Awesome Fungi: A 1.25 lb Morel!

Each week, Awesome Fungi puts the spotlight on a mushroom species that is simply awesome. This week we take a look at a real monster of a morel:

The City Bay Times has released an article in which a Michigan resident by the name of Charley Robinson has come across a morel that was 17 inches in girth and weighed 1.25 pounds! (The particular species wasn't mentioned) Unfortunately there was no photo associated with the article, but Robinson was kind enough to give some sage advice from his 60 year MH career.
Here are some highlights:

• Robinson waits to pick his morel finds until they are "a little dry". He says this is an indicator that the mushroom has stopped growing.
• According to the article, Robinson uses an ingenuous trick involving wood ash. He apparently spreads the ash in areas he has found morels before. The article omits the exact details of the process, but the idea of manipulating the morel's fondness of burnt substrate is pure genius!
  
• Robinson looks for black morels (Morchella elata) in poplar forests and large blond morels (Morchella esculenta) in the mixed beech maple forests.

To read more of Robinson's tips or to read the whole story, follow the link above.

Awesome Fungi: Glowing Mycena!

Each week, Awesome Fungi puts the spotlight on a mushroom species that is simply awesome. This week we take a look at a species of Mycena:

National Geographic recently featured an article that introduced these glowing beauties which were recently discovered in Brazil. According to NG, this species of Mycena has developed bio biluminescent properties. Visit the link to read the article about this interesting and fungus.
Note: clicking on the pictures in the left-hand column of the article reveals more of the article.

Incidentally, another mushroom in the "glowing awesomeness" category is the "Jack O' Lantern" mushroom (Omphalotus illudens). They are called this because, when full grown, they resemble a large group of pumpkins. What makes these mushrooms particularly interesting is that, under perfect conditions - a dreary, rainy, and dark day - these mushrooms will give off a faint green light from their gills, which is due to the fact that these mushrooms contain small amounts of the same chemical(luciferase) that fireflies have in their tails.

However, if you find some and simply must see this interesting effect, you can try to recreate it on your own. Pick one(they are most commonly found on rotting stumps in early/mid fall, around Halloween, coincidentally), mist it lightly with water, and take it into a pitch-black room for about 5-15 minutes(or long enough for your eyes to adjust to darkness). Although the mushroom will give off a very faint glow, remember that nature does a much better job at this.

Do you know of any other mushrooms that fall under the "glowing awesomeness" category?