Fungi Friday: Angel's Wing — Pleurocybella porrigens

Yesterday, we went out to one of our large forests to see if we could find any chanterelle mushrooms — it is now close to peak season for them, and since we have had some good rains followed by warmer sunny days, we expected a good harvest.

Of course, there are all sorts of fungi in the woods this time of the year; late summer till first freeze is the best time!

This is the first time I've had some worthwhile photos (other than typical edible mushrooms) so I decided to make this my official contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw.

The "Angel's Wing" mushroom (Pleurocybella porrigens) is not super rare, but definitely eye-catching because of its typically pure white color.

This was actually the first time I'd come across a group like this, growing on a fallen Douglas fir log. Normally, they seem more common on upright stumps; growing like oyster mushrooms.

Angel's Wings are part of nature's "cleanup crew" in the sense that they a part of breaking down the tree wood they grow on.

When they grow on an upright piece of wood, they generally don't have stems, but these ones on a horizontal fallen long seemed to have developed trumpet-like stems, and were also fully formed in shape, rather than the more common "half-moon" shape.

They are rather beautiful and translucent when you get a bit of light behind them; we had a sunny day so even the forest floor was a little brighter than usual.

There were lots of tiny insects crawling around on them; I ended up just taking some photos and leaving the mushrooms in place.

Are they edible?

Some people say so, others consider them toxic. They seem to be a bit of a mystery. I have an old mushroom guidebook that claims they are edible; newer books suggest they are poisonous.

Evidently there have been a few isolated but multiple deaths associated with complications from eating Angel's Wings, so I choose to just let them be, in their natural habitat.

As always, the best advice I can offer when it comes to eating wild mushrooms is do your own research! Regardless, they are quite beautiful to look at!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the photos!

All images are our own, unless otherwise credited!