remarked upon in relation to this mushroom quite a bit.

Here I am preparing for the harvest. I'm not sure what that look on my face is. Photo credit to Laurel.

The two clusters of oyster mushroom pictured above were collected from two places I've already discussed in detail on this blog: Watkins Regional Park (the specimens hanging from above) and Rock Creek Park (the specimens growing up from the log).

Edible Mushrooms in the Capital Area, Part 2

The flip side of "mushrooming is dangerous" is "the right mushrooms are delicious and healthy." They can occupy a variety of culinary niches, and are low-calorie options. Some have been shown to be quite good for your heart. Even if you're not a vegetarian, eating less meat can be a wise choice, and many mushrooms are wonderful as meat alternatives. Mushrooming is a risk-reward activity, but as with anything else the practiced application of knowledge and patience mitigates the risk. Done properly (which means heeding all those warnings), mushroom hunting gives the reward of an improved diet with the risk of occasional digestive upset.  This sounds better than the risk of dying, right?

There is one more mushroom-related practice I should touch on if I'm interested in the responsible distribution of information. "Shrooming," "doing 'shrooms," or whatever one chooses to call, ahem, 'recreational' mushrooming can also be dangerous. I'm not preaching here, because I'm not talking about the psilocybin itself (harmless in the quantities found in mushrooms, unless you count the hallucinations). This pastime has the same issues as eating wild mushrooms for food - many that will get you high are hard to distinguish from other species that will kill you or make you sick. Amanita muscaria (fly agaric or the fly mushroom - that mushroom with the white spots in all the cartoons) will get one high in Europe but just make one miserable in the States. So, if you're going to get high on mushrooms, learn to ID them yourself. Trusting someone else to find the right ones for you is like trusting a stranger on a street corner to retrieve your correct medicine from a bucket of mixed and unlabeled pills. Also keep in mind that mushrooms which will kill you in tiny doses are legal while those which will only get you high if you eat them like potato chips are illegal. Laws do very by state; some make more sense than others.

And now, on to the photos! Again, all specimens pictured below were collected within a couple of hours driving distance of Washington DC. All are edible for those who have adventurous pallets.

Entoloma abortivum - this is actually two mushrooms, one of which is a parasite on the other.  The honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea) and a species of Entoloma meet. Biologists are still studying which is the host and which is the parasite.  Either way, if you find the brainy-looking part you know you can eat the whole mess - if you dare.

A second photo of E. abortivum, this time featuring the honey mushroom instead of the entoloma. Again, note the distinctive brain-looking globs.

Speaking of the honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea), here it is on its own. That white rot on the wood is pretty distinctive. If you're a sucker for technicalities, you should check out this article.

If you want raw volume in your mushroom meal, not much can match Grifola frondosa (the hen of the woods). That's not a camera trick - my finger is just about touching this monster and the camera is in my other hand. Unfortunately every specimen I've found has been too rotten to bring home.

Polyporus squamosus (dryad's saddle) can also be huge, but by the time it attains this size it isn't quite as tender and delicious. Fantasy artists like to depict sprites and gnomes and such hanging out on these. Oddly enough, when you cut them they have a distinct watermelon smell.

Pleurotus ostreatus (the oyster mushroom) is a mycophagist's dream. It's delicious, gregarious, common, and can be found almost year round. Its lookalikes (assuming you get a spore print, that is) are all related and also edible. This is the second most common commercial mushroom behind the white buttons (Agaricus bisporus, if you care to know).

This hairy-looking oddball is the old man of the woods (Strobilomyces floccopus). Fitting that the species name looks something like the equally funny-looking 'octopus.' Well, I thought so, anyway. Despite appearances, this is actually a very tasty mushroom.

They say everything tastes like chicken. Well, the chicken mushroom, Laetiporus cincinnatus et al, really does. Well, it can be made to. This beautiful mushroom can be prepared in the kitchen in much the same way poultry can, and with less worry of food poisoning.

I have by no means exhausted the range of edible mushrooms in this region of the US. Among those not pictured are fungi with such colorful names as the train wrecker and angel wings. Dozens more have not even crossed my radar yet. I've only been at it a couple of years, but mycology has opened my eyes to the variety of forms life cane take.