Urban mushroom foraging advice
May. 16th, 2012 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanI just read this on the Northeast Mushrooms yahoo group and it's too colorful and too spot-on for urban wildlife not to share.
An old name from an old man: Rodman's mushroom, now known as Agaricus bitorquis,is now in season. Move over Morchella. When Morchella begins to fade away sponge hunters hang up their basket; big mistake! One of the easiest mushrooms to hunt is Agaricus bitorquis = A. rodmani.
This shroom is an urban dwelling mushroom mostly because of its habitat. It dwells in hard pack soil. It's a good one for geezers(like me) to hunt because one can do it from your car. you will need a driver whilst you ride shot gun. Seek the old section of town where the silver maple (or whatever) has lifted the side walks and there is little grass growing in the baren areas between the curb and the sidewalk. Look for squatty, white capped mushrooms many barely making it above the surface of the ground.
The stem is sturdy and robust and the annulus is double jointed with half swinging upwards and the other half bending downwards like the rim for a tire. The cap is white, very hard,and supports rose-pink gills on the underside; not "panty-pink" as in A.campestris the pasture mushroom. Lousy clay soil is good ,too, as in old tennis courts, clay- cinder parking lots and alley ways,and deserted ball diamonds. Any area where the ground resembles this criteria is good. Don't run over a dog or cat or rear end a car. Drive slowly ignoring that half-wit behind you blowing his horn. Hunt one side of the street at a time for safety's sake. Season expires around the end of May. This is a delicious mushroom big time. Good luck! -Dick
An old name from an old man: Rodman's mushroom, now known as Agaricus bitorquis,is now in season. Move over Morchella. When Morchella begins to fade away sponge hunters hang up their basket; big mistake! One of the easiest mushrooms to hunt is Agaricus bitorquis = A. rodmani.
This shroom is an urban dwelling mushroom mostly because of its habitat. It dwells in hard pack soil. It's a good one for geezers(like me) to hunt because one can do it from your car. you will need a driver whilst you ride shot gun. Seek the old section of town where the silver maple (or whatever) has lifted the side walks and there is little grass growing in the baren areas between the curb and the sidewalk. Look for squatty, white capped mushrooms many barely making it above the surface of the ground.
The stem is sturdy and robust and the annulus is double jointed with half swinging upwards and the other half bending downwards like the rim for a tire. The cap is white, very hard,and supports rose-pink gills on the underside; not "panty-pink" as in A.campestris the pasture mushroom. Lousy clay soil is good ,too, as in old tennis courts, clay- cinder parking lots and alley ways,and deserted ball diamonds. Any area where the ground resembles this criteria is good. Don't run over a dog or cat or rear end a car. Drive slowly ignoring that half-wit behind you blowing his horn. Hunt one side of the street at a time for safety's sake. Season expires around the end of May. This is a delicious mushroom big time. Good luck! -Dick
