Learn how wild fungi and lichen are used for edible, medicinal, and craft purposes. Based east of the Rockies out of Haliburton, Ontario, Canada.
Boletes (Boletus spp.) are not necessarily a beginner mushroom. They are also one of the least edible looking, with a spongey surface of pores where you’d expect the gills. Many varieties of boletes are toxic and will make you sick. Most of these toxic boletes having red to orange pore/”mouth” structures and/or they cut and … [Read more…]
Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.) are one of the top foraged mushrooms in our area. They’re up there with choice morsels like morels, chanterelles and dryad’s saddle. In some areas oysters are the most popular wild mushroom bought at farmer’s markets and stores. You can find oysters on hardwood trees, especially living and dead elm. Our … [Read more…]
I fondly remember searching the woods for yellow morels alongside my parents and grandparents in the 1980s. That was my introduction to foraging. The most common morel on the 100 acre is black morel, possibly because that area was disturbed by logging. The logging occurred over 50 years ago. I often find them growing with … [Read more…]
There are dozens of species of puffballs (Lycoperdaceae spp.) in Ontario alone. The pear shaped puffball (Apioperdon pyriforme syn. Lycoperdon pyriforme) pictured below is the most common. Fairly common is the widely sought after giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea). And pictured in the header image as well as furthur below, common puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) is the … [Read more…]
This isn’t the herb lungwort, which we’ll be covering next month. This is a very special lichen also called lungwort. Tree lungwort AKA lung lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria) wowed me the instant I saw it. This is a large distinct lichen, named after its pulmonary appearance. I first spotted it on a tree in damp woods … [Read more…]
We’re branching out into Fungi, which isn’t a plant so we may need to create a new category here with an exact title. How about Edible & Medicinal Fungi and Lichen? Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a mostly recognizable fungi, black and rugged on the outside and an orangey golden brown on the inside. There are … [Read more…]