Central Pennsylvania Wild Mushroom Club

What's that about Alan Seeger's mom? 

It was, as I recall, just about a year ago that I participated in a mushroom walk at Alan Seeger Natural Area with many of the folks who would become founding members of the CPWMC.  I didn't have as much time as I would have liked but thought it would be an interesting comparative study to take a walk through that same area this year.  Although not particularly scientific, I tried to cover the same path that I took last year and note the number and variety of mushrooms observed.  A walk through Alan Seeger is always an enjoyable experience but I have to report there didn't seem to be quite as many mushrooms this year as last year, either in quantity or diversity.  I counted twenty or so species of mushrooms on my walk.  I'm thinking the number was half again as large last year.  And I did not see the several mass fruitings we saw last fall.  I did not take notes last year regarding the weather pattern prior to the walk, but my recollection is that we had had a number of rains in the weeks prior to the walk last year, compared to mainly one big one this year.  We received another shower after my walk and more rain is in the forecast, so things may yet pick up. 

One mushroom I recall finding, rather unexpectedly, at Alan Seeger last year was the Shaggy Mane, Coprinus comotus.  Although I was not expecting to find the Shaggy Mane in this location, I was not surprised.  This mushroom seems to enjoy popping up in rather quirky locations such as grassy strips and gravel covered areas.  David Aroroa talks of them growing through asphalt and lifting concrete slabs.  Several years ago I found a nice fruiting of large Shaggy Mane mushrooms inside a neighbor's tractor shed!  The shed was a pole building construction with a gravel over dirt floor.  There was a long sloped area immediately behind the shed and apparently enough rain water drained off the slope and in under the floor of the shed to support the growth of the mushroom in the soil under the gravel floor.  Pretty amazing. 

Anyhow, I did find the Mushroom Of the Month (MOM) again at Alan Seeger, in the same location.  See photo below.  There weren't a lot of them, just a few gregarious specimens scattered about a small area.  For those who enjoy eating wild mushrooms the Shaggy Mane is another fall favorite.  It is quite easy to identify once you become familiar with it and is one of the so-called Foolproof Four edible mushrooms.  I am fond of saying that just when you think something is foolproof, someone invents a better fool.  So, even with this mushroom it is advisable to become intimately familiar with it prior to consumption.  See Bill Russell's excellent book, David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified, or most any field guide for details. 

The Shaggy Mane is considered a choice edible by many but if you collect them it is important to eat them quickly or at least get them into refrigeration.  This is one  mushroom that is unlikely to ever be found in the grocery store.  It has a very short "shelf life" and the unusual habit of deliquescing or turning into liquid as a mechanism of spore dispersal.  Leave a basket of Shaggy Manes sit out overnight and you are likely to find a soggy black mess in the morning.  In the field, the mushrooms "melt" away and where there was a patch of mushrooms there soon will be only bare stems with blackened grass around the bases.  A sure sign you are a little late to the Coprinus party. 

I will say in closing that, like the Meadow Mushroom, the Shaggy Mane is a mushroom you can grow in your home lawn if you refrain from applying chemicals.  Just scatter a few specimens or trimmings around the yard and let nature do the rest.  With adequate moisture, you may enjoy Shaggy Manes at your doorstep for years to come. 

Dave