Agaricus are notoriously difficult to identify. Therefore, it was with a large measure of caution that we attempted to identify and welcome Agaricus californicus to the refuge.
We've encountered Agaricus before, but this one really caught our eye as we drove up our old logging road late in October. How could we miss these large clusters of mushrooms with dazzling pink gills in the rain soaked specimens? We immediately went to work in order to identify these newly encountered mushrooms.
Clusters of Agaricus brightened the landscape
in late October, 2016.
It's no surprise that we're observing different mushrooms this year. It's certainly one of the wettest Octobers since our arrival on the south coast, according to the website Weather Warehouse: 15.5 inches of rain fell in October 2016 with 6.2 inches falling in one 24 hour period. Previous years have been much more reasonable, although 14 inches or more of rain fell in October of 2012, 2007 and 2004. Locals still talk about the whopping 19 inches of rain that drenched Port Orford in October, 1975, long before we had the good fortune to move here.
Identification is always a thoughtful and not necessarily speedy process. We turned to several sources to aid in our search for the name of this new-to-us Agaricus.
We consulted our tried and true reference books (Orson K. Miller's Mushrooms of North America; Steve Trudell and Joe Ammirati's Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest; Margaret McKenny and Daniel E. Stuntz's The New Savory Wild Mushroom) but did not find adequate information in them. We turned to the Audubon Society's Field Guide to North American Mushrooms and David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified, both of which had detailed descriptions that matched our specimen. We also found good information when we checked a couple of our favorite online mushroom sites, including Mushroom Observer and MyKo Web.
Several of these resources had descriptions that matched our specimens: Caps were dry, smooth to somewhat scaly, varied from 2-4" in diameter, at first convex then flat, whitish on the edges and shading to a grayish-brown disc in the center. Odor was pungent and offered a somewhat unpleasant phenolic smell. Gills were free, close and narrow, pinkish, then chocolate brown. Flesh was thick and white. Stalks varied from 1-4" and were thick, dry and smooth. The veil was white and left a ring on the upper stalk. It was fruiting in the September-November time period in a disturbed forest area.
Thankfully, we had KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) in our mushroom toolbox. Following several author's advice, we placed a couple of drops of KOH solution on the cap and the surface rapidly stained yellow, characteristic of A. Californicus.
Arora commented that the caps are "often pinkish-or reddish-stained in wet weather," matching what we saw in the rain soaked mushrooms alongside the road. After all, 15 inches of rain is bound to soak almost anything on the forest floor!
Is A. californicus edible? Several references note that it is mildly poisonous to some people and that it is a gastrointestinal irritant for most individuals, although MykoWeb points out that some individuals are able to eat it without negative effects.
So, why bother with identification you may ask. What's the big deal, especially for someone like myself who doesn't eat mushrooms with gills? Why spend so much time on this activity; don't I have anything better to do?
OK, it is a little hard to explain. Perhaps identification enriches the experience of being a forager of wild mushrooms. Perhaps it's simply curiosity. Perhaps it's a way of better understanding the diversity of the world around us. Or, maybe identification is relaxing, allowing us to narrow our focus and to move from Point A to Point B, creating a pathway towards our goal without the distractions that can tend to derail activities in our daily life. Surely, identification is satisfying because it's a way to achieve a small, well-desired triumph in the midst of our chaotic everyday life. But, most of all, it's just plain fun! Try it - you'll like it!