It’s Mushroom Monday, and this week I’m introducing you to another of PEI’s many edible fungi. Meet the Swollen-stalked Cat (Catathelasma ventricosa). Swollen-stalked Cats grow directly from the ground and look a bit like greyish puffballs when they first appear (main photo). If you pull one up, you’ll find it has a heavy, dense feel and short, tapered stalk. Cut one open, and you’ll see solid white flesh, along with a cap and gills that – at this stage – are covered in tissu

It’s Mushroom Monday, and this week we have one of PEI’s most distinctive (and oddly named) fungi: meet Chicken Lips (Leotia viscosa)! Leotia species are also known as Jelly Babies, because of their squishy texture and superficial resemblance to the British candy of the same name. Despite sharing a name with that sweet treat, Jelly Babies are tasteless, slimy, and not considered edible. Within this group, Chicken Lips are easily identified by their yellow stems and wrinkly

It’s mushroom Monday, and this week we have the eye-catching, edible, and ecologically-helpful Flame Trumpet (Craterellus ignicolor). No matter how much or how little interest you have in wild mushrooms, you’ve likely heard of Chanterelles. That common name usually applies to fungi in the genus Cantharellus, but there are other, equally edible, members of the Chanterelle family. I’ve posted about two before: Black Trumpet (Craterellus fallax) and Winter Chanterelle (aka Yel

It’s Mushroom Monday and, as we’ve seen already this season, PEI’s fungi come in a variety of colours and shapes. This week, we have another species that is neither ‘mushroom brown’ nor stereotypically cap-and-stem shaped: meet the lovely Violet Coral (Clavaria amethystina complex). I’m fascinated by colourful fungi. Biologists have long studied colouration in plants and animals, which has given us a pretty good handle on the roles of their various pigments and patterns. Bu

It’s Mushroom Monday, and if you’ve never noticed the similarities between the smell of maple syrup and that of curry, today’s species might surprise you. Meet the Curry Milkcap (aka Candy Cap, Lactarius camphoratus). Milkcaps are mushrooms that exude a milky juice (sometimes called ‘latex’) when broken or cut. I’ve written about this group before, including the edible, orange-latex Saffron Milkcaps that are common across PEI. Curry Milkcaps are small, with reddish-brown ca

September on PEI doesn’t just mean shorter days, cooler weather, and back to school. It also means the return of Mushroom Mondays! Let’s kick the season off with a species that reminds us just how strange fungi can be: meet the Stinky Squid (Pseudocolus fusiformis). You could be forgiven for thinking this looks more like an alien than a mushroom. Stinky Squids start out as greyish eggs in the soil (inset photo) and, as they mature, develop three to four orange arms each cov

I love meeting a new-to-me mushroom, and so was quite happy when I found these among my favourite patch of King Boletes (aka Porcini) last week. Meet the aptly named Red-mouth Bolete (Neoboletus subvelutipes). Followers of this page will know that mushrooms with spongy pores rather than gills, folds, or teeth under the cap are boletes. (Not all boletes have spongy pores, but mushrooms that do are boletes. And if you haven’t been following this page, you can get caught up on

This year’s damp weather may not be popular with everyone, but it has been great for mushrooms! The abundance of fruiting fungi has brought out a crop of social media posts asking about edibility. Here are some tips to help you ask the right questions and get reliable answers! I love encouraging people to try wild plants and fungi, but I cringe every time someone asks “is this edible?” That should never be your first question; instead, start with “what is this, and how can I

Late summer and fall may be peak mushroom seasons on PEI, but spring has fungi to find, too! While checking my go-to spots for Morels this week, I found lots of these Entolomatoid Mushrooms (Family Entolomataceae). I often ignore LBMs (little brown mushrooms) as being too hard to identify and above my skill level. However, as I gain experience in mushroom identification, I’ve started looking for clues that point to the Family. If you’ve attended any of my workshops, you’ll

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

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

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

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...