Fanciful Fall Fungi

Colourfully fruiting fall fungi brighten up the gloomy, wet days of early November. Today, the rain has kept me indoors, but I’ve been reviewing our collection of mushroom pictures and have pulled out a few of my favourites to share.

There is something delightfully ephemeral about mushrooms. They crop up magnificently for a brief time and then moulder away into nothing. Mushroom season is quite short and for this reason I’ve never become particularly adept at identifying them, but this hasn’t stopped me from going out every year to try to learn a few more and enjoy looking at the ones I can’t figure out!

Reviewing our mushroom photos brings back good memories. Around this time last year we were out looking for mushrooms at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. Wandering back behind one of the campsites, I came up over a little knoll and was surprised by a colony of brilliant scarlet coloured mushrooms growing in a bed of moss. In contrast to the darkness of the forest, these little mushrooms glowed brightly like a bed of hot coals. It was a memorable moment. We later looked up this distinctive mushroom and identified it as the scarlet waxy cap (Hygrocybe miniata). It is small and fragile with orange-red waxy looking gills and white spores. Apparently, the brilliant colour fades as it dries.

Another charming mushroom is the western purple laccaria (Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis). This common, attractive mushroom is a subtle purple or purple-brown colour. It is worth a peek under the cap to see the lovely lavender-coloured gills. The slender stem is is tough and fibrose and sometimes twisted. The western purple laccaria typically grows in Douglas-fir forests and edges of woodlands. Mushroom guru David Aurora states that it is “edible, but of poor quality…it’s beauty is its justification for existence.”

The much sought after yellow chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) is a choice edible. One of its handsome, but inedible relatives is the wooly chanterelle (Gomphus floccosus). This fantastically decorative mushroom is distinctively vase shaped. The inside of the vase, sunken at the center, is covered in ruffly looking wooly scales that are orange-red or buffy-yellow. The outside of the “vase” is creamy white and lined with vein-like ridges that extend down the stem. Wooly chanterelles are often found growing under conifers. There is good reason to avoid eating them. According to the New Savory mushroom guide “compounds have been found in the woolly chanterelle that might be harmful to the liver.”

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Magnificent Elk Falls

One thing that I love about living on Vancouver Island is the proximity of wilderness. I live in town, but it doesn’t take long to get out into nature; rivers, mountains, waterfalls, primeval rainforest and great beaches are all close at hand.

Whenever I go to Campbell River I am impressed with the number of hiking trails that are only a few minutes from the city center. Elk Falls Provincial Park is certainly high on the list. The park’s 1087 hectares encompass a huge area, and feature a 122 site campground and a network of hiking trails including Quinsam River Trail, Kingfisher and Beaver Pond Trail, Canyon View Trail and Millennium Trail.

One of the park’s gems is Elk Falls, the park’s namesake, which plummets 25 metres into a deep, rocky gorge. According to the book Edge of Discovery (a history of Campbell River by Isenor, Stephens and Watson) the park was established in 1940. Prior to being declared a park, the area housed a camp for reforestation efforts. The “Great Fire” of 1938 narrowly missed the park, burning a swath of land that stretched from north of Campbell River south to the Courtenay area, almost reaching Comox Lake. Continue reading »

Filed under Nature Writing | Tags: American Dipper, British Columbia, Campbell River, Deer Falls, Elk Falls, Elk Falls Provincial Park, Moose Falls, Skunk Cabbage, Vancouver Island, Waterfalls | Comment (0)

Take a “Wild” Flower Walk

“Spring is definitely here,” I think, letting the little one run ahead of me down the path as I take in the fresh greenery and colourful wildflowers, while listening to a burst of melodious bird song. Today, we are heading out to see some of April’s finest flowers, and my two-year-old son Alden has volunteered as my spotter. We’re keeping a tally of the flowers we see, and making a few notes about the colours of the petals, shapes of the leaves, and general habitat.

The first flower we happen upon is the showy western trillium (Trillium ovatum). Trillium means “in threes” which is appropriate, since the trillium has three leaves and three petals. The broad green leaves, each with a drip-tip for our rainforest climate, are positioned about half way up the stem. The petals are white, but turn pink or purple with age. Peek into the flower’s center, and you will see the golden-yellow anthers laden with pollen. After flowering trilliums produce berry-like capsules, and each seed has an oil-rich appendage that is loved by ants. In carrying the seeds back to their nests, ants effectively disperse the seeds. Trilliums grow in moist woodlands near streams. Since the blooms often coincides with the arrival Robins, trilliums are also known as “wake robins.” Continue reading »

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All About Ants

For many years now there has been a mounded ant’s nest on my mother’s property. During the winter months, birds peck and scratch at the nest looking for an easy snack. In the early spring, the ants begin to emerge, moving slowly. As things heat up, the nest becomes a teeming mass of ants in a frenzy of activity. These thatching ants (Formica spp.) are red and black and have never caused my family any trouble. Continue reading »

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Beachcombing with Kids

On the weekend, we often take the kids up to “Granny’s house” at Miracle Beach. When we get there, our 2-year-old son Alden heads straight down to the beach. Who needs toys? The beach has everything a toddler needs. Pebbles, seaweed, shells, crabs, sticks of driftwood and other flotsam and jetsam keep Alden fully occupied. It’s not only fun, but educational too. We talk about the colours, textures and shapes of the objects that we find, and Alden loves to count and sort things into various piles. Continue reading »

Filed under Nature Writing | Tags: Beach Glass, Beachcombing, Pebbles, Red Rock Crab, Seaweed, Shipworms, Turkish Washcloth, Varnish Clam | Comment (1)