Golden Pholiota (Lassen 2014). Photo by Steve Olson Golden Pholiota Steve Olson Steve Olson, the photographer says: "I found 2 separate fruitings of this "unknown to me" variety. I feel like I should know what this is but can't come up with it. I'll be bummed if it happens to be a tasty edible!" Phil says, "It's a Pholiota , in the aurivella group." Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora says that as far as eating goes, it is to be avoided. Camera Olympus C-4000Z Focal L. 7mm Aperture f/2.8 Shutter Sp. 1/100s ISO 100 Flash Off Photo taken on September 19, 2014 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Sparassis americana (American cauliflower mushroom), Pisgah, North Carolina. Photo by Judy and Bobb Lipp Sparassis americana in North Carolina Judy Lipp Roaming the East Coast in our RV. Pretty dry out here until we went into the Pisgah National Forest near the North Carolina Arboretum. It's practically a rain forest there. Must have seen over 50 species without looking hard and literally thousands of mushrooms. It was hard to ever be out of sight of at least 5 species at a time. Fun to see so many different species that are different or uncommon to the West Coast. Used the Audubon Guide on my iPhone and kept popping up familiar names on the photos such as Debbie Viess and Noah Siegel. Thanks guys! (David Rust helped with the ID.) Learn about this mushroom: Cauliflower Tales , NAMA Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on August 15, 2016 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder--Plato. Photo by Mike Slavers Beauty Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder - Plato Mike Slavers "Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind , he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may." - Plato I have been photographing mushrooms in the Corte Madera Park hiking area for two years. This is photo is the first I saw and started my fascination with the life form. The park is on Skyline Drive about half way between Hwy 92 and Woodside Road. All of the mushrooms I have photographed, I have left them as they were when I found them. Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel Focal L. 73mm Aperture f/5.6 Shutter Sp. 1/200s ISO 100 Flash Fired Photo taken on January 1, 2014 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Aureoboletus (Boletus) mirabilis, Puget Sound. Photo by Yevgeny Nyden Aureoboletus mirabilis Yevgeny Nyden Aureoboletus (Boletus) mirabilis , commonly known as the admirable bolete, the bragger's bolete, and the velvet top, is an edible species of fungus in the Boletaceae mushroom family. ( Wikipedia ) I took this photo in the Olympic National Park, Washington when I was visiting the Puget Sound Wild Mushroom Show. Camera Samsung SGH-M919 Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.2 Shutter Sp. 1/700s ISO 1000 Flash Off Photo taken on October 13, 2013 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Boletus rex-veris (McCloud). Photo by Hugh Smith Boletus rex-veris Hugh Smith Boletus rex-veris , commonly known as the spring king bolete, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus Boletus found in western North America Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on May 18, 2025 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Purple Slime (Cortinarius sp.). Photo by Sam Betty Purple Slime Sam Betty Taken by an FFSC member, now living in Sonoma. Cortinarius sp. can be seen at Salt Point. Camera Apple iPhone 6 Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on November 27, 2016 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Honey Mushrooms - Armillaria mellea Objects or firewood stacked up against a trunk, misguided nearby plantings, surplus soil or mulch, and other man-made sources can allow certain mycelium to infiltrate oak, maple, grape vines, blackberries, and orchard trees and shrubs. Mark shares some lessons from his professional experience with mitigating and preventing "Oak root rot", a.k.a, Armillarea Root Rot, or Armillaria mellea . ... Armillaria mellea (cropped). Photo by Hugh Smith This article was reposted from a message in FFSC's Google Group. A few minor editorial updates have been made since it was originally posted in 2016. How about all this rain! Those were a beautiful display of honey mushrooms, Hugh! Tight and turgid and just the right time to harvest. Seeing them prompted me to write a few lines about honeys not from any formal knowledge... but from my work experience and from 'experts' with whom I consulted for my clients in my work with trees. I hope it is helpful to some of you. I am not a scientist... just an observer. Clusters of Armillaria mellea (honeys) at the base of a tree. Photo by Hugh Smith Tree culture is a subject near and dear to my heart. I love oaks so much that I named my first horticultural business, 'Acorn Tree Service'...which morphed into 'Green Mansions Tree and Horticultural Specialty Services'. As an arborist/landscaper in So. Cal. for many years, I had to remove many dead or declining oaks after their battle with honey mushrooms ("Oak Root Fungus", Armillaria m. complex). I did not know that these shrooms were considered edible back in those days. In fact, not until I joined the FFSC a decade or so ago had I ever eaten a wild mushroom. (I made my wife eat a Chantie she harvested then I waited 48 hours!) Of course, she had harvested edibles in Kentucky for years before moving out here. I was just a city boy, an urbanbushman...what did I know? What I learned is that some sp. of honey mushrooms are more aggressive than others (i.e. our Armillaria mellea complex are very aggressive). Under certain unnatural conditions, they can/do attack and kill live trees ...and don't just fruit from dead stumps. They attack many sp. such as oaks, our native maple, other native flora like native grape vine and many ornamental/orchard trees and shrubs, vines (blackberry). Another potential plant foe, Phytophthora root rot, can be colonized by Armillaria sp. (honeys) and spread through that organism as well. Armillaria mellea . Photo by Hugh Smith This will not be news to many of you... but hopefully of interest to some newer members of the club, or others who are gardeners or stewards of one or more beautiful oak trees. Aside from being a potential host for delicious chanterelles and other benign edibles, oak trees, especially in urban settings under certain conditions, can attract parasitic honey mushrooms which you can see in Hugh's spectacular photos. In the urban setting, generally speaking, honey mushroom attacks on oaks and other ornamental trees/flora or orchard trees can be avoided...or halted in the early stages. Oaks in an undisturbed habitat are generally protected naturally. Obviously, though, trees fall or are damaged or are cut down in the woodlands as well. A specialty preventative or 'habitat remediation' service I offered was to restore the area under oaks from drip line to trunk as a 'fungus-free zone'. What would lead to an oak's demise all too often (and had to be removed or dealt with sooner than later) were an accumulation of man-made objects (used tires, boxes of tiles, etc.) or firewood stacked up against the trunk or misguided water-thirsty plantings needing frequent Summer water, water basins fashioned from brick, stone or wood around the tree's base, etc. Surplus soil or mulch built up above natural grade would also act as a wick or conduit for untoward mycelium to infiltrate the trees natural defenses between root crown and trunk. It all had to be removed or redistributed. Irrigation systems simply had to be reconfigured, redirected or yanked out. Older, established Oaks hate Summer water. Honeys love it. If a client wanted more than my preferred minimalistic design (letting oak leaves fall, naturally to cover the bare earth) I would 'plant' a few large, loosely arranged mountain stones, spread out away from tree trunks and/or I would plant and establish sparse native flora then call it a day. My main "design" and intent in this type of job was of a restorative nature and to prevent invading parasitic mycelium tendrils. We had a registered heritage oak tree (estimated 400 plus years of age) in my home town of La Cañada (pron. "lah canyada") that finally went into decline. I was one of many people called to consult with the property owners. The estate had changed hands a decade or so before and the new owners (from out of state) had immediately re-landscaped the entire property and over-trimmed the old tree "to favor the new plantings with air and light", not understanding the aforementioned cultural dynamics and consequences. It had taken about 10-12 years but the fungus won. Still barely alive, opportunistic beetle grubs finished the job and an iconic oak was lost to the community. Many folks who were my customers will have a regular supply of 'honeys' for a real long time. Armillaria can survive as rhizomorphs and vegetative mycelium in the soil for years hanging around old stumps and roots, dead or alive. Tough to control. A real bad actor in the wrong places. On the positive side though...good eating for some folks . Just avoid inadvertently introducing this particular fungal bonanza to your own vegetable garden...or your neighbor's by introducing white mycelium threads from your boots. For those who want to read more about different flora's susceptibility or resistance to "oak root fungus" and other related info, there is much to study online. Here are some links: RPD No. 602 - Armillaria Root Rot of Trees & Shrubs , University of Illinois Integrated Pest Management Armillaria Root Rot , University of California Integrated Pest Management Morphology (from mushroomexpert.com ): attached gills persistant ring on fiberous stem growing en-mass an the base of a sickly Quercus.speckled roughened cap sometimes orangey gills at age a tough outer stipe that peels away like string cheese. white spore drop color can often be seen in the field, by observing the tops of caps under other mature caps Mushrooms covered: See code Previous Description All Featured Fungi Next Description

Porphyrellus (Tylopilus) formosus. © Taylor Lockwood Porphyrellus (Tylopilus) formosus Taylor Lockwood Info about the dark velvet bolete: Dark Velvet Bolete , iNaturalist Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on October 18, 2015 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Baby oyster mushrooms. Photo by Steve Olejniczak Baby Oyster Mushrooms Steve Olejniczak Found these cute baby Oyster mushrooms in the Santa Cruz Mts. in Nov. 2013. I used my old Olympus C4000. Camera Olympus C4000Z Focal L. 7mm Aperture f/11.0 Shutter Sp. 1/300s ISO 100 Flash Fired Photo taken on November 2, 2013 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Meet Amanita pruittii: Arora’s Amanita, Anonymous No More! Those of us who are passionate about all aspects of wild mushrooms are a breed apart. As mycophilic outliers to the societal norm, what better focus for our discerning attention than a mycological oddity like the renamed Amanita pruittii ? This mushroom is unimposing, squat and warted, sometimes grows in standing water, and most curiously, is not found with a mycorrhizal partner! ... Amanita pruittii fruiting in a damp field. Photo by Taylor Lockwood (from mushroomobserver.org) What kind of strange Amanita is this??! Amanita pruittii . Photo by Taylor Lockwood (from mushroomobserver.org) David Arora was apparently the first Western mycologist to find and document this amanita in the Santa Cruz area in the early 1970s. He wrote about it in his classic field guide, Mushrooms Demystified , referring to it as the “Anonymous Amanita.” Although he sent collections of this unknown species to Dr. Alexander Smith in Michigan for further mycological analysis, those specimens were apparently never received. A few years later, Ben Pruitt, an 88 year old, keen-eyed naturalist and amateur mycologist in Oregon, discovered a huge fruiting of hundreds of these amanitas, in a flooded field at Fern Ridge Reservoir in the Willamette Valley, a protected Oregon State Wildlife Area as well as an Army Corps of Engineers Research Natural Area. He suspected that they might be some sort of Armillaria species, and also sent his collections to Dr. Smith. Smith determined that they were an unknown species of amanita and proposed naming them after Pruitt. But Smith never described the species. When I attended my very first NAMA foray in 2002 at Diamond Lake, Oregon, I mentioned my ongoing interest in amanitas to other attendees. Local mycologists couldn’t wait to tell me all about a curious amanita that had recently fruited in great numbers at Fern Ridge … without a host tree in sight! This 2002 fruiting, as well as one in 1998, both of which followed prescribed burns, were apparently the first major fruitings of this non-mycorrhizal amanita since the original finds by Ben Pruitt in 1975. My interest was certainly piqued, but the local fruiting was over, and Oregon a long way from home. Fast forward to Menlo Park, San Mateo County, CA in 2007, when FFSC member Doug Smith found what appeared to be an A. pruittii in a treeless field. Other FFSC members started to look hard for this curious mushroom, and Christian Schwarz was rewarded with a Santa Cruz sighting in 2011. 2014 was a banner year for this amanita across its range. Starting our local spate of sightings, Adam Ryzka found a solitary fruit body along a Santa Cruz city street in September 2014, followed by several observers finding it from Marshall Fields to Watsonville to West Cotati through November 2014. The most spectacular Amanita pruittii finds of 2014 were again found at Fern Ridge Reservoir during the month of October. Hundreds of fruit bodies poked their caps above standing water, in a prairie floodplain that had been burned several months prior. Taylor Lockwood obtained many wonderful photos of this phenomenon. All of these A. pruittii observations can be seen on Mushroomobserver.org. In the Pacific Northwest, Jan Lindgren is the go-to gal for all things amanita, and she received from the late Kit Scates Barnhart the original correspondence between Ben Pruitt and Alexander Smith on Amanita pruittii . The official naming of this species was a work in progress for Jan and Rod Tulloss for decades, while other projects took precedence. In October 2014, the name Amanita pruittii was at long last published in the online journal “Amanitaceae.” Its title: “Amanita pruittii, a new, apparently saprotrophic species from US Pacific coastal states,” authored by Rodham Tulloss, Janet Lindgren, David Arora, Benjamin Wolfe and Cristina Rodriguez-Caycedo. Other than its peculiar fruiting habits, this is a rather unprepossessing mushroom, with a dirty white cap, a squat form, and a universal veil (UV) that breaks into warts on the cap, and forms fibrils or squamules on the pointed stipe; all of these UV elements can disappear with age. Amanita pruittii often discolors brown or reddish with age, especially when growing in wet conditions. Like all amanitas, A. pruittii has whitish gills and white spores in mass, and like other members of Amanita section Lepidella , those spores turn blue upon the application of the iodine-based Melzer’s solution. Pruittii can have a variety of odors, from indistinct to earthy, potatoes to brine, and becomes unpleasant smelling in age. Its taste is not distinctive when raw, but is bitter and unpleasant when cooked. Despite this, Ben Pruitt tried four slices from his original collections, and reported no adverse effects. However, eating any member of section Lepidella is not recommended, since this group is often difficult to identify down to exact species, and contains seriously toxic species like Amanita smithiana . Amanita pruittii fruiting in a flooded field. Photo by Taylor Lockwood (from mushroomobserver.org) Heads-up, California and PNW mushroom hunters! Keep your keen eyes peeled for more fruitings of this very curious amanita. It can grow singly or gregariously, and under the right conditions, by the hundreds, especially following a burn. Look for it in lawns, wet meadows and pastures, with poor, exposed soils and even in street tree wells! It most commonly fruits in the fall months, but can also fruit into March and as late as June in irrigated landscapes. It sometimes grows alongside various species of Agaricus , and can be mistaken for that genus. When you next see a “commonplace” field of white mushrooms, assume nothing and check those gills! Who knows, you might be the next lucky person to find this very curious, non-mycorrhizal amanita, Amanita pruittii : Arora’s “Anonymous Amanita” no longer! Debbie Viess aka Amanitarita Mushrooms covered: See code Previous Description All Featured Fungi Next Description

Scarlet Waxy Cap. Photo by Jim Kern Scarlet Waxy Cap James Kern Scarlet waxy cap in Mesick, Michigan. Photo taken August 18, 2017 by James Kern. Read upon Waxy Caps in our Featured Fungi: Hygrocybe laetissima (Waxy Caps) Camera Nikon D600 Focal L. 60mm Aperture f/3.5 Shutter Sp. 1/800s ISO 200 Flash Off Photo taken on August 19, 2017 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Snorkeling for "The Rogue" Mushroom Robert Coffan, an Adjunct Professor of water resources at Southern Oregon University, was vacationing with his family on the Rogue River. A bit of wading resulted in a surprise: He discovered a new species. ... Psathyrella aquatica in the Rogue River current. Photo by Jonathan Frank (from mushroomobserver.org) I guess it’s not so strange. When the weather is hot and a little moisture is a pleasure, we head for the swimming hole. Apparently Psathyrella aquatica has similar habits. This small, drab mushroom would hardly be distinguishable from most other Psathyrellae species if it weren’t for its habit of fruiting underwater. This is most unusual behavior for a gilled fungus. Darlene Southworth who is a retired Southern Oregon University Biology professor confirmed the uniqueness of the species that Prof. Coffan found. In fact the species appears to be the only gilled mushroom species known to fruit under water. All specimens were permanently submerged in cold, spring-fed waters, not merely covered by rising water, and they continued to grow in the same area for 3 months. Dubbed Psathyrella aquatica , the “Rogue Mushroom” was introduced to the broader scientific community in a 14-page paper submitted Nov. 9, 2007 to the science journal Mycologia . The paper was written by Jonathan Frank, a laboratory technician at SOU, in collaboration with Coffan and Southworth. It was named in 2010, but its range is still something of a mystery. Psathyrella aquatica showing bubbles forming on the mushrooms cap. Photo by Jonathan Frank (from mushroomobserver.org ) So if you are vacationing and snorkeling in the upper Rogue River of Oregon, or for that matter any mountain stream in Northern California or Southern Oregon, keep an eye out for this little brown mushroom (LBM) that grows near submerged wood, and sometimes on river gravel. It apparently has only been recorded between June and late September from two locations on the Rogue. This mushroom is typically about 10 centimeters tall. It has a small bell-shaped cap about 2 centimeters wide, a thin stipe and gills. Small bubbles adhere to the cap and stem. Researchers have yet to definitively identify the gas producing those bubbles. All this begs the questions: Are there other species that fruit under water? How are spores dispersed? What is the evolutionary history? Limited information is available even as of 2025: Psathyrella aquatica on iNaturalist - 15 observations as of 2025 Psathyrella aquatica on Mushroom Observer - 2 observations as of 2025 The section below describes the mushroom and known habitats (as of 2014), and provides instructions on what to do if you happen to actually find it. Essentially get coordinates and call Southern Oregon University to report the discovery… PLEASE DO NOT PICK IT because Psathyrella aquatica degrades rapidly). The following guide has been published in hopes of establishing a range for the species. Search Guide for the Rogue Mushroom Psathyrella aquatica Based on what was known as of 2018: Habitat and Growth Conditions Fruiting from mid-June to late September Found on N Fork of the Rogue River. Found in flowing water (not in backwater or stagnant area). Constant baseflow (from springs rather than snowpack). Constant, fairly cold temperature. Submerged woody debris nearby (though sometimes found in bare alluvium). Alder usually present nearby. Observed on alluvium, on twigs, and among algae. Depth from near surface to 50 cm (20 in) below water surface. Morphology Cap: 1-2 cm (1/2 - 3/4 in) wide, buff-white to dark brown. Stipe: 7-10 cm (3-4 in) tall, thin and spindly, breaks easily. Hunting Suggestions The underwater photos are close-ups. In reality, these “little brown mushrooms” are small and hard to find, especially with rippling water. Direct sunshine helps. If you find one, you will likely find another. Slow down, look near debris at edges of a main channel, but still in flowing water near the banks or quieter shallow flow areas where silt can settle. What to Do Upon Observation: Do not collect specimens. These mushrooms degrade rapidly when picked. Note the location (GPS, USGS map, trail mile, whatever). Photograph the specimen and the habitat. See Photography for ID Purposes for tips. Contact Southern Oregon University and send them your findings or a link to your observations: southworth@sou.edu Mushrooms covered: See code Previous Description All Featured Fungi Next Description