Today’s walk was great! We were greeted at Oil Creek State Park by Park Ranger Emily Pritchard of the PA DCNR. Emily helped organize and promote the walk and the turnout was exceptional. Fifty-three energetic foragers early awaited us. Fortunately club identifiers Ron Hilton and Beth Ace were in attendance and helped with photos, identification and discussion. The weather was perfect. While we’d experienced some dry conditions locally the Oil Creek area caught a day of decent rain a week earlier and a passing shower just a few days before our walk. The mushrooms had popped! Forty-eight specimens were identified to species. An additional eleven were narrowed to a choice between two or three species within genus. Finally … aren’t there always some head-scratchers … another nine or ten that we could only identify to family or genus. Our state parks are a treasure and Oil Creek a gem among them. If you haven’t visited, it is worth the trip.

Species list entered by Dirk Cappo.

Fungi:
Apioperdon pyriforme ( Pear-shaped Puffball ),
Armillaria mellea ( Honey Mushroom),
Artomyces pyxidatus ( Crown-tipped Coral Fungus),
Aureoboletus auriporus (Sour Gold-pored Bolete),
Aureoboletus innixus ( Clustered Brown Bolete),
Baorangia bicolor ( Red-and-yellow Bolete; Bicolor Bolete),
Calocera cornea ( Yellow tuning fork),
Cantharellus flavolateritius ( American smooth Chanterelle),
Cerioporus leptocephalus ( Elegant Polypore),
Clitopilus prunulus ( Sweetbread Mushroom),
Cortinarius torvus ( ),
Crepidotus applanatus ( Flat Crep),
Dacryopinax spathularia ( Spathula Shapped Yellow Jelly),
Daedaleopsis confragosa ( Thin-maze Flat Polypore),
Daldinia childiae ( Carbon Balls),
Echinoderma asperum ( Freckled Dapperling),
Fomitopsis betulina (Birch Polypore),
Gymnopus dryophilus ( Oak-loving Collybia),
Hapalopilus rutilans ( Tender Nesting Polypore),
Hydnoporia olivacea ( Brown-toothed Crust Fungus),
Hypomyces chrysospermus ( Bolete Mold),
Infundibulicybe gibba (),
Laccaria laccata ( Common Laccaria; Deceiver Laccaria),
Laccaria ochropurpurea ( Purple-gilled Laccaria),
Lactifluus piperatus ( ),
Lactarius quietus var incanus ( ),
Lactarius subvellereus ( ),
Laetiporus sulphureus ( Chicken Mushroom; Sulphur Shelf),
Lentinellus ursinus ( Bear Lentinus),
Marasmius capillaris ( ),
Marasmius siccus ( Orange pinwheel),
Mycena haematopus ( Bleeding Mycena),
Pseudoboletus parasiticus (Parasitic Bolete),
Tapinella atrotomentosa ( ),
Picipes badius ( Black-footed Polypore),
Pleurotus pulmonarius ( Summer Oyster),
Trametes cinnabarina ( ),
Schizophyllum commune ( Split Gill),
Scleroderma citrinum ( Pigskin Poison Puffball),
Stropharia rugosoannulata ( Wine Cap Stropharia),
Tetrapyrgos nigripes ( Black-footed Marasmus),
Trametes cubensis (),
Trametes versicolor ( Turkey-tail),
Trichaptum biforme ( Violet Toothed-Polypore),
Tylopilus badiceps ( ),
Tyromyces chioneus ( White Cheese Polypore)

Species missing from list:

Xylaria tentaculata – Fairy Sprinklers
Golovinomyces asterum ( Aster Powdery Mildew ),

Agaricus – maybe leptocaulis or placomyces
Amanita sect. Vaginatae – possibly amerifulva
Hortiboletus (campestris or rubellus)
Strobilomyces (confusus or strobilaceus)
Xerocomellus – maybe chrysenteron
Hydnellum (concresens and/or spongiosipes)
Lactarius – possibly camphoratus
Melanoleuca (griseobrunnea/graminicola) – highly probable but taxon/group is poorly described at present
Oudemansiella – did not appear to be furfuracea, so likely limonispora or megalaspora
Russula (crustosa) – probably
Russula (grata or fragrantissima, possibly pectinatoides)

Cortinarius sp. – Webcaps, 2 species
Mycena sp.
Pluteus sp. – Deer Mushrooms
Psathyrella sp. – Brittlestems
Ramaria sp. – Corals
Russula sp. – red thru pink, whitish/gray
Stemonitis sp. – Chocolate Tube Slimes

Lichens:
Parmelia sp. – Shield Lichens
Pseudevernia sp. (maybe) – Antler Linens

Specimens were not collected for microscopy or DNA sequencing.

Photos by Beth Ace.