Silver Run Preserve Foray
July 16, 2011
Stu Syms, Leader

Eleven people met in The Silver Run Preserve near Cashiers, NC at 10:00 AM to try their luck at finding mushrooms on the club’s first foray on this property. We were joined by Mike and Sue Kettles of the Nature Conservancy.

We forayed for a little over a mile along the main trail, staying together in the rain to explore this new terrain of mixed forest, and quickly began finding many varieties of fungi. The most impressive find was a large group of Jack O’ Lantern mushrooms surrounding a dead tree.

After about two hours of foraging, and finding Black Trumpets, Oyster mushrooms, Chanterelles and an unusually early fruiting of Honey Mushrooms, among many others, we returned to our starting point for lunch and identification. The rain had fortunately stopped. We were able to identify 69 species, four of which were recorded for the first time by the club: Leocarpus fragilis – a tiny stalked slime mold growing along a twig; Stalked Scarlet Cup (Sarcoscypha occidentalis) a small cup fungus on wood; and two small bluish Entolomas – the Blue-toothed Entoloma (E. serrulatum) and the Violet Entoloma (E. violaceum).

A good foray was enjoyed by all and we look forward to returning to The Silver Run Preserve in the future, though the very limited parking space will only allow a small group at one time.

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