Steve Rock was our leader for this walk. Last year at this time we all had more Grifola frondosa than we knew what to do with. This year has been extremely dry and we didn't expect to find much. We first began to look in the damp area on either side of the path that is usually under water. Not surprisingy there was little to see, except for a nice array of teeny dull and colorful ascomycetes - one's we might expect to find on wood in a rainy year. There was nothing in the uplands. Moving down toward a stream, we found Bricktops, Honey mushrooms and Entoloma abortivum. Our luck seemed to have improved greatly with these three edibles. We hiked to some pines where I have frequently found Amanita wellsii and Amanita gemmata in the past, along with the pink Mycena pura and several species of corals. We didn't find these, but we did encounter two different kinds of Lepiota (aurivellla and squarrosoides), Ramaria strictia and Lentinellus ursinus. Diane Alden's friend, Jim, collected a bag of chestnut oak nuts and let us in on something else the forest provides.
Much of the ground was hidden from view by an invasive grass. It seems to be ubiquitous this year and I fear it is having a deleterious effect on biodiversity of native plants and fungi.....

But the best part of the walk was dessert! Yes, Joe Brandt baked 2 pumpkin pies from scratch and showed up at the end of the walk just to share his largesse with us. Afterwards Steve Rock interviewed us for a commercial he is making for his video class.
COMA people are the best!

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Dianna


Gilled Mushrooms (Agarics): Armillaria mellea; Armillaria sp.; Clitocybe clavipes; Entoloma abortivum; Hypholoma fasiculare; Mycena sp.; Pholiota aurivella, Pholiota squarrosoides; Russula mariae;
Pleurotoid Mushrooms laterally attached to wood: Crepidotus applanatus; Lentinellus ursinus; Panellus stipticus
Boletes: Gyroporus casteneus
Polypores & Stereum : Fomes fomentarius; Daedaleopsis confragosa; Ganoderma applanatum; Phellinus gilvis; Stereum commune;
Stereum ostrea; Trametes versicolor; Trichaptum abietinum; Trichaptum biformis; Xylobolus frustulatus
Gasteromycetes: Lycoperdon pyriforme
Ascomycetes: Chlorociboria aeruginascens;Mollissa cinera; Scutellinia scutellata
Myxomycetes: Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa; Hemitrichia clavata; Lycogala epidendrum; Stemonitis fusca

Please click on each photo to see a larger version.
Dianna