Mushrooms

Dry weather this season has meant fewer fall mushrooms than usual.  And as the temperature drops, so does fungus activity.  Still, there are a few mushrooms that will fruit late in the year.  We have one in the park which seems not to mind the lack of rain, called Many Warts in my mushroom guide.  I found a couple of them along the Bright Hope Trail this week, their size making them easy to spot.  This fungus is in the Amanita family, many species of which are poisonous, including this Amanita polypyramis.  The guide says they have an unpleasant odor.  Perhaps that is how wildlife senses the toxicity; this fruiting bodies has not been chewed on, though deer, rodents and insects will eat some mushrooms.


--Ben