Found near the tiny beach:
And in case you're wondering whether there is much competition for "Fungus of the Day" status, I will show you this also-ran:
June 17, 2024
Fungus of the Day.
Found near the tiny beach:
And in case you're wondering whether there is much competition for "Fungus of the Day" status, I will show you this also-ran:
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28 comments:
I’m enjoying all the recent fungus posts.
Funguys... would be a forward-looking theme for Man's... Maine's banner. Paint it gay.
Pleurotus citrinopileatus, a recently described species of the oyster mushroom genus.
Some authorities claim they are a recent mutation from the typical light-gray oysters, others say with a touch of adamance that they are invasive intruders from Siberia or Japan.
Yellow Oysters Must Be Destroyed! So eat 'em up. They are delicious.
I'm living vicariously through you right now Althouse. I love running trails in the summer and finding amazing mushrooms. But I haven't been out this summer at all. Seeing these pictures makes me happy.
Too bad we can't solve the other problem by culinary means.
@Althouse, you really seem to have a thing for bright yellow fungi. The “also ran,” being a very, very pale blue, and thus almost opposite your first choice on the color wheel, never really had a chance.
Is it a coincidence that Althousian focus is on more and more fungi at the same time that a pernicious fungus is eating its way through Biden's brain?
@Big Mike
I like all the colors. My preferences are more about shape and interestingness. Blue could be a point of interest, but this one looks completely white to me. White is fine, but the shape makes it look just like a big spoonful of Marshmallow Fluff got thwacked onto the old log.
The amorphous blob at the beach may be Oudemansiella furfuracea, one of the porcelain mushrooms found in eastern North America typically growing on partially buried rotten logs. In its fruiting stage the porcelains have a typical gilled cap, but when first erupting the cap is enclosed into a roundish, globby-blobby hump. The only way to tell by visual inspection is to return and see what it looks like tomorrow or the day after.
Seriously, Althouse should return to the yellow oysters and gather them while they are prime. These can grow in incredible profusion, so it's not uncommon to gather hundreds from the same tree. Dried oysters go for up to $40 a pound.
Regarding the marshmallow fluff: Check it out for curiosity's sake, but don't bother to pick. Porcelains suck. Not toxic enough to end your troubles. Not tasty enough to warrant the risk.
I had a nagging thought that “fungus day” began on Father’s Day.
The thought was wrong.
Good thing I went and checked before spouting misinformation.
It’s the last thing I ever want to do.
I predict the Biden v Trump debate CNN-mic-muting is going to shortchange Trump.
"Dried oysters go for up to $40 a pound."
Seems like dried mushrooms have very little weight and it would take an awful lot to make a pound. The harvester deserves the $40 and more.
Me, I'm always afraid of poisoning myself, and since I have a very low ability to taste, I have little to gain from gathering these things for myself.
Dried oysters go for up to $40 a pound.
I've picked oyster mushrooms many times in the wild and love them. Definitely a top 5 species for me. Here is my advice, for what it's worth:
1) I find oyster mushrooms to be rather tough when dried and reconstituted. If you find a fruiting with more than you can eat, either give some away, or freeze them. I like to blanch them, let them cool, dust them in flour, freeze them widely spaced on a cookie sheet, then vacuum pack them after they are frozen. That way they won't stick together in a clump and you can take out only what you need. Frozen mushrooms should go directly into hot oil, do not allow them to thaw before cooking or they will be mushy.
2) Oyster mushrooms can be gastrointestinal troublemakers if not thoroughly cooked, so do not eat them raw. Dehydration is not a substitute for cooking.
3) The best preparation for oyster mushrooms is Japanese tempura style.
4) There are a few lookalikes for oyster mushrooms that can be mildly toxic, but it's not too hard to learn to distinguish them before you pick them in the wild. No lethally toxic impostors, though.
@Althouse (10:30), that may be as that may be. However since June 1st nearly all of your pictures of fungi have been of bright yellow specimens. Today's bluish-white blog, a picture of a yellow fungus that had faded to orange with a whitish rim, and a conventional buff-colored mushroom are the exceptions.
Last week, Donald Trump blurted out at a meeting with congressional Republicans that he favors switching to a McKinley-style system in which the American government relies on tariffs for all of its revenue. This reminds [MATT YGLESIAS of a larger forgotten point]: When Trump was President of the United States, he did a really terrible job.
On the economy, Trumpstalgics [those whose memories of Trump are affected by nostalgia, not reality] say that what matters is that the results were fine, even if the ideas espoused (like funding the entire government with tariffs) were often unsound. But on Covid, Trumpstalgics say that what matters is that he espoused the right ideas (in this case, being less cautious), even if he was completely inefficacious in delivering results.
Read this Slow Boring column and those Trumpstalgics out there who loved Yglesias will jump ship.
Quaestor said...
“[O]thers say with a touch of adamance that they are invasive intruders from Siberia or Japan. Yellow Oysters Must Be Destroyed!”
Yellow Peril
“blob,” not “blog.”
I'd no more eat a mushroom or fungus straight from its habitat than I would eat a cheeseburger found in the same place.
And that leaves more for the rest of you.
Pleurotus citrinopileatus, "Golden Oyster Mushroom": A delicious invasive species.
https://mushroomexpert.com/pleurotus_citrinopileatus.html
Quaestor, definitely not Oudemansiella (or now, Hymenopellis), as that's a typical gilled species, and doesn't erupt from a lump.
https://mushroomexpert.com/hymenopellis_furfuracea.html
Perhaps you were thinking of Volvariella? That one is a typical gilled cap that grows out of rotting wood, but first emerges as what I'd call an "Egg".
https://mushroomexpert.com/volvariella_bombycina.html
https://mushroomexpert.com/volvariella_volvacea.html
I'm pretty sure that the whitish blob is an inedible polypore shelf-fungus like Tyromyces:
https://mushroomexpert.com/tyromyces_chioneus.html
The fungus among us. Love this.
Fungus among us, and no cirrus near us.
What's the state mushroom of Wisconsin? .... Myself, I don't like flashy mushrooms. Fungi should have muted colors.
@amr: I'm pretty sure that the whitish blob is an inedible polypore shelf-fungus like Tyromyces
I don't think so. It's another slime mold. Reticularia lycoperdon, the false puffball. Formerly known as Enteridium lycoperdon.
In Mexico it's charmingly called "caca de luna", or moon poo.
@William: Myself, I don't like flashy mushrooms. Fungi should have muted colors.
The colors of mushrooms do not provide any useful information about toxicity or lack thereof, other than potentially aiding in identification as to species.
There are drab brown mushrooms that are lethally poisonous (Galerina) and drab brown mushrooms that are delicious (shiitake).
There are white mushrooms that are lethally poisonous (Amanita bisporigera) and white mushrooms that are delicious (Agaricus).
There are brightly colored mushrooms that are highly toxic (Amanita muscaria) and brightly colored mushrooms that are delicious (Hypomyces lactifluorum).
@Hassayamper We'll have to disagree then. I see a true cap with a pored lower surface.
I'm not certain it's Tyromyces however... but I'm confident it's a polypore and not Reticularia...I never got too far into the ID of the woody-to-spongy polypores. One similar species around me in MN has a particular scent very similar to "Tutti-Fruitti".
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