Adirondacks mystery two-for-one

[desmobob]

Just back from a few days in the woods. While bowhunting, I spotted this amazing fungus on a tree:

It looks more like sea life than something you'd find in the woods.

Closer inspection showed several slugs, one of which is the largest I've ever seen outside of the Pacific Northwest, and a type I've never seen before.

I think every slug I've ever seen here in upstate NY looks similar to this one I photographed in my yard, and is about 2" long, max. :

Here is one that was near the tree fungus above:

I have a size XL hand and this thing was larger than any of my fingers. Yuck!


Can any of you naturalists ID these species?

Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[dipbait]

Thats Bears head tooth mushroom. Edible. Suppose to be very fine eating. Looks nice and fresh. Ive never ate one but if i found that one it would get harvested.

 

[theonew]

Amazing looking mushroom, looks delicious. Also looks pretty easy to identify

 

[desmobob]

Thats Bears head tooth mushroom. Edible. Suppose to be very fine eating. Looks nice and fresh. Ive never ate one but if i found that one it would get harvested.

Wish I knew that a couple of days ago! I think it would have went well with the dehydrated lasagna that evening...

Well, I know where it is. I'd say it's just a little over three and a half miles from the trailhead. I'll be within a quarter mile or so of it when I go back to check one of my trail cameras in the next week or two, so maybe I'll grab it.

You can bet I'll carefully check it out to eliminate any of those nasty-looking slugs that were all around it!

Thanks for the information.

desmobob

 

[desmobob]

One more to add...

I Googled "white berries on thick pink stems" and figured I'd ID this plant in a second or two. No such luck.

Edit to add: Found it... "White Baneberry."

No guesses on the slug yet?


Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[dawsonbob]

Looked up white baneberry, because I'd never heard of it. Here's what I got from Wikipedia:

"Actaea pachypoda (Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry) is a flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern North America.

Actaea pachypoda fruit
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50 cm or more tall. It has toothed, bipinnate compound leaves up to 40 cm long and 30 cm broad. The white flowers are produced in a dense raceme about 10 cm long. Its most striking feature is its fruit, a 1 cm diameter white berry, whose size, shape, and black stigma scar give the species its other common name, "doll's eyes".
White baneberry prefers clay to coarse loamy upland soils, and are found in hardwood and mixed-forest stands.
The berries are highly poisonous, and the entire plant is considered poisonous to humans. First Nations peoples are reported to have drunk a tea made from the root of this plant after childbirth.
The berries contain cardiogenic toxins which can have an immediate sedative affect on human cardiac muscle tissue, and are the most poisonous part of the plant. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death. The berries are harmless to birds, the plant's primary seed dispersers."

Be careful with that one: it sounds nasty.

 

[desmobob]

The berries contain cardiogenic toxins which can have an immediate sedative affect on human cardiac muscle tissue, and are the most poisonous part of the plant. Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death. The berries are harmless to birds, the plant's primary seed dispersers."

Be careful with that one: it sounds nasty.

For sure...

I will not serve baneberry sauce on the bearhead tooth mushrooms!


Stay sharp,
desmbobob

 

[dawsonbob]

For sure...

I will not serve baneberry sauce on the bearhead tooth mushrooms!


Stay sharp,
desmbobob

Not even with a good wine?

 

[desmobob]

Not even with a good wine?

Considering the baneberry sauce would probably cause those dining to expire after (during?) the meal, the wine would have to be far, far better than just "good."

Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[dawsonbob]

Considering the baneberry sauce would probably cause those dining to expire after (during?) the meal, the wine would have to be far, far better than just "good."

Stay sharp,
desmobob

True, true. Maybe do something good with the mushrooms, and skip the baneberry sauce. I don't drink, but I often cook with wine. Mushrooms sauted in wine are primo: don't need Baneberry sauce for that.

 

[LMT66]

That is amazing! I've never seen any fungus like that. Looks like a giant combed bunch of shredded swiss!

 

[akennedy73]

Hericium Erinaceous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hericium_erinaceus

Often called Lion's Mane - I used to grow it commercially. It's delicious - tastes a bit like lobster or crab. Saute lightly in butter - and enjoy! :thumbup:

 

[desmobob]

Okay... I'm definitely going back to slice that fungus off and bring it home for dinner.


Now, what about the mystery slug? No slug-ologists out there? Those things were so huge and gross, knowing there were about a half-dozen of them all around that fungus makes me think I might NOT want to go back and get it....

Stay sharp,
desmobob


PS -- My fungus is branched, making it Hericium americanus, I believe....

 

[akennedy73]

Okay... I'm definitely going back to slice that fungus off and bring it home for dinner.

LOL - you better hurry before those slugs get your mushroom! Those slugs were hanging out because they just found a big pile of food.

I'd go back for it myself - and even if the slugs ate a bunch of holes in it, I'd still harvest it and just cut out where they ate. My second favorite eating mushroom after maitake.

PS -- My fungus is branched, making it Hericium americanus, I believe....

I believe you're right!

 

[mete]

Baneberry - I once visited a school for little kids . A teacher had brought in some baneberry because it looked so nice She had no clue what it was so I explained it to her . Kids are very attracted to berries especially bright colored ones.

 

[lukus]

Wow! That's awesome looking. Never seen anything like it down here.

I once found a huge mushroom, about the size and shape of a nerf football that looked very hobbit-like. I described it to an uncle and he immediately said "sounds like a morel!" and ran to get a couple of mushroom books. He flipped through one and came up with a good picture and shows it to me. It was a dead-on picture of what I had seen. He said (from my description) that it was easily 3 times the size of any he had seen and would have been one to sell. Oh well.

 

[myright]

I'm no slug-ologist but I googled "big slug with spots" and eventually came up with this. I think this may be the culprit. From the pictures I saw it looks like they have different variations of spots and patterns.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/leopard_slug.htm

Video of mating Leopard slugs Do you think they mated all over your mushroom??? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgPAQTJLQs

 

[desmobob]

I'm no slug-ologist but I googled "big slug with spots" and eventually came up with this. I think this may be the culprit. From the pictures I saw it looks like they have different variations of spots and patterns.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/leopard_slug.htm

Looks somewhat similar, but all the slugs around the mushroom were very smooth with no evidence of folds or wrinkles. Maybe it was just because they were full of mushroom.... I believe that's probably the critter, though. Thanks for the info.

Video of mating Leopard slugs Do you think they mated all over your mushroom??? LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgPAQTJLQs

That is extremely strange! Extremely.

That mushroom was probably no good anyway.



Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[smersh]

One more to add...

I Googled "white berries on thick pink stems" and figured I'd ID this plant in a second or two. No such luck.

Edit to add: Found it... "White Baneberry."

Red, have no dread...
White, flee in fright.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Red, you be dead.

Nightshade....

Also Bane berries..