Mystery Mushroom #4: it's an Oyster! How exciting

I found these beautiful silvery-brown Oyster mushrooms growing from the branch stump of a birch tree in the River Field. I fried them with garlic and butter for supper this evening. Heaven!

Mystery Mushroom #3: not delicious

I found these little guys in among the leaves. They have a pale brown nipple on the top and though it looks flat now, the cap is more bowl-shaped when they're younger. We identified the mushroom but - and this will reveal my priorities here - I've forgotten the name and didn't even bother to write it down because they're not edible!

Some younger ones, up close.

Mystery Mushroom #2: it's a Blewit!

I found this mushroom among beeches and larches - there were a whole clump of them poking up through the thick leaf fall, between 6cm and 10cm wide at the cap. I brought some in to college and we identified them as Blewits - edible and delicious, apparently, with a fruity fragrance and sweet, silky flesh. Mine have gone old and maggoty now, unfortunately, so I'll have to wait until next year to sample them. 

Mushrooms #1: Brown Birch Bolete (Leccinum scabrum)

What's the largest organism on the planet? Hint: it's not a blue whale...

I found this mystery mushroom in the river field near a grove of birches. Just in case it turned out to be edible, I cooked it in butter and thyme and froze it in anticipation of a future stew. There was just something tasty-looking about it. See?

Following some investigations with mycologist friends, it was successfully identified as a Brown Birch Bolete (Leccinum Scabrum). It's about 15cm high by 12cm at its widest point, had a shiny chestnut-coloured top and an unusual spongy layer on the underside of the cap. Most mushrooms have gills, but Boletes have tiny tubes instead. They're really quite beautiful up close. 

 

I haven't actually eaten it yet - it's still in the freezer - but I will update soon with a taste test! And if you're interested, this is a very good podcast on the wondrous world of fungi.

Oh, and the answer to my question posed at the start: it's a 2,384-acre honey fungus in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. It's thought to be over 2,000 years old.