My postcard: 2024

Saturday, November 2, 2024

A walk among the beautiful colors of autumn...

I often go for walks along the local Davidson River – it is a beautiful place at any time of year. It is especially impressive in autumn – full of colorful leaves: yellow and gold, orange and red, and also different shades of brown… There are so many of them, on the trees, underfoot… This time of golden leaves reminds me of the beautiful Polish autumn.

Mushrooms in Davidson River - the last days of summer and the beginning of autumn

On another walk along the Davidson River I found mushrooms again. This was a few days before the hurricane that passed through our area.

Mushrooms on the trail along the Davidson River...

After days of rain, walking along the Davidson River was a surprise. I usually find mushrooms here in season, but not as many as I have seen in the last couple days. I saw an unusual amount of mushrooms. They were everywhere you looked - all so different and equally amazing! One hiker told me that in 15 years of hiking here he had never seen so many mushrooms.

The mushrooms were different, diverse and among them there were a lot of mushrooms from the Amanitas group. These mushrooms are easy to spot and often colorful but many are dangerous, they are toxic.
Some Amanitas are considered edible but as I noticed none of Amanitas from my mushroom book is recommended to eat it.

Some mushrooms looked very artistic...

Some were nicely attached to the trees...

Bolete is a type of mushroom that can be recognized by its unique cap. The underside of the cap usually has a spongy surface with pores, rather than the gills typical of other mushrooms. Bolete is the English common name for a species of mushrooms that has such a cap.

Coral fungi

Hydnellum scrobiculatum, commonly known as the Ridged tooth or Rough hydnellum

Turkey tail

A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolina - Alan E.Bessette, Arleen R.Bessette, & Michael W.Hopping, The University of North Carolina Pres, Chapel Hill