The wet fall has certainly been a boon to mushroom enthusiasts, especially in the Douglas Fir forests and above. I have even seen mushrooms sprouting in our driest grasslands. While I am not very experienced at identifying mushrooms and related organisms, I have been fortunate to have the kindly guidance of Gary Hunt from our club as well as Jim Ginns, polypore expert from the Okanagan to put some names to some of the mushrooms found in this article. Some will remain unnamed because my photos do not show the requisite features that could lead to an identification. So these should simply be enjoyed for their intrinsic delight. The first series of polypores were found along the Adam’s River about 10 days ago.The above fungus is called the Smokey Polypore (Bjerkandera adusta) and was found on a decaying birch log. It causes white rot in live trees but is found commonly on dead trees as well. The next series of conks are all variations of the Red Belt Conk ( Fomitopsis pinicola ) according to Jim.

Jim indicates that the above sweating fungus is a young specimen of F. pinicola.

I thank Gary for identifying the next mushroom, also found at the Adam’s River. It is known as the Poison Pie (Hebeloma aff. crustuliniforme).Closer to home, I visited the area around McQueen and Isobel lakes on Sep. 22 and here are a few of the species that were popping up there.

The small mushrooms below may be Xeromphalina campanella.Below is the very common Suillus lakei.I am wondering if these are Mycena aurantiidisca in the photo below.Gary thinks these brownish lovers of cow poo may well be Panaeolus semiovatus. The small white parasol is possibly another species of Mycena.No idea about these small mushrooms that looked like bowler hats.Russula brevipes or short-stemmed Russula according to Gary. A brute of a fungus about 12+ cm across and heaving up large sticks as it burst from the soilGary feels that this is a stage of the puffball Calbovista subsculpta below, with the brown nobs called polygonal warts. It is small, about the size of an apricot. Under the microscope, the dark brown areas of each wart actually resemble strings all tight together stretching from the base up to the pinnacle.

In my lawn at home, I have quite a crop of Coprinopsis atrementaria which Gary warns should not be consumed with alcohol due to the potential for gastric distress.So I recommend that you visit the woods as soon as you can while the conditions are good for mushrooms and our upcoming walk with Gary should be very productive.