Every year Nature Manitoba offers a mushroom identification workshop as part of our winter nature education program. Since the workshop takes place in the early spring, we offer an optional field trip in late summer/early fall to go out and get some practical experience identifiying mushrooms! 2017 workshop participant (and former NM staffer) ,Tommy Allen, was kind enough to share his photos and brief comments from the day. Our mushroom field guide, Donna Kurt, compiled a list of species found on the trip (see below photos or click here to jump to species list).
Courtesy of Tommy Allen:
Thanks so much Donna for your volunteer guided tour! It was great to be out there exploring the dark, damp woods with such a fearless group.
The first photo shows the spread of mushrooms that I came home with. Unfortunately I ended up with a bunch that Donna probably should have had, as my bag was emptied in the trunk but then refilled at lunch with specimens to ID during lunch, then accidentally stayed in my bag when I came home. Donna still somehow came up with a great list for us.
I DID eat the 4.5 mushrooms in the second photo. The two experienced mushroom identifiers confirmed they were Enoki mushrooms." They were super tasty with garlic and butter, they had a great texture.
Species List:
Courtesy of Donna Kurt
Birds Hill Park
Site 1 Bur Oak trail
Wood ear – Auricularia auricula-judae
Black knot – Apiosporina morbosa
small pinwheel mushrooms on leaf litter
many lichens on oaks
bracket fungus species TBD?
orange jelly fungus
Site 2 – South Drive Roadside East of Bur Oak road side walk, off-road shoulder, and bushwalk,
Artists conk – Ganoderma applanatum (Pers. ex Wall.) Pat.
Wolf's milk slime – Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fr. – orange nodules
Lemon drops – Bisporella citrina – small yellow balls on rotting wood
Violet toothed polypore – Trichaptum biforme (F. in K.) Ryv. – layered bracket fungus with purple on underside outer edge
Slippery Jack – Suillus luteus (otherwise very few Boletes)
Blackfooted poplyore, Bay-brown polypore – Polyporus badius
Oyster mushroom – Pleurotus ostreatus
Veiled oyster – Pleurotus dryinus
Mycena spp
LBMs (Little Brown Mushrooms) and some large brown mushrooms
Multicolored zoned bracket fungus – Polyporus versicolor – colorful zoned caps small bracket fungus overlapping clusters
Bracket fungus at base of trees – possibly Polyporus frondosus – overlapping clusters, grey to brown fleshy caps – bracket fungus
Large fuzzy top russet colored gilled mushroom – Fuzztop, Scaly knight – Tricholoma vaccinum? photo below
Lacquered polypore – Ganoderma luciderm – although quite advanced in age
White bracket fungus with undulating white porous undersurface on maple, possibly – Oxyporus populinus
Pholiota sp
Site 3 – South drive 1-2 km north of East gate road intersection
Oyster mushroom – Pleurotus ostreatus
WIld enokitaki – Flammulina velutipes
Shimeji, Brown beech – Hypsizygus tessulatus
Dark brown bracket fungus
Russula spp
Blue-stain fungus, Green-stain fungus – Chlorociboria aeruginascens – blue/green stained wood is used in Tunbridge ware http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jul2008.html
Large white mushroom
Thick stem, wavy edge large gilled white mushroom, possibly Leucopaxillus giganteus
Black witch's butter – Exidia glandulosa
Site 4 – Park maintenance site – lunch spot
Lobster mushroom – Hypomyces lactiflorum
Turkey tail – Trametes versicolor
Orange hydnellum – Hydnellum arantiacum
Horses hoof, Amadou – Fomes fomentaries
Site 5 Hazelnut trail meander
Tippler's Bane, Alcohol inky – Coprinus atramentarius (Bull.) Redhead, Vilgalys & Moncalvo
Jelly mushroom – Tremmela spp.
Wolf's milk slime – Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fr. – orange nodules
Tiny puffballs releasing white spores when pressed on fallen log – possibly Lasiosphaeria spermoides
Site 6 – Pine tree stand North Drive west of Stables road
Arched earthstar – Geastrum fornicatum (Huds.) Fr.
Belair Forest
Site 1
Honey mushroom – Armillaria mellea
Birch poiypore – Piptoporus betulinus (Fr.) Kar.
Orange jelly – Dacrymces palmatus (Schw.) Bres.
Lactarius spp, possibly L. pipperatus?
Other species I did not have time to record
Site 2
Pholiota sp, likely Flaming pholiota – P. flammans due to its brilliant golden-yellow colour and it was deep inside the remaining stump of I believe a fallen conifer although it could also be Scaly pholiota – P. squarrosa, Tommy has some better photos than me
Artists conk – Ganoderma applanatum
Other species I did not have the opportunity to record