Utah isn't known well for it's mushrooms but there are many interesting species around if you know where to look!
These were all found in Big Cottonwood Canyon by Silver Lake near Salt Lake City:
Woody Conk:
Baby Lactarius:
Black Footed Polypore:
Can you spot the Polypor?
There it is!
Basidiomycete:
What could this be!?
Quite a successful hunt! It turns out the melting snowbanks in Utah create the perfect environment for these little guys. Wherever there is a big old rotting log with plenty of moisture and rich soil there is likely to be at least one species of mushroom around. If they are not fruiting, you should be able to see the mycelium lying dormant in the log. The best ones like to hide in plane sight! It's interesting to take notice of the differences in how they all breath. Gilled mushrooms are familiar, but have you ever seen a polypor? If you look closely you can see pores instead of gills and they are composed of thousands of tiny compacted breathing tubes. Mushrooms have many strange qualities. The basidiomycetes smelled like men's cologne!
If you liked this please upvote and stay tuned for next week's discoveries!
Great post. Fungi are the keynote decomposer and terribly important and I am just starting to learn about those growing here in Michigan. Thank you for sharing.
That's great! Mushrooms are an often overlooked and incredibly interesting sector of the animal kingdom! Please feel free to message me about mushrooms anytime. I'd be happy to identify any species you find.
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Awesome post! I always love learning more about fungi and always am fascinated by them on our hikes. So far, I've only been comfortable harvesting chicken of the woods and morels since they are so easy to identify without many dangerous lookalikes. Where did you learn to identify the species? Books? friends? I'd love any recommendations. Cheers!
Thanks man! Those are some great species! I'd love to find some morels here in Utah but they're hard to track down. My main Identification book is Mushrooms Demystified, and I use the pocket guide too called All That the Rain Promises and More. I think it's the best one out there but the National Audubon Society Field Guide for North American Mushrooms is great as well. It helps a lot to know the different branches of mushroom species. If you want to discover as many new species as possible safely, you can join your local mushroom society!
Also feel free to comment with pictures if you'd like help identifying them
Yes I to would like to know which is editable and which are dangerous. I live in Florida and mushrooms are many and are every where. I once found 8 different kinds in my yard in the edge of the woods.
Wow! I gotta check out Florida's mushrooms! Of all the mushrooms I found yesterday the lactarius is the only edible one, but they are pretty peppery. It's hard to tell which mushrooms are edible just going off of worded description. Generally avoid any tall white or cream colored mushroom caps, and anything with a ring around the stem until you get more comfortable identifying the species. Destroying angels and Death Caps are all too common and you don't get to make the mistake of eating one of those twice. There are also many other mushrooms with amatoxins. Little Brown Mushrooms are a class of many varying types, some poisonous, some hallucinogenic, some edible, and they require a higher level of scrutiny and discernment. It's best to research the deadly species of mushroom first until they are unmistakable. I would never give edibility advice on a mushroom that I myself haven't eaten many times. I would love to see some pictures of what you're finding out there!
I'll agree It is safer to stick with the store bought ones. Here are only a few that I have taken pic's of.
That is only a few. There is so many more especialy after the rains. They pop up everywhere. There is some of the hallucinogenic kind(with the ring) down the road in the cow pastures but I stay clear of them. I have ate them and made tea before but that was many many moons ago.
Wow those are beautiful! Florida is on the list! Looks like you've found a destroying angel, a turkey tail, an Amanita Muscaria, and the last ones appear to be old men of the woods but I'd have to check the underside to verify because I've only ever seen them with a dark stem. The Amanita Muscaria can be a potent hallucinogenic when the neuro-toxic ibotecnic acid in the red skin is completely cooked and converted into safe(ish) muscimol, which is what the archaic soma shamans used! I can't in good conscience recommend it, but I've tried them myself and they are pleasant to smoke out of a pipe when dried. What a wonderful place you live in for mushroom hunting! I can't wait to explore the more humid states. I'd like to hear about these experiences you had many moons ago. I believe hallucinogenics are a natural step in growth for human beings and a right of passage we should all take.
Once I brewed some mushroom tea and many people enjoyed the escape so to say. There was many laughs that night that lasted a life time. If you eat them getting past the taste and thought of where they came from. It is a more intense feeling. The native Indians used peyote and I think it may be some what similar. Natures chemicals can be dangerous and even fatal. I do love to hunt for them and share the photo's. I think they are the flowers of the woods.There is a swampy area back of my house and mushrooms are plenty. Maybe later I will go take a search and see what I can find.
Please feel free to message me about mushrooms anytime! I love seeing and classifying all the different species
Ewww
hahaha
I live in Utah and want to see more posts like this here on Steemit. Glad I found it, thank you for sharing.