Mushrooms of the NW

It is always important to be safe while exploring the woods, all to often many get lost and are ill prepared for a crisis in the woods, most lack the skills and usually are not clothed or shoed properly or have food rations for an emergency event that can and will happen if your not ready.
Essentials like water, food, dry clothes will save your life, Don't get a false sense that your cell phone will save you, cuz in most cases in the rugged hills of the Cascades, there isn't any phone reception and most incidences happen far from your car or any road.
On average a dozen or so people parish each year due to the lack of readiness and only a few make it out alive during one of these such events around Oregon and Washington.

Most of these lost people are mushroom pickers who watched the Cash and Treasure show on the Travel channel and saw instant wealth in their eyes - claiming I can do that! - SO SORRY for the Mushroom Fever, Kristen Gum and Chris Matherly have promoted.
Consult a local EXPERT and not some misinformed TV show while foraging for wild mushrooms, only takes one mistake in eating the wrong mushroom and your chances of life is slim.

When in doubt about a mushroom leave it alone and don't eat it, I call these LEAVERITES , leave it right where you found it.

Here are a series of Mushroom pictures, I took, one might experience through the year of a Mushroom season in the Pacific NW that are edible, but dont base your finds off my photos. join a myco club and get connected and educated.



Chicken of the woods - also known as the sulfer shelf mushroom
Laetiporus Conifericola
Grows usually on dead or decaying conifer trees from mid summer to late fall, from the coast to the mountains.
The tender edges are the best meat and taste some what like chicken, hence the name.




Oyster Mushroom - Pleurotus Ostreatus
Usually found on dying or decaying hardwoods, from Spring to late Fall in wet areas, from the coast to the mountains.



Golden Chanterelle - Cantharellus Formosus
Found from July until it snows, from the coast to the mountains under conifer forests. This mushroom is Oregons state Mushroom and is probably the most picked mushroom in the NW in volume poundage. this mushroom averages 2 bucks a pound to the picker.




White Chanterelle - Catharellus Subalbidus
This mushroom is only found at high elevations in the cascade mountains and I prefer it over the goldens by far, it has a shorter season and is found under the conifer forests above 2000 ft in elevation.




Shaggy Mane Mushroom - Coprinus Comatus
Found in the Spring to late Fall in flower bed yards and old logging roads in the mountains.
This mushroom you want to get them young to eat as they age they produce a ink and become not suitable for cooking.




Matsutake Mushroom - Tricholoma Matsutake, also known as the Pine Mushroom or Matsi.
This Mushroom can be found all around the world from Japan, Korea, china, the NW and many other locations under conifers or hardwoods, from the coast to the high mountains. This mushroom has a short growing season and can demand a high price until the market is flooded and the price drops to near free. My most favorite mushroom to eat.




The Morel Mushrooms - Morchella Conica and Elata and many other subspecies go with this one and way to many to list and with some no DNA has identified them yet.
There are about 13 documented species so far, they come in Brown, Blonde, White, Gray, Black and sometimes Green - One must be careful and not pick the False Morels.
All Morels contain a toxin, kinda simular to rocket fuel, so this mushroom can not be eatten raw and must be cooked enough to remove the toxins.
This mushroom can be found under hardwoods, softwoods and in conifer forest, from the ocean to the high mountains - in yards and in forest fire burns, it is a high demand mushroom and can pay a picker up to $20 or more a lb or as low as $2 a lb.






King Boletes - Boletus Edulis
Also known as the CEP or Porcini mushroom
There is a Spring Flush and a Fall Flush on this Mushroom, they grow under conifer forests, from the coast to the mountains and beyond, This mushroom has a sponge like gill that sets it different from other mushroom types like the black and white morels below mixed with the boletes in the basket.




Puffball - Calbovista Subsculpta, grows in ditches along roads and trails




The BearsHead Mushroom - Hericium Americanum, also known as the Lions Mane
A very tasty fungi in it young fruiting stages, found on dying or dead conifers, mostly in the mountains in the Fall.




HedgeHog Mushroom - Hydnum Repandum
choice eatting mushroom found under conifer forests at higher elevations in the Fall




The Lobster Mushroom - Hypomyces Lactifluorum
This mushroom is in fact a parisite and not really a mushroom, it takes over an existing mushroom and parasites it and transforms it into a bright red mushroom, it can and will host off many species of other mushrooms and take its shape from them.
It likes to grown under or near conifer tree needles in the Fall, from the coast to the mountains.



All the above pictures I took myself and have enjoyed shareing them with others so they can learn and trek through the woods safely.

Happy Trails