This past weekend I had the privilege of leading a couple mushroom walks at the Adirondack Museum’s Mushroom Mania. It was a blast and was definitely one of the best mushroom events I’ve ever attended. Thanks to Joe and the rest of the staff for organizing it, and I’m eager to get back up there next year.
Ciara and I continued the mania by backpacking for a couple of days in the high peaks wilderness. There were enough mushrooms in one square foot to occupy me for the two days, but today we’ll look at just some of the highlights. Play the hits, if you will.
Unfortunately, just as we’d gotten a comfortable distance from home and a u-turn was out of the question, I remembered my macro-photography camera was still on the charger. That left me with only the camera phone to document finds from the weekend, but on the bright side my camera is now fully charged. Still stoked to share everything so without further ado, the mushrooms of the Adirondacks:
Yellowfoots (Craterellus tubaeformis)
The mushroom of the weekend. Hundreds of fruitings all up and down the mountains. Edible and thought to grow mycorrhizally with fir and other conifers (consistent with the forests we hiked through). It felt like we were always within five feet of a yellowfoot.
Hedgehogs (Hydnum spp.)
Probably the second most popular mushroom we saw. Possibly Hydnum umbilicatum which grows mycorrhizally with pine. Those distinct teeth on the underside of a cap are the identifying characteristic for hedgehogs.
Piggyback shanklet (Collybia cirrhata)
A tiny mushroom that digests and fruits from other mushrooms - in this instance a species of Russula. Coincidentally, my friend emailed me last week and asked if I’d ever seen this species. At that point I hadn’t, but perhaps we manifested these.
While the camera sat this trip out, I did bring a UV light to look for UV fluorescence in the woods at night. That’s actually how I stumbled upon these tiny little mushrooms, they were glowing blue:
The camera doesn’t do it justice. I’ll try to figure out a good way to capture UV fluorescence, Alan does a good job here.
Stinking Earthfan (Thelephora palmata)
I’m kind of kicking myself for not smelling this coral mushroom. This ectomycorrhizal species apparently smells like rotten garlic.
Eastern Destroying Angel (Amanita bisporigera)
Lethal if ingested by humans, but a beneficial mushroom for trees. At Mushroom Mania, Dr. Rich Tehan of Utica University talked about how amatoxins (the lethal compounds) have potential to be used in cancer treatments to kill tumors.
Webcaps (Cortinarius spp.)
One of the more handsome mushrooms we saw. The black ring that separates the mottled grey from the white on the stipe is a cortina; the remnants of a stringy partial veil that protects the gills while the mushroom matures. Hard to decipher down to species, it’s helpful to know that all Cortinarius are mycorrhizal.
Gilled Bolete (Phylloporus spp.)
We know most boletes - like porcini - to have a tubed, spongy underside. However, this mushroom is in the same family (Boletaceae) and has wide, vibrant yellow gills.
Orange Earthtongue (Microglossum rufum)
The distinct, corn kernel-shaped head and scaly texture of the stipe are identifying characteristics. This fungus is thought to be a decomposer.
Stalked Puffballs (Lycoperdon spp.)
From the Greek lycos which means “wolf” and perdon which means “to fart”, these decomposers are edible when young. These mushrooms have a wide distribution across North America and the species prefix perlat- actually means “widespread”.
Chocolate Milky (Lactarius lignyotus complex)
Mycorrhizal with conifers in eastern North America, these handsome brown Lactarius comprise a “species complex” where several physically similar species all have distinct genetics and will eventually warrant their own species.
Mosses
I have a fascination with the alpine zones - the areas of the mountains above the tree-line where the environmental conditions are extreme. These peaks are caked under ice and snow for at least half the year, exposed to unimaginable winds, but the amount of life that’s still able to exist up there is beyond impressive. Sure there were some mushrooms up there; Russulas,Laccarias, and others, but I want to give a shoutout to the mosses too.
Mountain firmoss (Huperzia appressa)
A NY state protected species, this moss is only a few inches tall but fossil records (dating back ~160 million years) indicate its relatives were the size of trees.
Interrupted clubmoss (Spinulum annotinum)
A moss native to the northern climes of the northern hemisphere, this plant has been used in traditional Finnish medicine as a remedy for rickets. The highly flammable spores can be made into lycopodium powder which has many practical uses ranging from a topical salve for skin irritations to an ingredient in biological weapons.
My dream is to one day do a fungal survey up in the alpine zone with permission from the DEC to collect and sequence their DNA (well give the mushrooms to someone who can sequence the DNA, I’m not a lab guy). Until then, we have pictures.
I’ve reached the threshold for email length so we’ll wrap it here. Have a great Labor Day weekend and fall fungi are right around the corner,
Another amazing and exciting adventure. Love the fir moss with a history of being the size of trees.💕
Thank you for the infos about mosses! What a story!