Baja desert mushrooms

Hello Sharksbaja,

Following up your mushroom question... Whenever I head to Baja my wife tells me to keep an eye open for desert fungi.

Who would think there are mushrooms in the desert?

This is an example of a dried Podaxis pistillaris we found near LA Bay. The locals call it Moco del Burro, burro snot.

And this is a collection of desert mushrooms she recently displayed at the San Diego Mycological Society Mushroom Fair.

Graham

Podaxis pistillaris

Here is a beautiful book my sister sent me from Cornwall.

Interesting how many of the same species are found here. Think it's all the rain?

Shrooms

Too much information??

Hello all--Graham said I could jump in under his sign-on name and answer a few queries that have come up. Here goes, to those who care to read on!

Bonni M.


??Wow - what kind of places will they grow?

Fungi are opportunists in the desert as anywhere. They "fruit" after sufficient rains hit areas such as washes, where layers rich in organic debris that can support their growth have been deposited. They can arise basically anywhere though over the desert floor, so just keep your eyes peeled.

San Diego itself is mostly desert, and a number of these came from San Diego County between 10 to 20 miles inland. Others came from Borrego Springs (disturbed land in a friend's backyard) and Indio, in a lot about to be paved over.


??So, are these fungi edible, poisonous or just for recreational purposes?

Most of these in the display are inedible due to their woody toughness. The Podaxis, called the "desert shaggy mane," is edible when fresh (specimen in Graham's hand and in the rear of the exhibit are too dried-out, the state one usually encounters them in), but a respected friend, author of "In the Company of Mushrooms," ate a fresh one a few years ago and reported it was not worthwhile. None are listed as poisonous or hallucinogenic--very much for recreation however--the joy of getting out and looking.


??What time of year did you find the Fly Agaric?

Search during the monsoon periods amongst the ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, fir trees, and other conifer forests. This seems to peak in August. Look under hummocks of pine needles. Of course, they may be indicators of Boletus edulis!!


??I see there are a good number of puffballs in the collection. I can't close in on those ugly black things on the lower left. Are they a bolete of some sort. If you could be so kind. ?

These puffballs are "stalked puffballs," gasteromycetes apart from the common and giant puffball genera: Batterea stevenii, Tulostoma brumale group, and Chlamydopus meyenianus I think are represented. The grayish dark stuff in the lower left is the remains of a volva (**Moderator--do not edit this out, it is a remnant sac-like structure at the base of some fungal species) on the Batterea. If I can find the photo of it freshly plucked, I'll send it.

The "gastroid agarics" pictured develop spore masses under a papery cap that eventually crumbles to passively discharge the spores. There are platey structures for spore production that can remain after the cap is gone and that is what the black odd-looking things are in the lower RIGHT corner. I had to shrink the photos so much to send that they are not good for enlarging. Pictured in this group is the P pistillaris, Montagnea arenarius and Longula texensis (the black one).


!!beautiful book my sister sent me from Cornwall.

We have that book too, as well as Phillips' counterpart for North American fungi. Graham and I managed to mushroom hunt in England over New Years and many fungi are universal, many distinctly different.


!!looks remarkably like a scorpion.

Found dead in a friend's drained swimming pool when they returned to their vacation home. Supposed to lend a bit of atmosphere to the desert display.


Dried out, beat up Montagnea from LA Bay showing plated tops:

Freshly plucked

Here it is Sharksbaja,

The black stuff is soil adhering to the volva of this Batterea stevnii, picked by Graham from our excited next-door neighbor's desert/succulent garden:

Very correct Marv. The pictures are what make the book. My bible would be " Mushrooms Demystified". An excellent comprehensive book suitable for all.
I would recommend only sampling wild mushrooms with someone who has good working knowledge of fungus. Some species are identical in many respects and only discernable with lab equipment.

Thank you Bonnie, nice of you to give a thorough and informative post. Don't want to bore folks anymore with my "other" passion, but when I find that mystical mushroom in Baja I'll post a pic of it.

Finding the elusive mushrooms

Bonni - and Graham - the information was incredibly interesting. Thanks so much for sharing - including the photos.

Regards,
--
Doug Means

Taste not definitive

Looking through some pictures taken in the desert outside Mulege... puff ball in the wild:



Nena

Bonni -

That photo was taken 19 Feb 2004, outside Mulege as we headed toward the Valle Trinidad to see the cave paintings.

Of course you may take it for the museum archives.
If you pass your curser over the image, right click, go to properties, you'll see the pbase address of the photo. I believe you can download it directly from there. If that doesn't work, send me a u2u with your private email address and I'll send it to you there. And hey, thanks for asking.

hmmmm..... burros snot.

Nena