Fun with lichen

Lichen on a gravestone, originally uploaded by Mycologista.

Lichen on a gravestone in Mansfield, MO.

We went to this old cemetery on the way home after several days of playing in the water on the Little Niangua. There was great lichen in wild colors growing on lots of headstones, and it was all dry as a bone, as it hadn't rained in several weeks. I can only imagine how technicolor it would be after a long, cool rainy spell...

But, now I know a good place to look for stuff. Lichen, in cemeteries.

Blue Mushroom Sap--Lactarius indigo

The Blue Milk, originally uploaded by Mycologista.

Lactarius indigo. Click on it! View it as big as you can! Do it!

Indigo Milkies

Lactarius indigo

Hollow stem and blue fingers

These have caps precisely the color of well-faded denim.
When the gills of a fresh one are damaged, marvelous indigo-blue juice oozes out (and fast!). And they're edible, and I've got four nice ones in the fridge right now. I hear they're kind of grainy or gritty. And they will turn scrambled eggs green! So, the choice is obvious.

Let the Games Begin! The Chanterelles are HERE!

Let the Games Begin!, originally uploaded by Mycologista.

The chanterelles are out!

I was on my way to checking The Field of Chanterelle Joy and found them just all over the woods, right on the little paths. Nobody home yet in The Field, though.

Curious I am to see what will happen in the field, which last September was covered with hundreds of them for a good few months. Also, it's hardly a "field"--it's covered with some plant I haven't ID'd yet, and lots of damn honeysuckle, and trees.

I cleaned and sauteed the whole lot of them, ate a LOT of them in scrambled eggs, and there's plenty left (until TOMORROW, anyway, when I'm going for another hike), and my house smells like chanterelles, which is great.

Old polypore sculpture, Ganoderma applanatum

Ganoderma applanatum, "Artist's conk"

Look, I don't make this stuff, I just find it

Here's another one







Six years after I posted this, I looked at it again, and now I think it's Ganoderma applanatum, an old one. The original post was "Fresh young polypore sculpture" and I had identified it as Ischnoderma resinosum. But now I don't remember where it was growing, and I don't have more details to refer to. I was overly eager, and fairly inexperienced. It's a phase many mushroom people go through. No shame.