Category: Clumps

Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom Revisited

Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom (Omphalotus illudens)

Today is Halloween. Time for Trick or Treat. But don’t get tricked into thinking that this mushroom is a treat. Visually, *DEFINITELY*. But not a treat to eat.

Eat the Jack-O-Lantern Mushrooms and you will get treated to headache, stomach cramps, vomiting, and or diarrhrea. Sounds to me like a wicked trick.

Jack-O-Lantern Mushrooms are said by many many sources to have gills that glow in the dark. I have serious doubts about this, after many unsuccessful attempts to see this phenomenon myself. Don’t depend on this to determine what mushroom you have discovered. You’ll be asking for trouble.

This beautiful mushroom is found east of the Rocky Mountains. They’re very common here in the mountains around my cabin. And it’s often found in urban areas too.

They’ll sprout up in large clumps from dead trees, stumps, and buried roots of hardwoods, particularly oaks, in the autumn. The time of year, and the color of the mushrooms, has paved the way for it’s common name.

Have a safe Halloween, and remember don’t eat mushrooms that you’re not totally SURE about.

American Lily of the Valley

American Lily of the Valley

The Lily of the Valley that we all know, the one that used to grow in our Moms’ gardens is a native of Asia and Europe, European Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis). But there is a native too, though this designation of “native” and it being a different species is not agreed upon by the authorities. I’m going with native and a different species. American Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majuscula). This species is native to Georgia, up north to Pennsylvania and west to Kentucky.

American Lily of the Valley

The difference between these two species is quite subtle. In American Lily of the Valley, the plant is shy, only creating very small clumps if any. The European species is quite gregarious, creating large colonies in an aggressive manner. The leaves of the American Lily of the Valley are larger, than the European species. The racemes (a raceme is a flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem) of the American Lily of the Valley is shorter than the European species. Those racemes of the American species arch under the leaves, while the leaves of the European species stretch tall, as if standing on their tippy toes to see over the tops of the leaves.

I have both of these species and love having them. Oh MY! Such a delicious scent! I prefer the tame manner of the American species and I must say I really prefer native plants anyway for the sake of the environment. These two species bloom at different times though, which extends the time that I can enjoy their blooms and their wonderful aromas. My European species is in full bloom now and my native species is just now beginning to emerge from the soil. Many more weeks of lily of the valley beauty.