North Mills River Foray – Oct 2, 2010

Foray Leaders: Arnie Cremer and Charlotte Caplan.

Foray Location: Starting from Trace Ridge trailhead one group forayed along the North Fork of the Mills River and another group went down Trace Ridge Trail returning along the south end of Wash Creek trail.

Foray Habitat and Weather: The trails run through mixed forests near the creeks and areas dominated by white pine on the dryer ridges. The day was cool and bright. About 2 inches of rain had fallen the previous weekend, following an extended period of above average temperatures and below average rainfall.

Summary: This foray – the last one of the year – was well-attended with 26 members taking part. We forayed from about 10:00 AM to noon. The road down to and along the river proved to be a better collecting area than the trail to the south, which was dominated by pines. A reasonable variety of fungi were present, though many were in poor condition. We collected well over 40 species and identified 37 species. 18 of these were on the “Top 50” list, including several typical fall species. The most abundant was the Honey Mushroom, Armillaria mellea, including one fruiting associated with masses of Aborted Entoloma, Entoloma abortivum. Other good edibles found were Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa, and the Cauliflower, Sparrasis crispa.. Two species proved to be new finds for the
Club: Chroogomphus vinicolor (Wine Cap) was found scattered under the white pines and Hypsizygus ulmarius (Elm Oyster) was collected from a hardwood log (it may possibly have been the less common Hypsizygus tessulatus).

Charlotte Caplan

Species Identified: