Fifty plus people came out on a beautiful Saturday morning. We were joined by Ivy Kuberry an environmental technician with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources who kindly let us use some of her photos. Three groups split up and covered three different trails starting from the covered bridge and found almost 50 species. We were not expecting to find much in the way of Amanitas, Russulas and other larger gilled mushrooms but we generally find a lot of interesting species at McConnells Mill and this walk did not disappoint. There were cup mushrooms in abundance and we had fun blowing on Peziza phyllogena (Common Brown Cup) and seeing them release spores a split second later. There were a number of other cup fungi which the club identifiers had not seen before. Peziza michelii was a very pretty cup with a pale violet inner fertile surface and milky white lower surface. In the same area there was a light beige cup with a very stout stem and quite a distinctive look that our best ID would be Peziza waltersii. The third cup was identified as Peziza varia. One of the smaller finds of the day was Chromosera cyanophylla a small gilled mushroom that grows on Hemlock. It has a yellow-brown cap and pink/purple gills.

Species list entered by Jerry Sapp. Identifications by Garret Taylor, Richard Jacob and Jerry Sapp. Species list entered by Jerry Sapp.

List of species found on the walk at McConnells Mill State Park:
Artomyces pyxidatus (Crown-tipped Coral Fungus),
Ceratiomyxa porioides (Honeycomb Coral Slime Mold ),
Cerioporus leptocephalus (Elegant Polypore),
Cerioporus varius (),
Cerrena unicolor (Mossy Maze Polypore),
Gymnopus dryophilus (Oak loving Collybia),
Collybia maculata (Spotted Collybia),
Daldinia concentrica (Carbon Balls),
Flammulaster erinaceellus (Powder-scale Pholiota),
Fomes fomentarius (Tinder Polypore),
Fuligo septica (Scrambled-egg Slime; Dog Vomit Slime),
Ganoderma applanatum (Artist’s Conk),
Ganoderma tsugae (Hemlock Varnish-shelf),
Irpex lacteus (Milk-white Toothed-Polypore),
Ischnoderma resinosum (Resinous Polypore),
Kretzschmaria deusta (Carbon Cushion, Brittle Cinder),
Lacrymaria velutina (Weeping widow),
Lycogala epidendrum (Wolf’s Milk Slime),
Marasmius rotula (Pinwheel Marasmius),
Megacollybia rodmani (Platterful Mushroom),
Mycena acicula (),
Mycena haematopus (Bleeding Mycena),
Mycena leaiana (Orange Mycena),
Neofavolus alveolaris (Hexagonal-pored Polypore),
Nolanea verna (),
Peziza phyllogena (Common Brown Cup),
Pleurotus pulmonarius (Summer Oyster),
Pluteus cervinus (Deer mushroom),
Polyporus arcularius (Spring Polypore),
Polyporus craterellus (),
Polyporus squamosus (Dryad’s Saddle, Pheasant Polypore),
Schizophyllum commune (Split Gill),
Scutellinia scutellata (Reddish Eyelash Cup),
Stereum ostrea (False Turkey-tail),
Trametes betulina (Multicolor Gill Polypore),
Trametes versicolor (Turkey-tail),
Tremella mesenterica (Witches’ Butter),
Trichaptum abietinum (Conifer Polypore),
Trichaptum biforme (Violet Toothed-Polypore),
Tricholomopsis rutilans (Plums-and-custard),
Xylaria longipes (),
Xylaria hypoxylon (),

Species not currently on clubs life list:
Chromosera cyanophylla,
Kueneromyces marginellus,
Peziza michelii,
Peziza varia,
Peziza waltersii,
Stropharia melanosperma,
Unnamed Crepidotus