MMC’s Mother’s Day foray in fields and riverside forests surrounding generous host Danny Lichtenfeld’s historic home in Putney delivered all that was promised: fiddleheads, dryad’s saddles, and morels. Although the haul of morels measured in single digits rather than in bushels, it was a beautiful morning of foraging to a soundtrack of birdsong followed by a delicious and sociable potluck lunch. Several of us headed home with baskets of fiddleheads and nettles for the kitchen, in addition to the occasional yellow morel and (for those partial to watermelon rind) dryad’s saddles. The latter fungi tended to grow on dead or dying box elders lining crop fields. The day’s gilled mushrooms included traditional terrestrial spring fungi like Entoloma vernum, Agrocybe praecox and inkies. Unusual or unexpected finds included the scarlet cup fungus Sarcoscypha occidentalis, the “wild enoki” Flammulina velutipes (more typically a late fall/early winter fungus), and nice examples of recently emerged honeycomb polypore (Neofavolus alveolaris) and the hairy long stem “marasmius” Rhizomarasmius pyrrhocephalus, for which a new genus was erected recently to separate it from Marasmius. The following is a list of identified species: 

MMC Mother’s Day foray Putnam VT May 10, 2026:

 

Agrocybe praecox SPRING FIELDCAP

Apioperdon/Lycoperdon pyriforme PEAR-SHAPED PUFFBALL

Cerioporus squamosus DRYAD’S SADDLE/PHEASANT BACK

Coprinellus ?domesticus DOMESTIC INKY

Enteloma vernum SPRING PINKGILL

Exidia crenata/recisa AMBER JELLY ROLL

Exidia nigricans/glandulosa BLACK WITCH’S/WARLOCK’S BUTTER

Fomes excavatus TINDER POLYPORE/HOOF FUNGUS

Flammulina velutipes VELVET FOOT/WILD ENOKI

Fomitopsis betulina BIRCH POLYPORE

Galerina marginata FUNERAL BELL

Ganoderma applanatum ARTIST’S CONK

Hydnoporia olivacea BROWN-TOOTHED CRUST

Morchella americana group YELLOW MOREL

Neofavolus alveolaris group HEXAGONAL-PORED/HONEYCOMB POLYPORE

Rhizomarasmius pyrrhocephalus HAIRY LONG STEM MARASMIUS

Sarcoscypha occidentalis STALKED SCARLET CUP

Stereum complicatum CROWDED PARCHMENT

Stereum lobatum group FALSE TURKEY TAIL

Trametes gibbosa LUMPY BRACKET

Trametes versicolor TURKEY TAIL

Trichaptum biforme VIOLET TOOTH POLYPORE

Monadnock Mushroom Club's first foray of 2026, led by Noah Siegel, was held May 3rd on a beautiful
bracing spring day, with 15 attendees. The event was a joint expedition with Pioneer Valley Mycological Association (PVMA), with the principal aim of finding morels, two of which were found--so we were a bit early for this season's morels. There were quite a few attractive, recently emerged hexagonal-pored polypores (Neofavolus alveolaris), luminescent pannelus (Panellus stypticus), and jelly fungi (Excisa and Tremella) as well as the usual overwintering wood-rotters. There was a near-complete absence of terrestrial gilled fungi, thanks perhaps to the dry spring. Here is a species list:

Chlorociboria sp. GREEN STAIN

Exidia crenata/recisa AMBER JELLY ROLL

Exidia nigricans/glandulosa BLACK WITCH’S/WARLOCK’S BUTTER

Fomes excavatus TINDER POLYPORE/HOOF FUNGUS

Fomitopsis betulina BIRCH POLYPORE

Hydnoporia olivacea BROWN-TOOTHED CRUST

Hypoxylon fragiforme group BEECH WOODWART

Morchella americana group YELLOW MOREL

Neofavolus alveolaris group HEXAGONAL-PORED/HONEYCOMB POLYPORE

Panellus stipticus LUMINESCENT PANELLUS

Stereum complicatum CROWDED PARCHMENT

Trametes versicolor TURKEY TAIL

Tremella/Naematelia sp. WITCH’S BUTTER

Trichaptum biforme VIOLET-TOOTHED POLYPORE