Missouri forests full of mushrooms for hunting

They might be found growing on the bark of trees, on the forest floor, in mulch, or even on your lawn in the shape of a ring. Mushrooms.

Yellow morel, turkey tail, chanterelle, meadow, oyster, shaggy mane. There are 40 to 60 mushroom species that can grow in the fairy ring pattern, but the most important thing for mushroom hunters to understand is that many edible mushrooms have a potentially deadly twin.

The chanterelle, edible and delicious, can be confused with a poisonous mushroom, the Jack-o' lantern. Their bright orange or yellow color, shape and size are similar. But the chanterelle is found on forest floors while Jack-o'lanterns are found on or buried in wood. The Jack-o'lantern has a more pronounced gill-like structure and although chanterelles' maturity comes before Jack-o'lanterns, Joe Walsh, a Mycological Society member, said he has seen the growing season overlap, finding both mushroom varieties in the summer and fall.

"If eaten the Jack-o'lantern makes you weak, its affect is almost hallucinogenic," he said. Walsh recently gave a presentation on mushrooms at the Nature Center.

"The past three years have been poor for mushrooms because of dryness," he said. "This year, I think, will be a good year."

Walsh mainly likes his mushrooms with eggs but they can be used in soup, stews, potatoes, sauces, lasagna, rice and familiar favorites like pizza and salads. The Chinese "mushroom of immortality," the ling chih, is used in small amounts and added to almost anything imaginable.

"They even add it to candy," said Walsh who assured the audience that although it is edible, they wouldn't like it.

Turkey Tail

Mushrooms can be hunted year-round and a few varieties are found in the grocery store, but distinguishing which are poisonous takes a skill only acquired with time. Most mushrooms are spotted in the fall, by mushroom hunters traipsing through woods on the lookout. It's a fairly docile hobby. The number one problem for mushroom hunters is poison ivy.

Spotters inspect the fungi with the naked eye, they also determine edibility by taking spore prints, testing their ability to bruise or looking at spores under a microscope.

The deer mushroom, not poisonous, can make you sick if not eaten fresh because over time, it collects parasites. It is the only mushroom with a salmon pink spore print.

As members of the fungi family, the mushroom's main function is decomposing.

Individual spores are too small to be seen with the naked eye, but you can make a spore print that will show the color of the spores in mass. Cut off the mushroom stem and place the gill-side (underside of the cap) down on a piece of white paper. For best results use a sheet of black and white taped side by side. Cover with a bowl or jar. If the mushroom is at the right stage — not too young, too old or deteriorated — the spores will slowly collect on the paper. A spore print will be visible in one to 12 hours.

Walsh has been collecting mushrooms for 60 years. He said of the 3,000 mushroom species in Missouri, only about 100 are edible. "Many taste like cardboard, about a dozen are really good," he said.

Many, though, are deadly.

The amanita virosa, or destroying angel, is so poisonous that if just a small amount is eaten you'll die. Walsh said that an immediate liver transplant might save someone, but the chances of living were still slim.

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The names given to mushrooms are sometimes indicative of their characteristics. The dog stinkhorn can be identified from a distance just by its smell. Walsh said it smells like cadavers. Some consider it a delicacy when very young and in the "egg stage" of development.

"I could never get it past my nose," he said.

"Picking mushrooms for food is serious," Walsh said. He recommended joining a mycological society and going on forays to gain experience in identification while in the company of experts. Mushroom hunting is not a hobby for the careless or uninformed. The rule of thumb is "when in doubt, throw it out."

Every mushroom hunter should be familiar with the three most dangerous groups of fungi — the amanitas, the false morels and a catch-all category known as little brown mushrooms (LBMs). Mushrooms in these groups cause virtually all the fatal mushroom poisonings in the US, with amanitas alone accounting for 90 percent of mushroom-related deaths, according to "Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms" by Barbara Bassett, a naturalist in Jefferson City, Mo.

Shaggy Mane

"A lot of scientific research is being done with mushrooms as purifiers used to remove toxins from the soil," Walsh said. Those are placed near railroad tracks where there have been spills or in places that have been sprayed.

"It is better to eat the ones you find in the forest," he said.

A mushroom foray will be held Sept. 18 to 21 at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge. Visit www.missourimycologicalsociety.org/contact.html for more information.

cpagano@semissourian.com

AARON EISEHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Mycologist Joe Walsh gives a talk at the at the Nature Center about the variety of mushrooms that can be found in the area on August 21.

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