Mushrooms - Magic and otherwise

Assuming your in Seattle like your avatar says I would start by trying to contact the Puget sound mycological society :



Try to hookup with them for a mushroom walk. Or maybe check out their annual mushroom show. To get a firsthand look at some edible species in your area.

Now as far as mind altering fungi..you probably don't want to mention those when interacting with the Normie mushroom hunters.

That being said when I was kicking around the west coast I would always make it a point of going to Seattle in late fall to collect wavy caps ( Psilocybe cyanescens). For some hilarious reason they grow all over the city in the alder chip mulch that Seattle favors.

A word of caution though.. To the unfamiliar eye the younger specimens resemble one of the Northwest's most poisonous mushrooms: the deadly Galerina (Galerina marginata).

Just like foraging for wild, edible plants one of the first things you should familiaratize yourself with is some of the more deadly ones :


After that look into some of the easier to identify edible species AND any possible lookalikes :



One of my favorite books on edible fungi in the northwest is "All that the rain promises" by David Arora . I'm sure the king county library has multiple copies you could check.

And lastly. NEVER EVER eat a mushroom unless your 100% certain what it is (ask me how I know)

"All mushrooms are edible.. Some only once "
 
Thank you @Engineer J Lupo, I'm sorry @SlankyLanky , I'm normally realy chill but I dont take shit. I'm a firm advocate for mycoligie and especially psylisybin. Slanky I think what's happened is I have no clue what Joe Rogan's podcast is about I only ever watched the one podcast with Paul stamets becaus it was recommended to me. (Dude said I would enjoy it,he was right) and it's a hell of a good podcast.so I referenced it I don't know what the hell Joe Rogan's podcast is about. I never watched a second podcast by him either. Actually normaly don't watch or listen to podcasts..... long story short I'm sorry for biting your head off.
 
Found these morels on Drummond island recently. I've been mushroom hunting in Iowa for years, and was surprised when I found out there are many more different morel species. In Iowa there are what we call yellows and Grays, obviously because of their color distinction. On Drummond island the locals call them blacks, which look like the grays in Iowa. Then they have what they call whites, which I've never seen in Iowa. Also growing right alongside the morels on Drummond they have what they call false morels. They look like the grays or blacks, but have a cap that grows differently from the stem. They look identical until you pick it and look underneath. Some locals say the false morels will make you sick, some say they were fine to eat. I didn't chance it. Also have what they call beefsteak mushrooms which I also heard mixed reviews about eating. Another mushroom in Iowa that's edible is a puffball. They get big (like volleyball size big sometimes) and white, not much of a stem. If you squeeze them and white puff dust cones out, don't eat. If they don't puff, they are good to go. I ate those as a kid and didn't think they had much taste, nowhere near as good as gray morels.
 

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A puffball you actually don't want to eat if the inside has discolored from White at all. If it Puffs that's when it's spouring out and is already rotten inside, it's long past edible.
Remember people when it comes to mushrooms never take any one person's word on it do your own research it could possibly be your health or life.
 
SaltyCrew said:
and was surprised when I found out there are many more different morel species.
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Here on the west side of the Cascades in Washington, the true morels aren't all that common. I had some come up in my raspberry patch last year....this year they didn't come up there, but had a few come up through one of our gravel pads that we put in. We get a lot of one kind of false morel called Verpa bohemica View attachment 50578, which I know a lot of locals eat without problems....and other people it gives them stomach cramps. I also went out to a spot in the forest nearby that had burned last year, but all I found were lots of another false morel growing there: Gyromitra esculentaView attachment 50579.


Both have toxins, so I just assume not eat them. Why chance it, right?
 

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@iamwhatiam , I was finding them in hordes in areas that were cut 2 seasons prior, similar situation to a burn area I suppose? What got me was the false ones grow right around the real ones. Easy to tell apart though once you know. Don't grow nearly as heavy in the woods on Drummond. In Iowa they grow in clumps of up to 7 or more ive seen, basically from same spot. And next to bases of elms. Didn't seen any growing next to bases of any trees in Michigan. Although I did find one growing straight out of a dead Birch log, that was cool.

That second pic you posted is a neat looking species, almost looks like the beefsteak I was finding in Michigan.
 
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