Colorado Plants Message Board

Psilocybin Mushrooms

Bumm — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:05:29 -0700

Just wondering. On average during these hunts how many of the species that you find contain Psilocybin? Is Psilocybin considered poison? Do you guys know any good way to get a hold of some Psilocybin Mushrooms in Denver?

Re: Boletus barrowsii, oh my!

quasicon — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:04:43 -0700

We're going to the Uncompaghre Plateau today, just to see what grows up there at 10,000 in Ponderosa and spruce. Hope to find some Barrowsii!

Funny the Grand Mesa has NO pines at all, is aspen, Engleman Spruce, Subalpine Fir and way over on the east side, Blue Spruce too. It's right next door to the Uncompaghre, no pines at all.

Re: Colorado Springs Foray

jc — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:19:07 -0700

Yes the cat is edible. I believe it to be Catathelasma ventricosa or Catathelasma imperiale. Both edible but tough. It seems the experts conflict on which is a western and / or eastern species.

I'll be on the lookout for matsutakes this weekend. I will be camping somewhere undetermined as of yet, but possibly on Rampart where I will check areas with lodgepole pines.

James

Re: Colorado Springs Foray

Gnomed Again — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:06:43 -0700

I think the cat is edible, is it not? Jc, Ashley found 20 white matsutake the other day!

Re: Boletus Edulis

quasicon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:55:02 -0700

Grand Mesa is suddenly popping with Chantarelles I heard today, after having none.

I had to laugh out loud at some of the boletes, one was 16" sitting alone in a clearing. Ridiculous! Too big to stuff into a plastic shopping bag.

There were still some apple sized young ones last I looked. I have enough dried for the rest of my life

Re: Telluride? Anyone Going?

quasicon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:45:34 -0700

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
I packed a spare fishing vest with supplies, since I'm often hunting alone. A whistle, flashlight, waterproof matches, poncho, mosquito wipes, band aids and tiny multi tool. Need pepper spray, and water purifier tabs. Moot if one had all the latest technology but I don't. Dehydrated beer would be nice too, just in case.
Bears know you are there in open spruce forests, it's willows and such I would worry about, also cougars sneaking up behind me when tying on flies in brushy canyons. Getting hurt is the biggest risk, a tumble with a fracture or head injury.
I try to always stay within earshot of the road I'm parked on. People should always go with a buddy though, rule #1.

Re: Boletus Edulis

Gnomed Again — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:23:50 -0700

Looks to me like this years' amazing fruiting of Boletus edulis is finally coming to a close, so get out there this week near treeline and grab those last ones! I went out last weekend and found 2 baskets full (we saw hundreds and hundreds way past their prime) which didn't seem like much, considering last week! All in all, we have found all of the mushrooms we set out to look for this year: Morchella esculenta, Agaricus agustus, Tricholoma magnivelare, Boletus edulis and barrowsii, Chanterellus cibarius, and Hypomyces lactifluorum. But one of the most impressive sights was all of those Boletes in large clusters, popping up from the pine duff, all throughout the forest. Hope next year is just as good!>:D<(however, that is asking a lot)

Re: Boletus barrowsii, oh my!

Gnomed Again — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:50:04 -0700

Yeah. Ponderosa pine, along the edges of the road with steep washes 7,000-9,000'. Usually some of the only mushrooms in the area. Kinda dry.

Re: Boletus barrowsii, oh my!

jc — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:43:17 -0700

Awesome to hear you found them! I'm guessing I know where you found them and if its that area is around 7500ft in Ponderosa pines. We also found a ton of them about a week ago on our foray trip ~7800ft. Look around those areas along the front range and you're sure to find some. It may be getting a bit late though for fresh ones.

Re: Telluride? Anyone Going?

jc — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:40:27 -0700

It's nice to learn and become familiar with a few new mushrooms each season. Sometimes it takes me several seasons to get comfortable with new ones.

Nice bear squat specimen! I find those all the time. I try to avoid those areas as well, but generally they know you are in the area and are more afraid of you than one might think. Those wild bears are not as much trouble as a bear which is comfortable with humans.

Re: Boletus barrowsii, oh my!

morninglory — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:30:40 -0700

You lucky dog!! I still have not found more than one at a time and always old. Were these under ponderosas and about 8500 feet?

Re: Telluride? Anyone Going?

quasicon — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:22:00 -0700

Went to the free outdoor mushroom tables in Telluride and learned a lot. Took photos of displays so I could remember better.

I think I now know enough of the galerina autumnalis to avoid it entirely.

I got a pretty good feel for the lactarius deliciosus and the shrimp russula. Maybe fairy clubs too.

Did a hunt alone on Lizard Head Pass, found some neat stuff like a Hydnellum suaveoleus (sp).

When I stumbled across this other specimen, though, I headed for the car!

Boletus barrowsii, oh my!

Gnomed Again — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:25:12 -0700

We found a whole pickup truck bed full of Boletus barrowsii yesterday. Everywhere we stopped, eccept one spot, had almost a king soopers bag full of the little pigs. Oh, jc, finally found my first lobster mushrooms too! Thanks again for all of the tips, and if you need some white boletes, you know who to hit up! I'll post pics soon, I think we found almost 200 of 'em! They were in a new spot too!

Re: Telluride? Anyone Going?

Gnomed Again — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:20:13 -0700

Wish I could make it too, but we're finding plenty of mushrooms here. Hey, keep us updated on what you guys find out there! It would be cool to see some photos from the western slope on the forum.

Re: Telluride? Anyone Going?

jc — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:25:58 -0700

It sounds like fun. Unfortunately I am on the eastern slope and headed out of town for the weekend. I wish I could hit the mountains again this weekend. I think the front range mountains have had much more moisture and enormous fruiting of Boletes.

Telluride? Anyone Going?

quasicon — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:34:25 -0700

Big Fest starts tomorrow, I'd like to see a few things myself but don't intend to hang out for four days. I am just 2 hours away.

Here is the detailed daily schedule and pricing. Apparently the tents and forays are free or donation based!
[www.tellurideinstitute.org]

It would be fun to learn some recipes:
[blogs.denverpost.com]

I don't expect to become a hobbyist but I would like to be able to safely recognize something other than the three I know we can eat.

Anyone else here from the Western Slope? Anyone going? I might spend a night or two down there in my camper.

Re: Grand Lake mushrooms-help identify delicacies for Polish tourists

jc — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:43:42 -0700

Two of them appear to be Leccinum which have the scaber stalk. One of them has a different looking stalk. Maybe its older.

Leccinum insigne is mycorrizal with Aspen. It generally has an orange cap but can be different. There are several similar ones which grow in mixed forest, with conifers, with birch, etc. I have seen orange, tan or light brown, and red caps. You may have to cut one and see which color it stains. Some of them may stain another color like red first before changing to grey. Some have blue at the base of the stalk.

Re: Grand Lake mushrooms-help identify delicacies for Polish tourists

quasicon — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:31:35 -0700

I go to the Grand Mesa to pick and found a new one (for me) on the North side in Aspen litter. Leccinum Insigne?
It looks like the last two above.
The big one is the color and texture of a russet potato, the smaller ones were more orange. Not eating it!
Now lets see if I can attach photos.

Re: Grand Lake mushrooms-help identify delicacies for Polish tourists

jc — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:31:48 -0700

They are easy to confuse with Leccinum if you haven't collected them before. Beginners can often confuse them. Leccinum species change color after being cut which is a good indicator. They also have a scaber stalk that is generally slimmer.

Re: Colorado Springs Foray

jc — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:28:32 -0700

All of the photos are up here:
Foray Pictures

Gnomed you were right about the Matsutake look-alike. I did some further research and it is indeed an Imperial Cat. Notice how is has a double ring.

Re: High Altitude Boletus and one indentification

jc — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:00:12 -0700

The last two I believe are Suillus brevipes. Very similar to S. luteus but are a western species. You should peel the skin and remove the pore layer before eating to avoid Irritable bowel syndrome.

To share images you can do it two ways. You can resize them to upload here. If you cannot resize them you can download Gimp for free to resize them down. http://www.gimp.org/ Within Gimp you can "Scale Image" down to a smaller size and save as a JPG. You can also upload them to another free photo sharing web site like photobucket, flickr or imageshack and use the image url tool to place them into a post.

Re: High Altitude Boletus and one indentification

tsipa22 — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:29:41 -0700

last 2 pics is Suillus luteus or slippery jack, good eat. i and my wife came back to florida week ago stayed in colorado springs for 6 days. we picked edules only. we brought cary on case of boiled and frosen mushrooms big cooler of fresh and 2 huge bags of dryed mushrooms. unbelivable! i wish i could upload some pictures but i don't know how to downsize them. great vacation. colorado rules. thanks all for early tips.

Re: Colorado Springs Foray

jc — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:13:06 -0700

I think the word of the day was Boletus. We hit a huge fruiting of Barrowsii at the beginning of the day ~7800ft. Later on when we got up to around 10k it was insane. There were so many Boletus edulis and Sarcodon's that we couldn't carry anymore. There are still so many more up there, just not enough time. This really is the year for mushrooms and its going to be hard to top in future years. Just about every one I sliced to dry was free of bugs. There wasn't much cleaning to do. My dehydrator is way too small I found.

Colorado Springs Foray

Gnomed Again — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:36:53 -0700

Yesterday was absolutely amazing! We found so many Boletus edulis and barrowsiii that we couldn't carry anymore. We also saw the prince, agaricus sylvicola, hawkswings, 2 chanterelles, Hydnum repandum, Lactarius deliciosus, Suillus, Pleurotus, shrimp russulas, Hypomyces luteovirens (on Russula decolorens), Amanita muscaria, Ganoderma applanatum, the bleeding agaricus, and much more. We had a great time, and hope to do it again soon!

Re: High Altitude Boletus and one indentification

Gnomed Again — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:04:49 -0700

The pores turn greenish-yellow as they age.

High Altitude Boletus and one indentification

Bigloco — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:05:40 -0700

Went hunting today up high near the Indian Peaks wilderness area...still alot of Boletus and Leccinums

Around 10,500 feet the worm damage is minimal on the Boletus and up at tree line(11.5k or so and alot of work to get there), while the Boletas are fewer in number, even the big ones are pretty much worm free, it seems.

I did have a question re: the last 2 pics...looks like a normal Boletus but when i got back home, I noticed its stem is quite skinny and the pores underneath are quite yellow for its size...if it were a normal Bol, I'd expect the pores to be white.

It doesn't stain when cut....is it just a goofy Boletus with an undersized stalk? It was found at about 10,500 feet.

Re: Foray with Gary Lincoff

Gnomed Again — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:29:05 -0700

It was quite a success! Many different species were found, including Boletus edulis, hawkswings, lactarius deliciosus, the giant western puffball, many species of Agaricus (including the prince), Amanita muscaria, alloclavaria purpurea, ramarias, cortinarius, shrimp russulas, gem studded puffballs, sheeps polypores (ovinus and confluens), sweet coral clubs, and more. Afterwards we went on a little foray with the extremists and found white matsutakes, more boletus edulis, and others.

Re: Puff ball mushroom

Gnomed Again — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:16:29 -0700

You probably have the giant western puffball. Wonderful edible if it actually is. Cut it in half, if it is white all the way through, it is prime.

Puff ball mushroom

beth — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:27:18 -0700

I found a mushroom in my yard the size of a soccer ball. I believe it's a puff ball. I tried to post a picture, but it's too big for the post and I can't reduce the size. Can anyone confirm for my own piece of mind that this is a puff ball mushroom and it is edible. Thanks.

Re: Many species found at NAMA

jc — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:38:18 -0700

Is anyone interested in going? We will meet somewhere in colorado springs.