Help!

When I was younger so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone I'm not so self-assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors. . .

- Lennon/McCartney


Okay, OK, OK, calm down a bit now. Yes, I need help. I'll explain that. But, really, I'm not that desperate. :) I do really like the song, though. Really, who of us that grew up in that era doesn't? Anyways. . . . .

While I was trudging around Wazee Lake County Park this Saturday (see my previous blog-entries) I happened to notice quite a few late-season mushrooms and other higher fungi. This really surprised me, as I figured it was a little too late for them. As a result, I was not prepared to do anything but photograph them in situ. Next time I'll actually collect some, bring 'em home, and study them far better so I can get an accurate identification. That being written, what follows below are some photos of some of the fungi that I saw. If any of you out there recognize anything or have any corrections of what I've got here; PLEASE LET ME KNOW - my curiosity is very piqued on these, especially on the first set of photos.

So, let's get to the photos, shall we? :) Here ya go:

These two photos show something that has boggled my mind ever since I noticed them on the ground. Are these fungi? Are they plants? I certainly don't know! They look cool as heck, though; but I really, really would like an identification on these. This is where I need YOUR help the most. I've looked around a little on the 'net, thinking that these were some type of club fungi or something close to that; but I could not find anything even closely resembling them. There were about 2 dozen of these brown whorls in about a 10 foot by 10 foot area along a walking trail through a mixed-wood forest, predominantly coniferous. These photos show a good representative sample of what the rest looked like. Note the quarter for size-reference.

These two photos show a very common gilled mushroom that I saw on my walk. They were scattered all along the trails I was on in various habitats and were easily the most common 'shroom that I saw. I realize that these photos are not much to go on; but, like I wrote, they're all I have. The only thing I'll exclude is a Russula species, as the stipes were relatively soft compared to what I've read about Russula. Again, this is in mixed forest, predominantly coniferous. These photos were taken from a roadway, the road is no more than 10 years old. I saw lots and lots of different kinds of mushrooms in between the road itself and the actual wooded area of the woods (about 15 feet on average). The soil here, by the way, is almost nonexistent, consisting of sand with very little organic cover on top of that. In the open areas, grass takes a while to get growing well and still grows fairly thin. But, hey, I'm used to the very nice black clays/loamy soils of glaciated central Minnesota.

After a bit of research, I do believe that this is Suillus Luteus, aka "Slippery Jack". These caps weren't viscid, but were sticky. Again, photo taken from the roadway area.

This is one I'm much more certain on. Suillus Americanus. Everything I've read about it points to this species. And, btw, YUCK, what an awful mushroom. :) I will write that these particular samples appeared a bit greener than the texts said, and the photos don't really show that well. Prolly just a bit of regional color variation. There were about 3 dozen caps of this growing in a 5 foot by 5 foot area just outside the tree-line in the roadway.

The only easy 'shroom I found all day. A nice (but small) edible puffball. (Lycoperdon Pyriformes, but don't quote me on that.) These were also fairly common. This sample was split open by squeezing it between my fingers.