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| Garden Mushrooms |
Wow! Update, the drought in 2015 really impacted the growth of mushrooms along Jarvis, but 2016 brought the El Nino storms and some are popping up now, in March, 2016!
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| In my garden today |
It is 2015 and in 2001 I landed here on Jarvis, a winding mountain road, in the land of redwoods, pink sunrises, and blue ocean. I have come to love it and I am now on my own, as a widow for about 11 years.
I continually update my other blog: www.thesunnygarden.blogspot.com
I would love to update this page, but given our rain fall we have not had a good mushroom year in 2015.....
November 2014....A good couple of days of rain, soon we will get our usual crop of interesting fungi, some of them right here on my lawn....ugh! Next time I walk, I will take my camera and try to get some more interesting photos. It all started many years ago, when I came across a humungus Jack-O-Lantern mushroom and was curious abot it. You can read more below
Scroll down for more photos.
Dear Professor Desjardin,
I have photographed a very large fungus/mushroom in the woods, near my house in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was about 8-10 inches in diameter, 4-5 inches high. Orange or pumpkin color and multi-ruffled. I have many jpg photos of it, as it was untouched and quite beautiful. Would you know of someone who could identify it by my photo? Thank you very much for your help.
Sincerely,
Christine
The Reply:
I have photographed a very large fungus/mushroom in the woods, near my house in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was about 8-10 inches in diameter, 4-5 inches high. Orange or pumpkin color and multi-ruffled. I have many jpg photos of it, as it was untouched and quite beautiful. Would you know of someone who could identify it by my photo? Thank you very much for your help.
Sincerely,
Christine
The Reply:
Dear Christine,
The mushroom is called Omphalotus olivascens. It is the west coast jack-o-lantern mushroom. It is actually bioluminescent. It will glow a greenish yellow color at night (at a frequency of about 520 nm) and it is a poisonous species. So don't eat it but take a look at it at night when your eyes have adjusted to the dark. It's pretty cool!
Cheers!.
Scroll down for a photo of the jack o lantern...
There is one drawback to my woodland foraging and that is being allergic to poison oak makes it difficult to wander of the dirt trail safely, so all of these photos I have posted were taken from the side of the dirt road! If you wish, check out the video of a recent walk I took, the location of all those wonderful fungi, on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JztZ7yoEYPo&feature=related
Santa Cruz is a wonderful place for mushroom hunting and the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz is a helpful, knowledgeable organization. Here is their link, http://www.fungusfed.org/ and they hold events each year. I believe most of the events are even on Youtube now also!
The mushroom is called Omphalotus olivascens. It is the west coast jack-o-lantern mushroom. It is actually bioluminescent. It will glow a greenish yellow color at night (at a frequency of about 520 nm) and it is a poisonous species. So don't eat it but take a look at it at night when your eyes have adjusted to the dark. It's pretty cool!
Cheers!.
Scroll down for a photo of the jack o lantern...
There is one drawback to my woodland foraging and that is being allergic to poison oak makes it difficult to wander of the dirt trail safely, so all of these photos I have posted were taken from the side of the dirt road! If you wish, check out the video of a recent walk I took, the location of all those wonderful fungi, on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JztZ7yoEYPo&feature=related
Santa Cruz is a wonderful place for mushroom hunting and the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz is a helpful, knowledgeable organization. Here is their link, http://www.fungusfed.org/ and they hold events each year. I believe most of the events are even on Youtube now also!
