What a wonderful day! I suggested in an e-mail to members that we might find yellow morels, but alas, we came up empty. Damon even checked out the old spots at this location where there used to be morels every year, but there were none this year. Oh well, there's more to life than morels - really! Actually, I've had news from several people about this season for morels and most everyone (Michael Kuo, Chris Gales, Elinoar Shavit and Bill Bakaitis) agrees this has been one of the worst years they can remember. However, Damon Brunette and other COMA members have been back to Tallman Mountain State Park within the last week and have had success finding plenty of yellow morels where we usually find them there under Tulip trees. The morels just happen to have come up later than usual this year - owing to the cooler spring perhaps.
Anyway, we did find a few edibles like Pluteus cervinus, the 'Deer Mushroom,' and Clavicorona pyxidata, the 'Crown-tipped Coral' as well as interesting inedibles worth learning about: Ganoderma applanatum; Fomes fomentarius; Plicaturopsis crispa; Trametes versicolor; Trametes hirsutum; Trichaptum biformis; Stereum complicatum; Stereum commune; Schizophyllum commune; Diatrype stigma; Chlorociboria aeruginosa; Irpex lactea; Polyporus elegans; Agrocybe acericola; Agrocybe praecox; Tubaria furfuracea; Marasmius pyrrhocephalus and the jelly fungi - Tremella mesenterica; Exidia recisa; and Exidia glandulosa.

The highlight of the walk once again was the delicious 'pasta salad' created by Joe and Kathy Brandt. The Brandts have vowed to bring a new dish to share every walk they can attend. This should be incentive enough to encourage members to join us regularly for our weekend foraging and learning walks and our 'pot luck' picnic afterwards!

Dianna

Don't forget to click on each photo to get a larger view.