The marvelous world of mushrooms

 

Starting late August, early September mushrooms charm their way into the forests in the northern hemisphere.

Forests are full of edible mushrooms, but if you want to pick them and eat them - don't. ;) If you're not a specialist- simply don't collect them. It's very easy to confuse edible mushrooms with poisonous ones if you're not a seasoned mushroom picker. Differences between the two are often barely distinguishable to the untrained eye. Some differences are more distinctive (like the structure of the hymenophore), but there are exceptions to that rules, too.

Porous sponge underneath the caps occurs mostly in edible mushrooms (like Birch Bolete pictured below).

Birch Bolete. Porous hymenophore.

The presence of gills usually means that the fungi are poisonous (Chanterelle being the most notable exception).

Inedible gilled mushroom- Russula Emetica (or Vomiting Russula or Sickener).

Chanterelle - edible gilled mushroom. 

If you go deep enough into the forest you can feast your eyes with the carnival of colors and shapes. In the dimmest corners of the woods, you can find the most colorful and interesting-looking mushrooms. There's a whole range of hues: yellow, orange, bright red, green, violet, and even pink.

Stropharia.

Calocera viscosa or Yellow Stagshorn.

Toadstool

Rosy Bonnet or Mycena Rosea (on the left) ; 

Cortinarius violaceus, Violet Webcap (on the right).

Brown and brownish mushrooms are the most common.

Now, let's look at some of the funky shapes ...

Lycoperdon pyriforme (Stump puffball) 

 Mycena inclinata or clustered bonnet or the oak-stump bonnet cap.

                     

Turkeytail

Calocera viscosa or Yellow Stagshorn.

Scleroderma (common earth ball) breaks up to release the spores. It's not edible. 

Most popular edible mushrooms:

Birch Bolete

Bay Bolete

Slippery Jack

***

Surprisingly, edible mushrooms are often quite big.

But poisonous ones (especially toadstools) may grow large as well.

Toadstool

If you like what you see, please remember that all this and more may be coming to the enchanted forest near you! :) Mushrooms like damp and warm conditions, so be on the lookout after the first September rain. 

Happy mushroom-hunting!