Club member Mike Hetzer found this beautiful specimen of the snow fungus, Tremella fuciformis near his home in Waunakee In mid June. It is a jelly fungus that is edible and considered a delicacy in Japan and China.

      The hot, dry days of the past weeks promise little magic by way of mushroom fruitings. The lawn behind my house has produced a scattering of small brown-capped russulas.Watered flower beds allowed for a flush of Chestnut Boletes with their handsome rust-brown caps and neatly rounded white pore surface. These were mostly very small and, it seemed, instantly claimed by fungus-loving bugs. In the woodland where there is moisture preserved in moss-covered logs, some Faun and Platterful mushrooms are fruiting. On the ground, you can find a few Suillus granulatus. An embankment over the river boasts a smallcolony of Horn of Plenty.  

     Slime molds, those interesting entities that often share environments favored by fungi, are prevalent at the moment, spreading themselves on logs and stumps. Just now, our woods offers a good number of species: the white Tapioca Slime, gaudy yellow Scrambled Egg Slime, Chocolate Tube Slime and grayish-pink beads of Wolf’s Milk Slime. These can be seen and examined in a variety of stages.  

     So far this season specimens of the eminently edible Boletus edulis and Chanterelle are rare.