Mushrooms Growing From Dead Leaves

Lifecycle

• Mushroom mycelia, the white mold that branches and reaches outward from mushroom spores, grows underground consuming leaf matter and turning it into nutrient rich compost that fertilizes the trees and plants growing in the forest.

Timeframe

• Mycelia will grow for 3 months to 18 months before it puts out a fruiting body called a mushroom. Timeframes differ per variety of mushroom growing in the leaf litter.

Varieties

• A favorite edible variety that grows in leaf litter is the morel. Festivals and mushroom hunts are held in honor of this most delicious and prized mushroom beginning in April and lasting through May. Morels grow on leaf litter exposed by melting snow and they are the first to erupt in the spring. Varieties such as Indian Pipe mushroom and Porcino mushrooms from the boletus genus can be found growing in dead leaves.