Good morning team.
Let me be the first to wish you a happy Mushroom Monday on the first Mushroom Monday in the calendar year 2021. This week's mushroom is a disputed ID between Trametes elegans and Trametes gibbosa. I've done some research and think it's Trametes elegans, which is native to Eastern North America, but a dude who I really respect in the New York Mycological Society (ethancrenson on iNaturalist) identified it as T. gibbosa - which is native to Europe/Asia but has been found fruiting in the Eastern US. The good news is that the mushroom in question is sitting on Eric's desk so you can check it out and try to ID it for yourself. The underside of the mushroom creates somewhat of an optical illusion when you look at the pores so I encourage you to check it out and tell me my ID is wrong.
This mushroom was found on 11/19/2020, fruiting on one of the dead logs from the large oak that fell over in Tupelo meadow. There are at least three other Trametes species fruiting from the same log which is sweet. T. elegans fruits spring through fall but can be found year-round and is saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods. T. elegans isn't considered edible but T. gibbosa has been scientifically found to have anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties (Czarnecki and Grzybek, 1995) (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).
Here's to a happy and healthy calendar year of mushroom hunting and identifying,
Aubrey
PS. My friend Bryan made mushroom barley soup (using Agaricus bisporous) this weekend. I'm curious to see who else is consuming mushrooms and think it'd be cool if people shared dishes or recipes here. Feel free to share!
PPS. Eric finished reading Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and the book is sitting on his desk. If you'd like to read the book that inspired Mushroom Monday you can grab it and just let me know you took it. First come first serve.
