Trailheads: Portals to the Fungal Dimension
When we launched the new TNMCorps Map Editor this summer, we added three new recreation features for collection, including trailheads! And while not very inspiring as single data points on a map, if you’ve spent any time venturing out onto trails, then you understand that as gateways to the natural world, trailheads represent departure points for exploration and learning.
I got into the woods promptly, but I’m not here to hike. This is my first mushroom foray with the Missouri Mycological Society (MOMS). Mike Snyder is my foray leader, and he is generously sharing his knowledge of mushrooms and their habitats along the Blue Square trailhead, one of many trails at the Long Ridge Conservation Area, in Sullivan, Missouri. He points out that the rains from the past week will hopefully provide the group with lots of interesting species to learn about, because mushrooms thrive in moist conditions. I’m no expert mycologist and its likely not many other participants are either, but we are here to learn and meet others who share an interest in the fascinating world of mushroom foraging.
Many of us only encounter mushrooms at a market. Cultivated edible varieties like shitake, cremini, or oyster, are the kind we're most familiar with and they’re certainly the easiest to recognize. The head of a mushroom is its cap, and many have a stalk. Look underneath the cap, and you'll often find a set of ridges known as gills or pores. Mushrooms belong to the vastly diverse fungi kingdom that includes things like molds, rusts, and smuts. Because they don’t make their own food via photosynthesis, they aren’t considered a plant.
Mushroom Foray
For new and seasoned mushroom hunters alike, Missouri’s trail networks are convenient portals to the wide world of mushroom foraging. Your foray guide will lead you off-trail, but I recommend staying close to them while harvesting, to ask questions since you may encounter mushrooms you can’t identify. Several species of mushrooms are poisonous but resemble edible ones, so it’s wise to utilize field data slips, to capture details like habitat, substrate, associates, and references to any photos to aid in later identification. You should never eat mushrooms foraged outdoors without understanding what you have.
This organism takes so many weird and wonderful forms that telling what it is can be a challenge. Identification is a sensory experience, because naturally, we notice things like color, shape, or texture. Injuring the cap by slashing the gills or spores can cause it to bruise or eject a latex-like fluid, which can also aid in identification. And you can further narrow down the mystery of a mushroom by taking a spore print.
Every mushroom has its own unique spore print. To do a spore print, you cut the stem off and then place the cap onto a piece of black and white paper and leave it for a few hours. When you come back and lift it up, you'll see the mushroom has deposited a layer of spores that look just like fingerprints. The patterns they create can reveal some surprises, even when two mushrooms appear to look the same. Spore prints reveal that mushrooms are more varied and complex than they might appear.
Some mushrooms even glow under a black light because they fluoresce, which means they reflect light in a different color than the one they absorb. For example, a bolete mushroom's gills may fluoresce a green color under a black light.
You may not always have a guide with you, so crowd-sourced platforms like Mushroom Observer or iNaturalist can help you with identification. Like The National Map Corps, the collective interest of volunteers makes the data better and available to the public. Additionally, if you’re planning on heading into the woods, check out the Missouri Mycological Society’s handy foray guide outlining things to consider and tools you need. Mushroom guides, such as the Missouri’s Wild Mushrooms or A Guide to Missouri’s Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms, are great resources for learning about different species. Also, Missouri’s Department of Conservation has an excellent Mushroom Hunting portal and field guide to get you started.
There is a wide range of mushroom species with entertaining names throughout Missouri, and the variety you collect may be staggering. You're likely to encounter edibles like Morels, Chicken-of-the-Woods, or poisonous types like the Deadly Galerina, Amanitas, or Jack-o'-Lantern. The poisonous mushrooms are just as fascinating as the delicious ones, but edible varieties should still be cooked to avoid poisoning. The archetypal mushroom, the one that the gnomes sit on top of, is the toxic fly agaric, one you certainly would not want on your dinner plate. One of the most poisonous mushrooms is the Destroying Angel, which is a close relative to the fly agaric.
The Underground
A diverse cover of wildflowers, leaves, and sedges obscure a lot of what’s out on the trails, but depending on where you’re adventuring, it’s possible your next trip into the woods will reveal something new and intriguing. If you’re like me, you tend to focus on what's visible above ground. When you do encounter a mushroom, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the cap and stem are the main parts of the fungi. However, much of the organism is hidden underground. It's a huge web of tiny threads spreading out in search of food for survival.
The mycelium is the scientific name for the fungi’s feeding network. Although the mycelium is almost entirely invisible to us when you take a stroll along a path, it makes up most of the organism. It's a process that results in one of the most complex relationships in the natural world. Mycorrhizal fungi mycelium can get what it needs to grow by attaching itself to a tree or plant roots or can grow within the tree itself. It then feeds on the dead matter of the tree and can cause it to die slowly. Mycelium which grows on the dead or decaying matter of plants are called saprophytic fungi. In the forests of Oregon, the Humongous Fungus on the Malheur National Forest demonstrates, some would say ominous, relationship between mycelium and trees. It kills and decays the root systems of various conifer hosts, resulting in what forest managers know as Armillaria root disease.
If you look a little harder, you'll find a host of fungi that don't look like mushrooms at all. They're still fungi, but of a very different sort.
After a few hours under the woodland cover, it was time to head over to the Muddy Banks Brewing Company to showcase our harvested finds. I certainly developed a deeper interest in other types of fungi and their role in the world. And if you’ve ventured out on a mushroom hunting excursion and are wondering what to do with your foraged finds, the Missouri Department of Conservation offers a beginner cookbook called Cooking Wild in Missouri, that features local foraged ingredients and a fun way to create field to table dishes.
Trees, wildflowers, grasses, wildlife, sunlight - there’s a lot to observe out on the trail. But next time you’re exploring, consider what lies below the soil and leaves that carpet the ground. Intertwined with the roots of the trees, is a fascinating microscopic network of fungi.
Visit Nature.MDC.MO.gov/discover-nature/field-guide to learn more about the mushrooms you can find in Missouri.
If you have your own tales from the trails, send us your stories! We’d love to feature them in our next newsletter!