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11

Aug

Mushroom Hike

Blog, News Article, Uncategorized

Summer is the typical growing season for mushrooms, so they became the focus of the August hike under the tutelage of a Maryland Master Naturalist and the President of the Mycological Association of Washington, William Needham.

The hike started with a little lecture at the Shady Garden.

And then we ventured into the park to see what mushrooms it had to offer.
Every find was a good pretext for an quick minilecture.

We searched for mushrooms growing on the ground…

…as well as on the (mostly dead) wood.

This hike also had an element of adventure since we had to cross the creek on stones.
You can see the remains of a torn down bridge in upper left corner.

Thanks to this feat we could continue on the flood plain behind the pond.

Mr. Needham then explained how fungi help decompose fallen trees.

And indeed, poor fungi were working 24/7 to do just that.

All in all, it was a nice hike with interesting facts and a great weather.

In summer – especially after a rainy spell – the park features many mushrooms of all kinds of shapes. Some usual, some unusual.

Here are the TOP 10:

And here is the rest.

–honza–

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