Welcome!

Welcome to the home page for the Ohio Mushroom Society.  This is the place to come to keep up with the latest information on the club.  Just follow the links on the left to find the information you need, or feel free to contact any of the club volunteers for answers to questions not found here.

Mushroom Musings

We are starting a new section which will be authored by long time OMS member Dick Grimm.  Dick has a wealth of history and wisdom to share with our readers.  These will appear at irregular intervals and will be archived in a dedicated section which will eventually be found in the navigation bar on the left.  This installment is titled simply "Spring Things":

Featured Mushrooms

What's up in April?

Gyromitra gigas, commonly known as the snow morel, snow false morel, calf brain, or bull nose, is a fungus and a member of the Ascomycota. G. gigas is found in Europe, western North America where it is common in mountainous areas in coniferous forests, and eastern North America where it is found with both conifers and hardwoods. It is referred to as one of the false morels, due to its similar appearance and occurrence in the spring and early summer in similar habitats to true morels (Morchella ssp.). It is edible if properly prepared but should be avoided due to variability and similarity to other more toxic species of Gyromitra.

The scientific names G. montana and G. korfii have been made synonymous with G. gigas based on an analysis of spore morphology.

What's up in May?

Polyporus arcularius is found in the spring, and is often encountered by morel hunters and turkey hunters. It is fairly small, and has a central stem--unlike the other oft-encountered spring polypore, Polyporus squamosus. Polyporus arcularius is recognized by its brown cap color, its whitish pore surface, and its finely hairy ("ciliate") cap margin.

Don't forget to check out the featured mushrooms archive page!