An Important Lesson About all Those Shrooms

     On my way home from bagpipe lessons (yes I am taking bagpipe lessons) I noticed several large mushrooms along the side of the road growing in a thick layer of pine needles under a row of those conifers.  I recognized them from my recent readings, but couldn't identify them exactly.  I pulled over and put on the 4-ways.  I grabbed the Gerber and a bag and went to take some sample(s).  They were large and beautiful with mottled yellow caps and buff white stalks.  I would guess that the larger ones weighed close to a pound.  While collecting these I also found another beauty which I knew right away as the coral mushroom (edible).  Nothing else looks quite like a coral mushroom, except actual coral of course.  Unfortunately it was past its prime, but I collected it anyway to bring home if for no other reason than to show the family.  I filled my bag full of shrooms and returned to the parked Jeep Liberty, leaving many other of these very attractive fungi growing in the pine needles.  I drove maybe 50 yards and noticed another stand of large brown mushrooms in the same stand of pine.  Since I hadn't even really sat down long enough to get comfortable, might as well stop and pick a few more if for no other reason than for educational opportunity to identify another species.  It turns out I found two more species one tan/brown with bluish green  tinges and another bright red smaller mushroom.  By this time I am thinking pine needles plus hurricane equals excellent mushroom growth.  I once again returned to the jeep with these new specimens and came home.
     Once home Sara and I identified all four mushrooms at least to the genus level and all to edibility status.  It turns out that the first mushroom that caught my eye was the toxic (hallucinogenic) yellow fly agaric or Amanita muscaria.  I am sure I could have unloaded this at a head shop, but instead it wound up in the compost bin.

   The second mushroom was the crown tipped coral mushroom or Clavicorona pyxidata, a choice edible.  However, since it was very old and also since I had it in the same bag as the Fly Agaric it also went in the compost.

   The third smaller red capped mushroom was of the genus Russula and I think called the Emetic Russula.  Technically the mushroom is not suppose to be highly toxic and would cause no permanent damage to a body.  However, it does cause a strong vomiting (emetic) reaction in many people who try to eat it.  For this reason, it too went to the compost.

  The last mushroom was tan / brown with a bluish or greenish hue with the cap about 4 inches in diameter.  It also turned blusih green when cut into.  For a more accurate analogy think blue cheese.  This last one was difficult to identify but eventually we narrowed down the taxonomy to one of three species all of which are edible "Milky" varieties.  Lactarius indigo or Indigo Milky is the most likely candidate with L. paradoxus and L. subpurpureus also possible.  Though I would be confident eating this mushroom, it also is ending up in the compost bin because it is past its prime.  The age of the mushroom caused its deterioration into a dry, flaky near mess when it was cut in to.  The age also made exact species identification difficult.  However I did learn that if the mushroom is blue it is likely edible.
   The lesson learned from all of this is one of caution.  Just because a body can be tempted by the prospect of gathering a bounty of mushrooms positive ID is a must.  Whenever you gather any wild food you must be 100% sure of what you have.  This is especially true with mushrooms.  Though a 60's style psychadelic trip may be cool, its not exactly what I had in mind when I initially saw the mushrooms growing under the pine trees.  I did learn a lot, and now feel better prepared for surviving the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.