We’ve reached that time of year when my weekly posts switch from plants and fungi to wildlife tracks and sign. Here’s a nice reminder that not all tracks are made by feet! The dry summer weather made for great tracking conditions along PEI’s unpaved roads. This site near Mount Stewart had all sorts of footprints from insects, birds, and mammals, along with the unmistakable undulating trail of a snake. The size of the snake track told me which of our three species was the culp

Welcome to the final Mushroom Monday of 2025. We’ll end with a large and easy-to-identify species that hasn’t been recorded all that often on the Island: Northern Tooth ( Climacodon septentrionalis ).   As we’ve seen throughout this series, mushrooms come in all shapes and sizes, and can share physical traits without being closely related. The spore-bearing surface of Northern Tooth has spine-like ‘teeth’ rather than gills, folds, or pores (inset photo). Despite this, it is m

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi.  Today we have not one species but a whole group that’s both reasonably easy to identify and edible: Suillus  species, many of which are called Slippery Jacks. The first thing you’ll notice about a Slippery Jack is the feature that gives it that common name: a somewhat slimy or sticky cap. These mushrooms do indeed look slippery, especially after rain. Peek under that cap and you’ll see Slip

If I had to design vegetation for a movie set on an alien planet, I’d take inspiration from this PEI plant: the odd-looking Rough Cocklebur ( Xanthium strumarium ).    Cocklebur gets its name from spine-covered fruit (burs) that look a bit like Burdocks but have two distinctive beaks at the end (inset photo). Like Burdock ( Arctium minus ), Cocklebur’s Velcro-like fruits are distributed by hitch-hiking on animals, including humans. Those burs also float, allowing them to be r

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Not all mushrooms have the cap-and-stem look we tend to expect, and today’s species is a well-named example of a different format: meet Orange Peel Fungus ( Aleuria aurantia ). Orange Peel Fungus is one of the cup fungi, similar to the Scarlet Elfcup we looked at last spring (you can find it here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/scarlet-elf-cups ). Orange Peel Fungus’ most eye-catching feat

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. I taste-tested today’s species for the first time this year, and it’s now among my favourite edible wild mushrooms. Meet the Olive Shaggy Parasol ( Chlorophyllum olivieri ). Shaggy Parasols are large, eye-catching mushrooms that can be found in grassy, open areas as well as in forests (especially under Spruce). Field guides often list them as lookalikes for edible Shaggy Manes, but they’re n

PEI has more than 30 native, wild plants with edible berries, but here’s one of the lesser-known: Bearberry ( Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ).     Bearberry doesn’t compete taste-wise with some of our other wild fruit. Raw, the berries are dry and bland (but that’s probably just as well, because too many raw berries can have a laxative effect). Cooking improves their flavour and texture, and Bearberries make pleasant preserves, interesting additions to soups or stews, and excellent

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today’s species is both beautiful and delicious. Meet the Blewit ( Collybia nuda ).   ‘Blewit’ is an odd-sounding name, and the most common explanation is that it’s a shortened form of ‘Blue Hat’, referring to the colour of younger specimens. That’s plausible, though I’m not entirely convinced: these mushrooms are more purple or lilac than blue (main photo). While distinctive, that colour is

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. It’s often helpful to use more than just sight when identifying mushrooms, and today’s species has a very distinctive smell. Meet Sweetbread Mushroom (aka The Miller, Clitopilus prunulus ).   I confess that I generally don’t pay much attention to small mushrooms with white caps and gills. I’m sure they’re perfectly lovely, but I tend to assume they exceed my limited identification skills. Af

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Little brown mushrooms can be tricky to identify, but today’s species has features that help it stand out: meet Mica Caps ( Coprinellus micaceus ). Mica Caps are part of the Inky Cap group of mushrooms, just like the Shaggy Manes ( Coprinus comatus ) I’ve posted about before. Although these two species share a similar approach to spore dispersal, they’re not closely related. As we’ve seen in

You may think of summer as peak season for PEI’s wild berries, but a few tasty treats are at their best this time of year. One of my fall favourites is Wild Lily-of-the-Valley (aka Canada Mayflower, Maianthemum canadense).   Wild Lily-of-the-Valley is NOT the same as the popular garden plant of the same name. The sweet-smelling European Lily-of-the-Valley ( Convallaria majalis ) contains toxic cardiac glycosides that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and irregular heart

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today’s species is one I’ve known about for decades...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today, it’s one of the most common and widespread...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. This week we have the interesting, toxic, and...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at PEI’s fascinating fungi. We’re staying with the Polypore group for another week to...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. The dry weather has made it a poor year for most...

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today it’s the common, beautiful, and...

Today’s PEI animal is a good example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This ominous-looking insect is the harmless and...

On PEI, September means a few things: the end of summer, the start of school, and the return of Mushroom Mondays! Over the past couple of...

PEI’s dry summer has made for poor mushroom hunting so far. My go-to spots have yielded just a handful of edible Chanterelles and Meadow...