It's been almost like summer lately, even though spring hasn’t quite arrived yet.
I’ve been spending most of my time outdoors, enjoying the warmth and fresh air.
and I found a few mushrooms.
On this pile of wood I spotted a cluster of bracket-type fungus.
These ones. They look dried up and hard to identify.
But I thought they still looked pretty.
This tree stump is with sort of another type of polypore, possibly the one called 'smokey polypore'.
Growing all around it.
Then I came across a pile of mossy wood. In a small gap between the logs, there was a cluster of mushrooms that got me excited but also got me confused and disappointed.
Some were mature, others still young. My initial ID was oysterling mushrooms; they had the right colour and shape, slightly meaty, with that familiar mushroomy scent. They were growing on hardwood, with tones of off-white and soft beige. Everything pointed toward oysters, and I felt fairly confident.
I collected a few, already imagining a comforting oysterling mushroom tom yum soup for when I get home.
But then, something gave me pause.
I couldn’t see a stem, and it could be the poisonous lookalike, Angel’s Wings.
Source: Totally Wild
I know Angel's Wings are considered poisonous, and while they’re usually pure white (which these weren’t), I started questioning myself. Maybe the mushrooms were just too small and the stems weren’t visible enough. After all, some oysters can appear stemless.
The mushrooms felt meaty, whereas angel's wings are known to be thinner and more delicate. Oysterlings grow on hardwood, while Angel's Wings prefer coniferous wood. But both can be small, especially when young. That uncertainty lingered.
Still, I found myself in a bit of a pickle. Especially since I have not seen Angel's Wing mushrooms before, it is hard to determine.
That small detail (no stem) brought doubt creeping in.
What if they were Angel's Wings mushrooms? In Japan, in 2004, 59 people became seriously ill after eating angel wings, and 17 of them lost their lives.
In moments like this, when something doesn’t fully match what I’m expecting, I choose peace of mind.
So I decided not to use them. (Yes, I took them home, looked closely… and let them be.)
The day was still beautiful, and I said to myself, “There will always be more days and more mushrooms waiting to emerge.”
Have a lovely day, and hoping for luck in my next fungi hunt!
