Fall is an excellent time to see fungi in Nova Scotia’s woods. Whether growing on the ground or on decaying trees, these life forms are varied, with some species being edible.
Of the ten types of fungi I managed to photograph in my yard in the past week, I am only confident of the identification of one, the orange jelly at bottom centre which is considered edible if boiled. Even with the use of an Audubon field guide, I’m still wary of my ability to correctly identify the less colorful varieties. Despite minute differences, they all look so similar to one another.
Although a distinction is often made between mushrooms and toadstools, with toadstools often considered toxic and with a tapered (as opposed to straight) stalk, there is no scientific basis for this. The edibility of mushrooms is best determined by experts rather than through trial and error. The adage that there are old mushroom pickers and bold mushroom pickers, but no old, bold mushroom pickers is probably true.
Due to the poisonous and hallucinogenic nature of some fungi, they have often been given magical properties in art and literature. Faeries and gnomes are frequently depicted beside toadstools as in the 19th century painting of Fairy Rings and Toadstools (shown above) by Richard Doyle. I once came across one of these ‘fairy’ rings in my yard. They originate in the growth of fungi around the outer edge of the decaying underground roots of old trees. It seemed pretty harmless in the light of day, but who knows what magic transpired in its midst during moonlit nights.
The variety is delightful, the colors entrancing, but I agree with you on not experimenting with them in the kitchen. The saying was new to me.
What a marvellous yard you must have !
I loved this post. I love that we both love our fungis and fairy rings 🙂
I love fairy rings – and this post was wonderful.
Add me to the list of those who love fairy rings! What a lovely picture of them! I was so excited yesterday – no, not about the snow that we got – but because my Nova Scotian hollyhock seeds got here yesterday! Horray! Thank you so much – should I plant them this fall or wait until spring? I can’t believe you found the time to send them with all that you have going on in your life….you’re a sweetie, Amy! And you have very beautimous handwriting – your artistry comes through in your gardens, your photos and your handwriting….love ya!
Glad you got the seeds already Cindy. You’re welcome. You can plant them now. You may not get blooms the first year but should get some for sure the second. Some are singles and some are doubles. The doubles look like the tissue flowers that people used to adorn wedding cars with.
10 types! i vaguely remember a mushroom expert friend of mine telling me about a way to see if a mushroom is toxic. i think it had to do with touching a penny to the mushroom and seeing what changes occurred to the copper.
has anyone heard of something like that?
I had never heard of that before Wind – so of course I had to give it a try 🙂
I used both recent copper pennies and one from 1937 (just in case the newer ones had a protective coating on them). Regardless of the mushrooms I touched, I didn’t notice any change. I placed them on both the caps and in the gills as shown in the photo. If the test is valid, then all the mushrooms in my yard must be edible.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Maybe I should serve some up with the turkey and see if the test is valid 😉
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you, Amy, and to all other Canadian readers/commenters!
Thanks Joan 🙂
What a variety of fungi to find so close to home. Have you ever tried eating the orange jelly sort yourself?
I was afraid someone was going to ask a question like that Jessica… I haven’t tried it… yet. But it’s a new day and I’m up for adventure 🙂
If you’d like to ID these, you could try posting to:
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=199
Top left looks like Gloeophyllum sepiarum, from general appearance/habitat, if it has a mazy-looking underside.
If it has a flat underside, poreless, possibly a Stereum or similar.
‘Need to get closer for the others to make a good guess, but top middle looks Clitocybe-ish, bottom right a polyporoid, bottom left looks Lactarius-ish.
My experience so far of some of the various traditional “tests” for edibility tells me that they are not worth risking life or GI distress for 🙂
cheers,
frog
Thank you for attempting to identify these frog and also for providing the link. Maybe I’ll rethink the orange jelly tasting.
I did a double-take with the fairy photo and thought HEY, she actually got a picture of fairies and wondered if you’d spent the night out under some elder tree. But, no, it was a painting. Too bad. We’ll get a “real live” photo of those fairies one of these days.
Yes we will Kathy. Our persistence is bound to pay off one of these days (or nights).
What does the copper penny test show? This is an enchanting post 🙂
I saw a fairy ring once – it felt very magical. I walked carefully around it so as not to disturb the wonder.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dawn, the copper penny is supposed to turn dark if it touches a toxic fungus. I rubbed the pennies both on the surface of the mushroom cap and in between the gills and noticed no change in appearance. So, if the test is valid, then this mushroom would be safe to eat.
Fairy rings aren’t very common, so we’re very lucky to have each seen one. They are a wonder to behold.