Fall colors: Mushrooms on forest floor blaze brightly with autumn hues

Fall is fickle. One year, color explodes from the trees with vivid yellow, orange, red, and scarlet leaves. The next year, the leaves fade without fanfare, and we're left craving a fall color fix.

What the canopy may lack in the color department, the forest floor has in spades. Turn your attention from the treetops to the ground below, where mushrooms display a panoply of color. In a good rainy year like this one, mushrooms of every color, size, texture and shape appear. They pop up on fallen logs, in the leaf litter, along old tree stumps, and just about every organic surface in the woods.

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi. Their job is to disseminate spores so that more fungi can grow. One fungus that does this in a big way is the giant puffball. Giant puffballs are, arguably, the coolest of the cool fall mushrooms. They're certainly the easiest to identify. These huge, round, white orbs pop up in woods, parks and lawns every autumn. They range from golf ball size to beach ball size, though the latter is rare. Many are about 25 inches in circumference and look remarkably like soccer balls, which seems to give people an irresistible urge to kick them. Please suppress the urge to kick, though, so that everyone can enjoy these awesome fungi.

Inside Giant Puffballs are trillions - that's right, trillions, - of spores. These spores ripen as the puffball turns from white to cream to light brown. That's the time to kick them ... and watch clouds of light brown spores poof like smoke from the puffball. The spores that land in just the right spot may become big puffballs next year.

That's cool, you may say, but are they edible? If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me if a mushroom is edible, I'd be a millionaire. Giant puffballs are edible - and I'm told they're tasty - but I will leave the culinary aspects of fungi to the experts. After all, everything is edible, once. Bear in mind that most forest preserves and public natural areas have no-collecting policies. So, consider it an academic question and enjoy the mushrooms in situ.

Another eye-catching fall mushroom is Chicken-of-the woods. Last month I spotted a blaze orange Chicken-of-the-woods while hiking at Forest Glen Preserve in Vermilion County. It was hard to miss, a beacon of orange visible from afar. When I reached it, I was astonished to find it was as big as my kitchen table. (Speaking of which, yes, it's edible. One blogger wrote that this species is a "gateway mushroom" that led him to the hobby of foraging for edible mushrooms.)

Chicken-of-the-woods is sometimes used as a dye. According to www.mushroom-collecting.com, this species "can be used for dyeing wool, some fabrics, or paper and will yield an orange color with wool when ammonia is used as a mordant."

Chicken-of-the-woods and the closely related Sulphur fungus are in a group called shelf fungi, growing in layers somewhat horizontal to the ground. You can find these brightly colored fungi fanning out from the base of hardwood trees. They're beautiful to behold - but not such good news for the host trees. These fungi are parasitic and can lead to heart rot in oaks and other hardwood trees.

What's October without pumpkins? Bright orange jack-o'-lantern fungi are always fun to find, with their pumpkin-colored caps atop 2- to 5-inch stalks. They grow in tight clusters, emanating from buried wood. The jack-o'-lantern's claim to fame, though, is bioluminescence. That is, these fungi glow in the dark. Specifically, it's the gills under the mushroom caps that glow. Kinda eerie, in keeping with the Halloween season.

Jack-o'-lanterns have a pleasant smell, but don't let that fool you into taste-testing. They're toxic. In spite of - or, because of - its toxicity, this fungus has medicinal potential in fighting cancer. A drug synthesized from its toxins is currently being tested in clinical trials.

Another fall classic is Turkey Tail. This mushroom is aptly named for its colored bands of red, brown, orange and gray, fanning out like a tom strutting his stuff. Turkey Tail grows in just about every woodland, and when you spot one you'll find a bunch. Look for it clustered along the trunks of dead trees and on fallen logs.

Some folks claim that Turkey Tail is medicinal, but this has been dismissed by some mycologists. Mushroom expert Michael Kuo wrote, "The only health benefits associated with consuming (Turkey Tail) result from the exercise involved with hunting for it in the woods." It has been found useful, however, as a dye for woolen clothing.

Turkey Tail belongs to a large, diverse group of fungi called polypores. These fungi are invaluable in the forest ecosystem because they recycle nutrients and minerals slowly, over a long period of time. The paper industry has taken note of polypores' ability to break down lignin in wood, while leaving cellulose. Inspired by Turkey Tail's talent, scientists have researched "biopulping" to improve the papermaking process.

Finding fall color is as easy as a walk in the woods. Whether you look up to the canopy or down on the forest floor, you're sure to be wowed by the display.

Want to learn more about mushrooms?

There are some 2,000 species of fungi in Illinois, and in the space of this column we have only covered four that put on a show in autumn. If you'd like to learn more, check out the Illinois Mycological Association. The IMA holds monthly meetings at the Niles Historical Society, 8940 Milwaukee Ave., on the first Monday of every month, except January and February, and offers presentations on mushroom identification and ecology. The group also leads monthly forays in various parks in the Chicago area, which are usually followed by an identification session. Visit www.facebook.com/IllinoisMyco/ or www.meetup.com/illinoismyco/.

• Valerie Blaine is a lifelong naturalist, recently retired from the Forest Preserve District of Kane County. You may reach her at natvblaine@gmail.com.