A mushroom fit for Halloween

Mushrooms are not easy to identify, and I am not well schooled on the subject. But they are part of our Southeast Missouri nature and deserve mention in my column.

Mushrooms are not plants. They are fungi. Below-ground mushroom-producing fungi can form a very large network of living threadlike veins called mycelium. When the fungi is ready to reproduce, it grows a mushroom or mushrooms above ground. The mushroom will produce spores that disperse by wind or rain and sprout new mycelia. These mycelia may survive for decades underground before producing a mushroom.

My best guess is what I have photographed here is a cluster of jack-o'-lantern mushrooms. This mushroom will grow from the base of a tree, from buried wood or from tree roots. Clusters of jack-o'-lantern mushrooms can be more than 3 feet across.

Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms are poisonous. Eating them can cause severe stomach pain and probably a quick doctor visit. Always be sure the mushroom you are thinking of eating is edible. If you are not 100 percent positive the mushroom is safe to eat -- do not eat it!