Since the weather has finally cooled down in southeast Michigan, and with all the rain we’ve had recently, I’m finding more mushrooms in the woods when I’m out birding.
Mushrooms on the ground near decaying leaves, at the base of trees, as well as nestled in the V of dead limbs of deciduous trees in the woods.
Including this yellow mushroom, which I’ve seen increasing in numbers under the white pines at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Folks who are familiar with mushrooms might recognize it, since it’s a variety of one of the most common mushrooms in the Northern Hemisphere: Amanita muscaria.
The mushroom I found is the subspecies known at Amanita muscaria var. guessowii.
And yes, it’s poisonous.
The mushroom has a yellow cap which is initially covered with white cotton-looking warts, as seen in my photo.
From what I learned, as the mushroom ages, the warts are worn away or washed away by rain.
Given the cold front that moved through our area this weekend, I’ll be looking this week to see if the mushrooms are still under the pine trees when I return to the arboretum.
