WiseAcre Gardens

Coprinus comatus

Well what do you know. The most disgusting evil looking mushrooms I’ve found are supposed to be some of the best eating shrooms around. They’re supposed to be eaten when young and I can see why. The caps dissolve into a black inky slime with age. I guess the middle aged Shaggy Manes give the mushroom it’s name. And the young’ns are supposed to go good with eggs.

I didn’t know at the time I had found a feast. All I did know was that I would have at least some chance at identifying them because of their distinct look.

Shaggy Manes are mushrooms that grow in grassy areas on hard ground. These were growing along a gravel access road by the Sugar Island hydo dam on the Red Sandstone Trail that runs south from Hannawa Falls.

In a wooded section I found another prized edible.  Coral Hedgehog - Hericium coralloides. I could be wrong but if i am it’s a Bearded Hedgehog - Hericium erinaceus which is also edible. It doesn’t look as bad as an old shaggy mane but it doesn’t look like any life form someone should be putting in their mouth either.

Here are a couple more pics of the Shaggy Manes. They are linked to larger images suitable for a closer look or to use as desktop wallpaper. Linked images are 1024 x 768.

YUCK Yuck Yuck and I don’t mean that in a Three Stooges way either.

I went hiking along the Raquette River looking for something unusual and found this. Can you guess by the texture of it’s skin what it might be? Reptile? Amphibian? The back of my hand?

This ’skin’ belongs to an older specimen. It was found on a rock outcrop nestled among some moss. At one point it might even have been edible.  They don’t bite, scratch or even try to run away but the uncertainty of identification makes eating any of these life forms dangerous.

Still it’s fun to poke at them. The only problem is that each poke produces less of a reaction. Only the first poke or two is really rewarding

What species of puffball this is is beyond me. I’m only assuming it’s a puffball because it “puffed” when I poked it.

I hold my breath when I do this. The sight of the spore cloud is more than enough to make me wonder what effect they might have on me.

That’s strange, all of a sudden I don’t feel quite like myself.

Being able to identify most of the wildflowers I photograph is a big part of the enjoyment I receive from that obsession. I can’t say the same for mushrooms though.  For me attempting to identify a mushroom only leads to Fungus Frustration. So I figured I’d relax a little and just enjoy the photos.

One of my problems in identifying mushrooms is the difference even age makes in their appearance. As if there wasn’t enough variation already in ‘form’ and ‘color’ to confuse me. This yellow fellow must be the same species as the orange ones to follow but I’ll never know for sure.  Just because it was growing inches away from the others doesn’t mean anything, does it?

I found these mushrooms in a moist Cedar woods. The ‘colony’ covered a fairly large area with mushrooms scattered over a couple hundred square feet. I think the spot was a decayed and nearly composted brush pile of cedar limbs from fence post harvesting at least a generation ago. I could feel the ‘give’ beneath my feet when on the mound most of the shrooms were located.

The ‘give’ to the ground let me get this photo. I just pressed the camera down into the moss. Looking at the photo I can remember using the flash. It wasn’t planned. I was just playing with my new camera.

These images are available to use as Desktop Wallpaper / Background images. The ‘thumbnails’ are linked to 1024 x 768 size image.