The end of Summer is here, at least according to calendar. The weather forecasts for South-Western Ontario still includes humidex and daily highs are in low 30°C range. Overnight low gets to 15°C, quite a bit above seasonal.  In general, the dry weather trend is continuing.

The main bolete season is over and woods are starting to turn into brown and red shades. At this time I would expect Blewitts, Puffballs and Honey mushrooms to be present, but none of that is happening in my area.

After several checks in week intervals I did harvest some Hericium americanum, excellent edible and medicinal mushrooms. This mushroom is supposedly creating chemical compounds that actually stimulate nerve growth and regeneration. It is certainly not hard to spot, although quite frequently grows at the lower portion of the logs and can be seen only from certain angle.

The older specimens I usually dry and use in soup. The young ones I prefer to eat sauteed or in some kind of vegetable meal. They taste lake sea food, and almost can be mistaken for scallops.

The bracket fungi are always present and I encountered some really beautiful patches.

 Unusually strong showing of Rooting Polypora (Polyporus radicatus)

There was also some considerable fruiting of Golden Coral (Ramaria aurea), beautiful mushroom, fragile  and hard to pick. On the other hand Crow Coral, the one most commonly found, was almost completely absent or showed only in small bunches.