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News & Stories / Foraging in Alaska in 2008 Fred and I took a family trip to Alaska this summer and stayed at Bill & Gerri White’s lodge in Sterling. It was lots of fun. Bill has hosted groups from the FFSC in past years, and we hope he’ll think about doing it again. Deb • September 1, 2008 Fred Chin and Debbie Johnson picking lovely Agaricus silvicola. Photo by Kerry White Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts The Great Alaska Foray 2010 2009 Alaska Foray Travelogue Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Hymenoscyphus fructigenus on Acorn. Photo by Anisa Etemadi Mushy Acorn Anisa Etemadi This acorn was found under a decomposing log in the Santa Cruz mountains. The photo was taken by Anisa Etemadi and the acorn was found by Zac Vavoulis. We believe they are Hymenoscyphus fructigenus , a saprobic mushroom found on only certain nuts! Camera Apple iPhone 6s Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.2 Shutter Sp. 1/300s ISO 100 Flash Off Photo taken on December 11, 2016 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Writings FFSC 2026 Ministers Elections-Results Welcome our new slate of FFSC ministers elected at May 19, 2026 general meeting. Dan Tischler • May 20, 2026 Porcini and Coccora invited to dinner-photo by Dan Tischler We have a new slate of ministers with some new faces and veteran FFSC ministers. You can view the list at https://www.ffsc.us/info/ffsc-ministers . When you get a chance please welcome the new ministers and thank outgoing ministers for all their hard work. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports North to Alaska v.2 Sunrise...again? It just went down! On your mark, get set, hunt! Hugh Smith • September 1, 2011 Tricholoma murrillianum (magnivelare) (matsutake). Photo by Hugh Smith Yes, sunrise again. It rises slowly and in an odd place, south of East. Then it stays up for a long time. A long time! The days are currently 15 hours, 40 minutes, losing 5 minutes per day. And don’t miss the sunset. Oh, but you won’t. It lasts as long as the sunrise. And it sets in an odd place too, south of West. Colorful and glorious. The arc of the sun up here is about the same as the arc of a rainbow, 43 degrees of sky. This is dictated by our position and distance from our sun. Ever wonder why you can’t take a picture of a complete rainbow with any basic lens? Now you know. I was told to buy pepper spray to carry with me in the forest in case of an encounter with Bears. The problem with this idea is everyone has Pepper Spray. This means no one could possibly tell which Bear pile was you. And as for wearing bells... there are so many people with these too, so it sounds like a herd of goats walking through the woods and there’s no way to tell when one of you is missing. Does a Bear and a cask of Amontillado ring any bells? Most of the time I wore a hat. A hat not only keeps your glasses dry but can be very useful for pushing through the bush while keeping your eyes to the ground. There are mushrooms everywhere! Like I said, in the woods where I’m from, the trees are not nearly this close together. Here, you could be pushing through trees constantly. The trees can be 3 feet apart! They are all touching! And, a hat also prevents me from getting Gorbys on my shiny head. The one day I forgot to wear it...got a Gorby. Richard and I were in the woods, staying off trail. It’s like floating through the forest, walking on a two foot thick carpet of plush, undulating Sphagnum Moss. There are mushrooms everywhere! So here comes this small group of people, walking down a trail near us (the forest is so dense, so unlike what we’re familiar with, that just a few feet off the trail you are completely invisible.) Richard and I started grunting and growling. The women in the group immediately turned and ran back from whence they came. We then spoke to them to allay their fears. They said that wasn’t very funny and that they had just seen three bears. Three? That means two cubs. Later, Sandi and I were walking through the woods and this time we were walking ON a trail. There was a noise in the bushes. It grew louder and it was very near. Not being a familiar sound, my hair stood up all over my body and the adrenaline flowed. Richard could no longer compose himself as he watched us scurry about, bumping into each other with terrified looks on our faces, questioning our survival. Actually, though, I wasn’t scared. I was reaching for my camera. On another hunt, we went to a place called Moose Flat. It’s a day use area and it was a Saturday. Not a soul was there. Kind of like a Bolete hunt. Nobody around. As we pulled in to the area, there before us was a mother Moose and her baby. Sandi screeched so loud she scared off the Moose from 50 yards away with the windows up. Can you imagine what it sounded like inside the van? Today it’s raining... somewhere. Not here. We spent the day along a road near a great lake in a vast array of habitats (lots of secret laughing places) and didn’t see a drop of rain. As we drove back toward the lodge after a short days hunt (only 8 hours) we came into rain. There were sheets of water on the road and hydroplaning was a concern. Gullies had formed in Bill and Geri’s driveway. Who could have guessed only a few miles east of here it never hinted at rain? But... there’s still daylight, so let’s hunt! Can you imagine a King Bolete every 3 feet in every direction in an area the size of a large room? OK, I’m exaggerating. Can you imagine a King Bolete every 4 feet in every direction in an area the size of a large room? And no competition? Difficult to imagine, isn’t it? But if you can, then you’ve probably been to Alaska. I have, so I knew what to expect. And when you go, you’ll know what to expect, too. Expect the unexpected. So many Boletes, so few dryers. Some people were buying them after we got up there. I sent two dehydrators ahead from California so they’d be there when I arrived. Amazon had free shipping and I taped them together as one for the ride home. I ran them 24 hours a day but the last day I didn’t pick any since there was no more time to dry them. There is only one species of Moose (here), two species of Rabbit (here), 1 species of Ice Worm (here), 1 species of Porcupine (here), 2 kinds of music (Country & Western), and 1 species of Human. And although there are very few species of trees on the Kenai Peninsula, the number of mushroom species and even the number of mushroom genera will surprise anyone. Last year we documented 192 species and this year I counted more than 130 not including Cortinarius ! I appeared to be the only one counting, but I could not have found so many on my own. All of those eyes, old and new are most valuable and ap-preciated. 2011 Alaska Foray participants. Photo by Hugh Smith Known edibles (if someone cooks them for you) are numerous as well. If no one cooks, then none are edible. Our group prepared many, including 2 Pleurotus species, 4 Leccinum species, Boletus grand-edulis , Hawk Wings, Gypsies, and Hericium ramosum . The Leccinum , Hericium and Boletus were the best of all. Others that were identified but not prepared were Shrimp Russula ( Russula xerampelina ), Brown Matsutake ( Tricholoma caligatum ), Hedgehogs ( Hydnum umbilicatum ), Chicken of the Woods ( Laetiporus coniferacola ) Man On Horseback ( Tricholoma flavovirens ) and Panaeolus (!). On another one of our many forays, we went in search of Gypsy mushrooms, formerly Rozites caperatus and now Cortinarius caperatus . These are easily identifiable once you have seen the look-alikes. After that, we hunted Kings again. Found another new spot to hunt too, about a mile long. Add one more place to the hunting list, Bill. After this we went to Seward, a port town to the south. Seward sits below the Harding Ice Field, a 500 square mile blanket of ice on top of a mountain range that feeds numerous Glaciers. The most accessible glacier is Exit Glacier. Of course, there are mushrooms at the glacier, and Slime Molds too. It’s impossible to imagine that not too long ago, the areas where we stood and walked were completely covered under a sheet of heavy, grinding ice. No plants, nothing. Only Ice Worms. After getting as close as was allowed to the glacier we then went to the outwash plain. Many people walked right up to the leading edge of the glacier and several of us walked out onto the cobblestone plain to catch some ancient ice. Unlike regular ice, glacial ice is almost free of air bubbles and therefore is perfectly clear. But many other substances can be trapped in this ice and through the eons, inevitably, many things have been. Since this ice is clear, it is only intermittently visible as it flows and tumbles past you in the silt laden fast moving water. This is a fair size river coming out of just this one glacier and ice chunks of all sizes are tumbling down the river, some too large to pick up. Richard held onto me as I attempted to lean out and grab a piece as they rushed by but I was unsuccessful. Bill leaned out to grab one and almost fell in. I said, “Bill, I saw signs everywhere that said children don’t float.” But he managed to get a nice chunk of ice and in it were spots of what appeared to be volcanic ash. The spots were uniform gray and clay-like, not gritty like you might expect. And these spots were throughout the ice rather than in a sedimentary layer. We ate some of this ancient frozen water. Sandi got ash on her tongue. How long ago did this ash fall and from what volcano? Was it an Alaskan volcano? Or was it from Russia or Japan? How many mushroom spores were embedded in this single piece of ice? How many species? Were they still viable? I pondered. What a place. What a planet! The day we left Sterling, we went early and stopped at Girdwood. They were having their 4th annual Fungus Fair. It was Sunday and the fair was winding down. Ryane Snow, Patrick Hamilton and Connie Green were there. I didn’t see them but we saw people from our original group and Henry and Marjorie Young were in attendance, and on their way to Bill and Geri’s to replace us. I feel we were here early this year (mushroom season-wise) and they were prob-ably going to witness a greater abundance than us. But how could that possibly be? The Fungus Fair had 3 tables of mushrooms. If only they could have met up with us. To my knowledge our species lists surpasses theirs from one year alone. Bill and Jerri, thank you so much for making this kind of mushroom foray possible. The forays, Pot Lucks and campfires were such a blast! Toni, remember that bottle of Tequila you brought up there last year? It’s still there along with another bottle. All of the mushroom dishes (cough), the salmon dishes (choke, except for the Filet O’Mac) and the hot dogs (Sphincters, lips and eyelids, yeah!) and S’Mores (hold the Graham Crackers and the Marshmallows please) will never be forgotten. Without you two, we might never have known there could be such a place with such great diversity and abundance. Let’s hunt! Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Foraging in Alaska in 2008 The Great Alaska Foray 2010 2009 Alaska Foray Travelogue Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Summer Time Mushrooms! With all the fog we have been having along the coast, aided by summer lawn irrigation, there are lots of mushrooms fruiting in the wetter locations. Michael Wood • September 1, 2001 Amanita pantherina. © Chris Evers (CC-BY-NC) (from inaturalist.org, obs. 2763070) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Wavy Caps (Psilocybe cyanescens) Psilocybe is the primary genus of hallucinogenic mushrooms, containing such famous species as Liberty Caps (P. semilanceata ), Cubes (P. cubensis), and the topic of this article, Wavy Caps (P. cyanescens ). by Christian Schwarz Wavy caps specimens. Photo by Christian Schwarz Note from The Powers That Be: In the United States, psilocybin-containing mushrooms are classified as Schedule 1 drugs, illegal to possess, sell, transport, or cultivate. (This includes spores in the State of California.) The information on this page is provided for scientific and educational purposes only. Almost always encountered on wood chips, Psilocybe cyanescens is an aggressive ruderal species, fond of disturbance in urban areas. It is especially common in the cold, wet winter months around the San Francisco Bay. Through a combinatin of unintentional and intentional transplantation by humans and natural dispersal, it has spread widely throughout the United States. In California, it occurs at least as far south as San Diego County, although it is fairly rare south of Santa Cruz County. Psilocybe allenii is a recently-described species that is extremely similar in most respects. It is primarily differentiable by its less-wavy cap. See this link for more details: http://www.czechmycology.org/_cmo/CM64207.pdf Although only P. cyanescens and P. allenii occur with any regularity in Santa Cruz County, the further north one travels along the Pacific Coast, the more diverse the Psilocybe-assemblage becomes: P. baeocystis, P. azurescens, P. stuntzii, P. ovoideocystidiata, P. pelliculosa, and P. semilanceata all occur in this area, among those already mentioned. Main Photo: The main photo on this page shows somewhat faded specimens. Note the wavy caps and blue stains on the stipe. Spore deposit is dark purplish-gray to very dark reddish-brown. First Photo: Specimens showing the tendency of the stipe bases to bring up large chunks of substrate tightly bound with tough rhizomorphs. Note the aqua to navy-blue stains and the wavy cap margins. Second Photo: Specimens that have not yet developed much blue staining. Note the umbonate caps that are becoming wavy, chestnut-caramel colored caps, bright white stipes, and button with a silky white cortina-type partial veil near the center. Primary confusion species are other Psilocybe , but recreational users run the risk of confusing them with potentially-deadly Galerina marginata , as well as Pholiotina or Conocybe species. All of these have more fragile stipes, bright rusty-orange spore deposits, and lack strong blue staining on all parts. Galerina marginata grp. Photo: These rusty-spored wood-chip dwellers sometimes grow right alongside Psilocybe species, posing a serious danger to inexperienced recreational pickers. The softer stipe texture, lack of blue staining, and rusty spore deposit help distinguish them. P. cyanescens and its relatives are widely cultivated and collected for recreational use by a global populaton of neuronauts and other adventure-seekers. Effects of ingestion include wondrous and/or overwhelming visual enhancements/disturbances, heightened sensations, cyclical and often “swelling” feelings of ecstasy, euphoria and connection to place, people, Nature, Time, and the Universe; but can also result in feelings of fear, unease, disconnection, and loss of sense of Self. As with any psychedelic drug, personal predispositions and psychic peculiarities in combination with details of set and setting exert a heavy influence on the tone of the trip. Mushrooms covered: Conocybe tenera gr. Galerina marginata (deadly galerina, funeral bell) Pholiotina sp. Psilocybe allenii Psilocybe azurescens Psilocybe baeocystis Psilocybe cyanescens ( wavy cap) Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata Psilocybe pelliculosa Psilocybe semilanceata Psilocybe stuntzii Previous Description All Featured Fungi Next Description

Red Russula. Photo by Justin Ciccone Red Russula Justin Ciccone This beautiful Russula was photographed by Justin Ciccone during a nice rainy hike at Nisene Marks park on November 19, 2014. Happy Holidays! Camera Nikon D90 Focal L. 35mm Aperture f/7.1 Shutter Sp. 1/200s ISO 125 Flash Fired Photo taken on November 19, 2014 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Mushroom flower. Stalked polypore. Photo by Alex Russakovsky Mushroom Flower Alex Russakovsky On a yearly trip to the Mendonoma coast that we always dedicate to the memory of Ryane Snow . Spent some days under pouring rain hunting for edibles, however not much to report. About 200 chanterelles (3 different varieties), 15 matsutake, 20 honeys, a couple of pigs' ears. Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on December 7, 2019 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Starting to Think About Rain Those who ventured into the Sierras in the late spring were fortunate to find a good harvest of morels, if they were in the right place for that brief, shining moment. Boletes were more abundant as the weather warmed, fruiting well into summer in many areas. Deb • September 1, 2007 Morchella. © Douglas Smith (from mushroomobserver.org) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts September Seasons and October Rains 2013 Sierra Scouting Report Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Amanita muscaria on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Photo by Ron Bader Amanita muscaria Ron Bader I took this photo in Sterling Alaska while on the FFSC Alaska Long Distance Foray at Bill White's Alaska Sports lodge on Sept. 1, 2017. Camera Apple iPhone 4 Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.8 Shutter Sp. 1/100s ISO 80 Flash Off Photo taken on September 1, 2017 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

News & Stories / Stewardship Jackson Demonstration State Forest Permit Changes Rules for mushroom gathering at Jackson Demonstration State Forest have recently changed. Deb • August 18, 2014 Bolete with Newt. Photo by Yevgeny Nyden Due to massive abuse of the system the JDSF no longer issues free personal collection permits. The only permits now issued are commercial permits. The good news is that the permits are $20 per year with no weight limit. The not-so-good news is that the permit must be applied for in person and the office is now open Monday–Friday. If you're planning to go to Mendocino this year, we suggest getting a permit ahead of time —it's good through 2014. We realize this presents a challenge to the usual order of things at our Albion forays. The FFSC ministers will be sorting out details and working towards a solution. In the meantime, if your travels take you to Ft. Bragg during the week, do yourself a favor and pick up a permit; the fine for collecting without a permit is $1000. See the FAQ sheet from the JDSF office , and stay tuned for further details. Contact info: Jackson Demonstration State Forest 802 N Main St. Fort Bragg CA 95437 (707) 964-5674 Fax: (707) 964-0941 Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Soquel State Demonstration Forest Permits Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article