Frightful Fungi

Shannon Heist

Blacklick Woods Naturalist

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

No, this post isn’t about Macbeth, it’s about mushrooms! We won’t be casting any spells on you, but the parks may be entrancing you with spooky mushrooms soon. From Bleeding Fairy Helmet, Eastern American Jack O’Lanterns, and Shaggy Mane’s, I wanted to share a few of my favorite fall mushrooms to get you in the Halloween spirit while learning about some very cool fungi; after all, October 15 is National Mushroom Day. I hope you enjoy learning about a few of Ohio’s fungi below and maybe join us on an upcoming fungi program in the parks.

To start off, what is fungi?

Fungi are the most populous kingdom on the planet – an estimated 5 million fungi exist worldwide but only about 10% of them are currently known to science! Here in Ohio, there are more than 2,000 species of fungi.

Mushrooms are the fruiting body of fungi that we see. These sprout from mycelium—a branching network of fungal threads, or hyphae, growing underground. The mushroom part of the fungi is like a flower. The flower is just one aspect of the plant; this is where pollinators pick up and spread the pollen. This is the same as for the mushroom. The fruiting mushroom is where the spores (think microscopic seeds) spread to colonize new areas, but the rest of the fungi is behind the scenes and working.

Underground, the fungal system of roots work year round as nature’s best wood-rotters, breaking down tough wood and returning nutrients to the soil. They also help connect the forest through the “Wood Wide Web;” an underground network of mycelium that connects individual plants and allows them to communicate and share resources. The whole fungus is hiding underground until it’s time for the mushroom to pop up and shine!

Many people love to eat mushrooms, but it is important you can correctly identify them first. Out of the millions of fungi in the world, only about 3% are poisonous to consume but those will have detrimental effects if eaten. Fungi can be very daunting in this aspect but very exciting and fun to learn about. Mushrooms can fruit on almost anything, from grass to live trees, and in any season. Let’s learn about my favorite fall growing mushrooms!

Eastern American Jack O’Lanterns Omphalotus illudens

This bright orange fungi grows in clusters on dead wood. If you see them at the right time, they’re also said to be bioluminescent, meaning the gills of fresh specimens give off a faint greenish glow at night or in a dark room. Highbanks and Blendon Woods are great parks to see this mushroom, however, don’t eat it! Jack O’Lanterns may look pretty but they are known for causing severe upset stomachs for a few days and are considered poisonous.

Witch’s Hat Hygrocybe conica

The witch’s hat mushrooms can be distinguished by their red or orange waxy caps. When bruised, they will discolor to a deep black and with age will turn completely black. These small mushrooms are also shaped with a point in the cap. If you are lucky to see one during summer or fall it may look just like a witch’s hat.

Bleeding Fairy Helmet Mycena haematopus

These small mushrooms fruit from deadwood, growing in clusters from spring to fall. They are distinguishable by their bell shaped pinkish-brown caps. When cut, these caps will “bleed” a deep red latex that will also stain your hands. This is my personal favorite mushroom.

Dead Man’s Fingers Xylaria polymorpha

These tubular mushrooms have a long lifespan starting as white tips growing from the ground in spring and becoming black in the fall. These root onto buried wood or decaying stumps and logs, often reaching out from underneath looking like fingers from the dead, rising from underground.

Devil’s Urn Urnula craterium

This dark, goblet-shaped cup fungus appears in the spring on decaying hardwood logs. It is known to mushroom foragers as an indicator that it is morel season. While it is technically edible, it is too tough to be considered a food source. It has earned its name from its shape and the appearance, resembling a “smoking” cauldron as it releases spores. If you see this mushroom, get down low and blow into the cup to see the spores “smoke.”

Hare’s foot inkcap Coprinopsis lagopus

Just like a spiderweb, this small and dainty fungi will be missed if you’re not observant, but can be found decomposing wood around the globe. The cap is densely hairy when the mushroom is young and fresh, but can be nearly smooth by maturity (which is often just a few hours later). Like most other “inky caps,” its gills liquefy and produce a black “ink” as the spores mature and the cap peels upwards, looking similar to a spiderweb.

Resinous Polypore Ischnoderma resinosum

This fungi fruits off dead hardwoods. In the beginning they are soft, fleshy, velvety and white before growing larger, tough, brown and leathery. This bracket fungi bruises brown when young and ranges from pinkish brown to blackish brown. Resinous polypore is one type of fungi that also forms moisture droplets called “guttations.” This happens due to excess water being pushed out so the mushroom can grow faster along with other factors. These droplets may range from clear to red, often looking like resin.

Pear-shaped Puffball Apioperdon pyriforme

These puffballs are one of the few that grow from wood. They can be found throughout the Metro Parks growing in dense clusters. When young, they will be dense, round and have small spines. As they mature, they become almost hollow and pear shaped, and will develop a hole in the center, which is how they spread their spores. When walking through the woods, you can squeeze these puffballs and they will puff out their spores, almost looking like they are smoking. This helps spread the spores that are normally spread through wind and raindrops.

Blood Red Russula Russula rosacea

These fragile mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with pines, but can be found growing under hardwoods as well. They are known for their bright red cap and white gills and stem. They use their mycelium roots to reach farther and faster than the tree’s roots, to help give the trees the extra nutrients that are just out of reach. They can also be parasitized by ghost pipe, a white flower that cannot photosynthesize. Because of the inability to photosynthesize, the flower takes nutrients and carbohydrates from the russula to feed itself.

Shaggy Mane Coprinus comatus

This mushroom is definitely a show stopper. It can be found growing in lawns in fairy rings or hard ground throughout the summer and fall. The shaggy mane starts out as a white, tall and oval shaped mushroom with a scaly cap. With age, the cap will begin to open up into a bell shape and as the mushroom ages, it slowly disappears by turning into a black liquid from the bottom of the cap to the top; similar to a ghost disappearing.

Wood Ear Auricularia auricula-judae

Wood ear is distinguished by its noticeably ear-like shape and brown-colored gelatinous-like mushroom that grows on dying wood. It is edible and chewy but tastes bland. Of greater note than its flavor is its potential medicinal use. Research has shown it can be used to lower cholesterol, and there is even some evidence it can play a role in treating diabetes and cancer.

Witch’s Butter Tremella mesenterica

Witch’s butter appears as a small yellow mass of brain-like lobes with a gelatinous consistency, growing on all continents except Antarctica. The fungus grows on deciduous wood year-round but it has a secret. This fungi’s full-time job is to inhabit dead wood as a parasite. It gets nourishment by digesting the tissues of a crust fungus that is also parasitizing and possibly killing the tree. Witch’s butter is therefore a parasite of a parasite! Since this fungus grows on dead or alive wood, in the Middle Ages, it was often found growing on wooden household structures such as door frames and fence posts. It was believed that this meant your home was cursed by a witch.The only way to lift the curse was to pluck the mushroom and drain it of liquid. Given that this mushroom can dehydrate during dry spells and rehydrate when wet, I am not confident that the curses were ever lifted.

Funeral Bell Marginata galerina

The toxins in this fungus cause sickness and vomiting, followed eventually by liver damage and, if not treated promptly, death – hence the name! This fungus can be found on almost every log during fall and sometimes in winter too. The cap is convex to almost flat as it ages, the caps are rufous brown in the center, fading to honey yellow towards the edge. The crowded, pale cream to honey-coloured gills turn slightly rusty as they mature. This mushroom resembles the edible velvet foot, Flammulina velutipes, that grows during the same time of year. Differences can be found in the absent veil and velvet feeling on the stem.

Chicken of the Woods Laetiporus species

Chicken of the woods is always a great find in the forest. Whether you are stumbling upon it on a walk or actively looking to forage for it, finding a large patch of this bright orange and yellow fungi fruiting from a log or stump is a beautiful sight. Chicken of the woods is another highly sought after edible fungi. Some say it has a lemony, meaty taste, some say it tastes like chicken, while others might describe it as having a crab or lobster-like flavor. It does have the meaty consistency of chicken and many people use it as a substitute for chicken in recipes.

As with many things, some people may have reactions to eating certain foods and mushrooms are not any different. Only harvest mushrooms if you are 100% positive on your species identification, and do your research before consuming.