XPost: alt.drugs.psychedelics   
   From: riburr@shentel.net   
      
   mimus wrote:   
      
   > Frederick Burroughs wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >>I have harvested a Gymnopilus sp. from the local forest for several   
   >>years in a row.  I am very surprised to find it fruiting this year, as   
   >>it is *very* dry.  I am tempted to leave it alone, because it is a   
   >>survivor, and because of its courage in the face of drought.  It is an   
   >>anomaly to see it when no other mushrooms are evident.  Very strange.  I   
   >>would never have thought it would fruit under these very dry conditions.   
   >   
   >   
   > Usually fruits on buried wood, dunnit?   
   >   
   > Maybe it's got a secret stash of water down there somewhere-- maybe an old   
   > tap-root heading somewhere good . . . .   
   >   
   > I'm thinking of going out Sunday, but it's been soooo dry this year, from   
   > Spring on, that I'm going to stick to along creek-banks and look for   
   > downed wood and other likely media more or less in contact with whatever   
   > water there is . . . .   
   >   
   > We are starting to get the Fall colors in the Ohio River Valley, and they   
   > look pretty good so far, which kind of surprises me, since I thought they   
   > were somewhat moisture-dependent as well (the maples and some sort of   
   > creeper have been changed for weeks already, the sycamores and some of the   
   > others are turning, the oaks are hanging tough).   
   >   
      
   I've only found it on existing or buried trunks.  The largest fruiting I   
   found shares a stump with Laetiporus cincinnatus.  It was the Chicken of   
   the Woods that showed me the Gymnopilus.  I was looking for the tasty   
   edible where I'd found it before, when I discovered the magic one   
   growing in the same spot.  It's one of those enchanted places, where   
   valuable treasures are sometimes found.   
      
   The foliage is ablaze with color here, too.  When you drive across the   
   mountain ridge and begin the decent into our valley, it's like you   
   landed in Oz.  It's hard to keep your eyes on the road.  Not quite peak,   
   yet.  I want to kayak down a local river while the color is good, but   
   the drought has reduced the river to a trickle.  I still have a mind to   
   try it.   
      
      
   --   
   I can tell your future just look what's in your hand...   
      
   - Robert Hunter   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)