Learning to forage for mushrooms

LADORA — “Don’t eat something that you don’t know,” Iowa County Conservation’s Liz Capron told residents Saturday at Lake Iowa Park near Ladora.

Properly identifying mushrooms is important if you’re foraging to eat them, Capron said.

Capron gave several area residents an introduction to mushrooms Saturday afternoon during a program hosted by Iowa County Conservation and Iowa County Master Gardeners.

Then she turned loose a half dozen people to look for a variety of fungi near Shelter House 2.

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People usually know about morels, but they know relatively little about other species and about mushrooms in general, Capron told program participants before taking them outside for their treasure hunt.

Mushrooms are simply the fruiting body of a bigger organism, said Capron.

Mycelium is the vegetative part of the fungus, a network of thread-like filaments that grows under the soil. When the mycelium is fruiting, it produces mushrooms and spores.

The mushrooms are the end of the organism’s life cycle, said Capron. The spores reproduce and create mycelium.

‘It will reach out for the best place for its life cycle.“ said Capron.

The mycelium can send electrical impulses through its filaments when it finds a source of nutrients, and it will grow that direction. It can also steer its fingers away from hazards, Capron said.

Mycelium can also communicate this information to other plants and can transport nutrients to trees, helping the entire ecosystem grow. It creates a “wood wide web,” said Capron.

“They can get benefits from the trees, and they can benefit the trees,” said Capron. “We don’t know everything about how they communicate,” she said, but biologists see the results.

Identification is important when hunting mushrooms, especially if a person intends to eat them.

“We’re not going to know every mushroom we find,” Capron said, but the foragers collected mushrooms and attempted to identify them with books Capron provided.

“There are, in this area, mushrooms that are poisonous,” said Capron, but touching a mushroom won’t hurt you. That’s a myth, she said.

Mushrooms that aren’t good to eat can upset the stomach, but the toxins don’t cause significant problems until they reach the liver.

The anatomy of the mushroom will help identify it. Look at the cap, the shape, the color, the texture, Capron instructed participants.

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Spores are released from gills or teeth beneath the caps of mushrooms, said Capron. Gills are most common, she said.

In some mushrooms the gills are only under the cap, while in others, the gills flow to the stalks.

Consider the habitat and the season when foraging, said Capron. Are they growing in dirt? On a log? Near a tree? What type of tree?

Some mushrooms like warm weather, some prefer cold. Some come up quickly after a rain.

If all else fails, a spore print might identify the mushrooms, said Capron. She had several mushroom caps face down on paper in the Nature Center. The color of the spores can help identify the mushrooms.

In some cases, you might have to look at the spores under a microscope, said Capron. “Spores will have different colors and shapes,” she said.

“It’s estimated that we’ve only discovered 5% of mushroom species,” Capron said.

Capron suggested having a reference book on hand when hunting mushrooms. Foragers with smart phones could use the app iNaturalist. which allows keeping of a journal and posting photos and hosts a community that can help identify mushrooms.

The app is also used by researchers to collect data, said Capron.

Capron suggested that residents take photos of mushrooms while out foraging. They might be identified later by photos of their tops, gills and bodies and wide shots of the mushrooms in their habitats.

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Foragers took bowls, egg cartons, and bags into the brush to collect mushrooms Saturday at Lake Iowa Park. Capron instructed foragers to cover the mycelium with dirt if they expose it while collecting mushrooms. If left exposed, the mycelium can dry out and die, she said.

Be ethical when foraging, Capron said. Take only what you need or only half of what is there. Other creatures need to eat, too.

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