July 10, 2010 Asheville Mushroom Club Foray

Foray Leaders:  Ken McGill, Ginger Fisher

Foray Location: Dupont State Forest near Brevard, NC. The foray route was along the trail called Holly Road starting opposite the Lake Imaging parking area.

Foray Habitat and Weather: The trail ran through a gently rolling forested area with sandy soils. Large, widely spaced white pines dominated the forest, with an understory of mixed hardwoods and pines. It had rained the day before the foray for the first time in about two weeks, so conditions were dry, despite some surface moisture.

Summary: Ten members and one dog took part in the foray, starting just after 10:00 AM. We regrouped in the parking area at noon, and walked to the picnic shelter at Lake Imaging where we set out our finds and ate lunch. Several members helped identify our finds and we soon had most of them labeled. Despite the dry conditions we found about 35 different species, of which we were able to identify 29. The most notable was the tough, pale yellow cup fungus Wolfina aurantiopsis (later confirmed by microscopic examination), an uncommon species and a first-time find for the club. We also collected and compared all three common white Lactarius species: L. piperatus, L. deceptivus, and L. subvellereus.

Species identified: