Morels

(Morchella Importuna)

This is an unmistakable spices of mushroom for the seasoned explorer. These little alien brains aren’t very common, and they have a couple look-alikes, but they are incredible when sauteed. They grow in scattered and large troops, often in disturbed urban areas, such as wood chips or around recently poured concrete. Seasonally, they start showing up around March, peaking heavily in mid-April and drop off by June. As of writing this the nearest sighting of a Morel to the town of Mendocino is in Philo, proving how rare these mushrooms are.

Turkey Tails

(Trametes Versicolor)

A beautiful hardwood species, the turkey tail is one of the most common polypore mushrooms on earth, let alone Mendocino. Though inedible straight from the wild, the extracts from this mushroom are proving to be incredible in the world of medicine. So far the research suggests it’s a great immune booster, it helps balance gut bacteria, even does a good number fighting against cancer. For more on medicinal mushrooms, click here. Turkey tails often grow in troops off of hardwood (saprotrophic!), they come in many different colors, as the term versicolor literally translates to ‘of many colors. Seasonally, they peak in mid-March and then again in October. As of writing this, most of the sightings for this mushrooms swell around the town of mendocino, though you can really find these everywhere.