Jack-O-Lantern Mushroom

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Watching For The Jack-O-Lantern

I’ve been watching, not for the Great Pumpkin, but for a large cluster of Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins, Omphalotus illudens.  Day before yesterday, they popped up.  I think if I had been sitting there watching and waiting for them, I would have seen them spring up from the dark, dry soil, since I have been watching for them daily.  But there they are.  A huge clump of them.  Really a wonderful sight to see!

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Wild Color

For several years now, growing at the base of a long dead oak tree, there has been a patch of  mushrooms, a color best described as radioactive orange.  They grow in a cluster, much larger than most mushrooms I’ve seen, and they emerge later in the season than many other mushrooms.

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Wild In Other Ways

Not only do they have a wild color, but their gills glow in the dark.  Mighty cool, don’t you think!  A perfect name for them – Jack-O-Lantern – since they are such a Halloweenish color and they glow in the dark.  And those of you who might have thoughts of eating this mushroom — do not!  This mushroom is poisonous!  I’ll enjoy watching them while they are still around this season and I will watch for them again next autumn!

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.