Events Recap

Afton State Park Foray: July 9th, 2005

It was a scorcher of a day when eight mushroom seekers met at Afton state Park on July 9. This time it was the lure of chanterelles that was enough to make us endure the 90+ degrees. Bob Fulgency was our guide. He was magnanimous enough to direct the group to an area that had produced numerous chanterelles in past years. We hiked about half an hour on the groomed park trails, stopping to look at an occasional mushroom, but then it was off the trails and into the bush, where only deer or crazed mycophiles would dare to tread.

Yes, we did find chanterelles, but alas not in the abundance hoped for. It seems we were a bit too early. But on the positive side, their firm young fruiting bodies were mostly free of those baneful worms. Everyone did gather a sufficient quantity for one tasty meal.

Besides the Chanterelles, we found a few species of Russula. Most were the red-hued variety, which are notoriously difficult to identify, but there was one particularly distinctive species, R. nigricans. This species of Russula has the interesting feature of bruising first a sanguine red and then black In addition we collected a number of beautiful Amanita citrina, with a pale lemon yellow disk on the cap—and, yes, everyone agreed—they really do smell like raw potatoes!

On our return trip we spotted a large interesting looking conk. It was about 15 feet up the trunk of a tree. Bob Fulgency, at great personal risk, climbed the tree to collect it. It turned out to be a nice example of Phellinus ignarius. It was on display the following Monday at the MMS July meeting as a part of the “Getting to Know Polypores” program presented by your president. Maybe it will become transformed into paper at our August meeting. (see our events calendar for details).

Submitted by Ron Spinosa

For more information or to submit articles for the MMS Toadstool Review, please contact the Newsletter Editor - newsletters@minnesotamushrooms.org