Our Mushroom Hunting

Zoey Hudelson, 9/22/13, West Point Area of the Eno River State Park capturing images of mushrooms. Because she demonstrated an interest in photography on this day, she received her very own camera on her next birthday.

Eastern Cauliflower mushroom. Image captured on 08/10/2014 at West Point on the Eno, Durham, NC. This one could be one of two Sparassis species, spathulata and crispa, but is most likely S. crispa. S. spathulata has tightly packed branches arising from a common base, and the branches are long and flattened with fairly conspicuous zones of color, while S. crispa has large basal branches that grow from a large underground base, are short and contorted, and each branch is evenly colored (http://www.mushroomexpert.com/ sparassis_ spathulata.html).

Looks a little bit like Hydnopolyporus palmatus, but georeferencing for this species puts the reported identification in southern Mexico (Fidalgo, 1963).

As reported by Gramma Nancy, who was visiting for a couple weeks, "We set out for a hike a week or so ago [8/10/14], in the North Carolina Woods. It was a cool, overcast day and many recent rains had dampened the ground. The 7-year old mycologist announced, as we disembarked the car, that it was a great day for mushroom hunting. The weather was just right, she said. We were barely into the forest when we began to see great spreads of all kinds of mushrooms. It was astonishing. They were everywhere, all kinds of them."

Willa Hudelson, 9/20/2014, Cox Mountain Area of the Eno River State Park directing our hike to find the best mushrooms.

Coral mushroom. Image captured on 08/10/2014 at West Point on the Eno, Durham, NC. Difficult for this amateur mycologist to determine. Structure looks a lot like the Pink-tipped Coral, (Ramariaceae), but also resembles the Crown-tipped Coral (Auriscalpiaceae).

Russulaceae. Image captured on 08/10/2014 at West Point on the Eno, Durham, NC. Looks a lot like Russula pulchra Burlingham.