By Meaghan Winders
The New Hampshire Mycological Society is in its inaugural season, hosting its first walk on July 27th at Stark Park in Manchester. With over 20 participants and significantly fewer mushrooms to be found due to our lack of rain this year, we spent 2 hours combing the landscape, asking and answering questions, and sharing knowledge about the land where our beloved fungi are hiding. Our most exciting find of the day was one that comes with quite an interesting common name - the dog turd fungus! The scientific name is Pisolithus arhizus and it looks exactly like what you’re thinking on the outside. However, when you cut it in half, you reveal a gorgeous gold-to-black gradient of pea-like structures filled with spores for reproduction.
During the warmer months (and when there’s rain), many different species of fungi are typically found all around us in New Hampshire. The body of the fungus that lives in the ground is called mycelium and is composed of little threads called hyphae. These creep and crawl beneath our feet to find new decaying matter to break down or seek out favored tree hosts where they can set up shop and create their fruiting bodies - what we see and know as mushrooms. While each mushroom is unique, they all require some mixture of basics to fruit - a medium to grow on, whether soil, rotting wood, insects, or even other mushrooms, water or humidity - which can come from rain, waterways, or groundwater, which is why having drought conditions means fewer fungi and temperature - it can’t be too hot or too cold. This means that we typically start seeing fresh ones from late spring all the way through until it starts to snow.
Despite thousands of species worldwide, fungi can be generalized into a few categories to help distinguish the general types. The typical profile people think of as a mushroom is a cap and stem, the most iconic of which is the ubiquitous Amanita muscaria with a white stem and a red polka-dotted cap (The Mario Brothers mushrooms, also known as the fly agaric mushroom, and it doesn’t grow in New Hampshire. Ours is yellow.) These mushrooms feature gills underneath their cap, which can be spaced far apart or so tight that they look like pages in a book. Bolete mushrooms, on the other hand, have large caps that look almost like a sponge underneath. That spongy surface is made up of pores, which are little tubes in the cap that help release spores. Spores are tiny particles carried off in the wind or ingested and deposited elsewhere by wildlife, allowing fungi to spread and reproduce (like a seed). Some mushrooms are slimy globs like jello and others have little toothy spines underneath. There’s so much to explore and learn as you hunt for mushrooms.Â
From massive boletes to microscopic cups, the diversity is never-ending. Some of our favorite bolete mushrooms to find during late summer and early fall are Porcini (Boletus species), Bicolors (Baorangia bicolor), Chrome-foots (Harrya chromapes), and Frostys (Exsudoporus frostii). Cup fungi look precisely as you think. One of the most stunning species that we have is called the blue-green elf cup (Chlorociboria aeruganescens), which slowly turns rotting wood into a gorgeous turquoise color as the mycelium spreads and prepares to create its fruiting cups. Sometimes, it's no bigger than a pencil tip. A few of the mushrooms that we favor are Chanterelles (Cantharellus), Black Trumpets (Craterellus), Bear’s head tooth (Hericium) and Hedgehogs (Hydnum).Â
The New Hampshire Mycological Society (NHMS) is a group of like-minded, nature-loving fungi enthusiasts trying to spread the word about the incredible species surrounding us. There has been an increased interest in mushrooms over the last couple of years, and we all feel that there is no better way to encourage people to learn and invest their time in the environment around us than to create a society where we can host identification walks, educational workshops, and give people first-hand experience in nature.
From culinary to medicinal and everything in between, the NHMS wants to unite the community to educate people on the vast benefits that mushrooms provide to people and plants, animals, and the environment. We are primarily based in southern New Hampshire, but our goal is to spread like mycelium and reach all corners of the state. Find us online to stay in the know, and watch for our next scheduled walk!Â
NHMS mission statement:
Fostering knowledge, inclusivity, and enthusiasm for fungi, the New Hampshire Mycological Society unites a community passionate about mushrooms. Through education, exploration, and advocacy, we promote sustainable practices, deepen understanding, and inspire a profound connection to the mushroom kingdom and its ecology.
Meaghan Winders is a member of the New Hampshire Mycological Society, www.nhmycosociety.org and find us on Instagram and Facebook.
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