The weather was beautiful, and given the lack of recent rainfall, the group of about 30 attendees found a surprising number of fungi: 20 different species! Foraging is normally not allowed within the park, but the FFSC is granted permission to pick during our guided forays, as long as none of the mushrooms leave the park boundary. We are very grateful for the opportunity!

Trametes betulina. Photo by Cass Fuentes

Spring Flowers at Quail Hollow Ranch. Photo by Cass Fuentes

Spring is in full bloom in the mountains, so in addition to finding fungi, the group of foragers encountered a wide variety of beautiful flowers and both edible and medicinal plants, all part of the unique and rich habitat of the sandhills in the Santa Cruz mountains. The sandhills are made up of what geologists call “Santa Margarita Sandstone”, which dates to 10 – 12 million years ago, when this part of the San Lorenzo Valley was underneath the ocean.

The habitat is also great for finding mushrooms at Quail Hollow, as there’s a wide variety of trees including Redwood and Madrone. Pine and Live Oak can be found here as well, which are known to establish mycorrhizal associations with fungi which produce some of the most sought after mushrooms, Chanterelles and Porcini.

Collection of mushrooms. Photo by Cass Fuentes

Coprinus sterquilinus, the Dung Loving Coprinus. Photo by Cass Fuentes

Species List

Below is a list of the species that we collected:

1. Amanita gemmata

2. Amanita muscaria

3. Amanita novinupta

4. Amanita velosa

5. Amanita vernicoccora

6. Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum

7. Chlorophyllum brunneum

8. Coltricia cinnamomea

9. Coprinus sterquilinus

10. Craterellus cinereus

11. Ganoderma brownii

12. Hygrocybe sp.

13. Hypholoma fasciculare

14. Inocybe sororia

15. Tremella betulina

16. Pluteus sp.

17. Russula sp.

18. Stereum hirsutum

19. Suillus sp.

20. Trametes versicolor

Cass Fuentes

FFSC Minister of Local Forays