Names

Day 33: At this time of year, you might hear a strange thumping sound coming from the vicinity of Mount Rainier. Don't worry, it's not an eruption, not a lahar. It's me, banging my head on the wall because all my field guides have let me down again as I try to identify the wonderful variety of mushrooms which sprout in my yard. Some I can nail down as to genus, i.e., "Yeah, that's a Suillus. Those are...yes, they are Psilocybe." Others may even be easy or fairly so, like Russula emetica or Stropharia ambigua. Then there are the LBMs which go under the heading "Don't even bother trying." And then there are the pretties, the ones I'd dearly love to address by name and can't, despite my best efforts. I might do better if I actually picked one, brought it in the house to analyze, maybe even to take a spore print or put spores under the microscope, but "pretty" is the operative word in that sentence. My conscience would nag me if I ever plucked one from its habitat. Silly? Probably, but that's me. Respect the fungus, mate.