Sue Rose was walk leader for this scheduled fungi identification walk. The Greenburg Nature Center was a favorite haunt for volunteer Sylvia Stein, according to Dave Rose. And she confided that it was, however, never among her top locales for finding fungi. With the hot, dry weather of the past few weeks, there was little in the way of even the most common wood fruiting fungi. But, all was not lost! Someone brought along a beautiful little yellow mushroom for identification that was discovered growing in the soil nursery plant pot. Dave identified it as Lepiota lutea. He was very excited because this was the first specimen of this lovely mushroom he had ever seen 'in the flesh.'

Being a gardener, I'ver seen this mushroom a couple of times previously. Once it even grew in an terrarium I made using an old fish tank. In fact my brother-in-law, Andy, a high school science teacher who lives in Georgia with his wife, Anna, also a teacher, photographed a series of shots illustrating the changes it passes through from its first appearance to its shriveling departure. His specimen also grow in a terrarium. You see, the soil carried the spores of this mushroom and the damp environment provided a fertile habitat for it to fruit and spread its spores again. He has had several fruitings since the first.

This mushroom is more common down south where temperatures are more moderate. Still it favors living in garden soils, wood chips, and on the soil of potted plants and in greenhouses. It is also known by the name Leucocoprinus birnbaumii and is poisonous.