Happy Mother's Day! Well, we didn't find much fungally-speaking, but we did enjoy each other's company and each other's tales of better pickings! Joe Brandt led this walk for us through a gorgeous forest replete with carpets of ephemeral Spring wildflowers. While we were unable to find a single morel, he did send me a photo of three giants he found a day or two before elsewhere - so the message is - they are out there - somewhere. Notice, I also got a shot of the morel knife hanging from his belt. Pam Acevedo and Lou Tartaro also sent me photos of morels they found this weekend. Lou, who was unable to find any at California Hill this week before, found two beauties growing in his yard! Aside from the many unusual native wildflowers, we managed to record the presence of the following: Tyromyces chioneus (Cheese Polypore), Inonotus obliquis (Clinker), Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Conk), Fomes fomentarius, Schizophylum commune (Split-gill), Trichaptum biforis, Chlorociboria aeruginacsens (Green-stain) Irpex lactea, Daedaleopsis confragosa (Maze Polypore) and Pleuteus cernivus (Fawn, Deer Mushroom).

COMA members Pam, Lou, Mary, and Paula sent me terrific photos of mushrooms they found outside of our walks. Please check them out.

*Click on each photo to see a larger version and to read comments.