MACALLÚ FIELD GUIDE 02
AFTER RAIN
Things that appear when the woods are wet
Walk through the woods after rain and, at first, everything seems to be green and brown.
Wet bark darkens. Moss seems brighter. Water hangs from the ferns and gathers at the edges of leaves. You walk for a while looking ahead, perhaps at the path or the trees, until something small catches your attention.
A flash of purple beside the path. Something yellow growing from an old branch. A cluster of tiny shelves across a fallen tree.
Then you begin to look properly.
Fungi are everywhere in these woods, but much of the organism is hidden from us. What we call a mushroom is usually only the fruiting body; beneath the soil, inside wood and amongst fallen leaves can be networks of fungal threads that we rarely see.
Rain gives some of them their moment above ground.
This is not a foraging guide. Some wild mushrooms are poisonous, and different species can look remarkably alike. Do not use these pages to decide whether something is safe to eat.
Instead, learn to notice them. Look closely. Take a photograph. Leave them where they are.
Take the photograph. Leave the specimen.
In Killarney National Park, do not pick or handle fungi, even with gloves. Elsewhere, avoid handling unknown fungi unless there is a real reason to do so; if handling is necessary, use gloves and wash your hands afterwards. Gloves do not make a mushroom safe to eat.
Dress for the weather, not against it.
Wear your gumboots and bring your rain jacket. The best part of an after-rain walk is not staying perfectly clean.
Smell the damp earth and wet leaves. Listen to the squelch of your heels as you walk and to the drops falling from branches long after the rain has stopped.
There are small shelters along the route. If the rain catches up with you, use one. Sit for a while and listen to the pitter-patter above you and the drip, drip, drip from the leaves outside. You can be in the middle of the rain without being wet.
Rest. Watch what moves when you stop moving. Then continue when you are ready.
Eight things to look for
You do not need to find all of them. The point is to start noticing where fungi appear: in leaf litter, on fallen wood, high on a trunk, or on a tree already beginning to die.
CC0 · abumadsen / iNaturalist
Look for colour
Amethyst Deceiver
Laccaria amethystina
You may see the purple before you see the mushroom. Fresh specimens can carry violet through the cap, stem and widely spaced gills, although the colour fades as they age or dry — which is where the “deceiver” part of the name earns its place. Look amongst damp leaf litter and moss beneath broadleaved trees. If the cap has faded, the gills can sometimes hold the purple longer. Do not rely on colour alone: other lilac fungi exist, including poisonous lookalikes.
- LOOK FOR
- Violet cap · widely spaced violet gills · slender fibrous stem
- WHEN
- Late summer into autumn, especially after wet weather
- LEAVE IT
- Crouch down for the underside photograph. Do not pull it up to check the base.
CC0 · Sweepingwillow
Look sideways
Turkey Tail
Trametes versicolor
Stop looking only at the path. Fallen branches, old stumps and dead wood can carry their own small landscapes. Turkey Tail grows in thin overlapping fans, often in groups, with bands of grey, brown, cream and sometimes greenish tones. One useful clue is underneath: true Turkey Tail has a pale underside covered in very small pores rather than gills or a completely smooth surface.
- LOOK FOR
- Thin fans · concentric colour bands · tiny pale pores underneath
- WHEN
- Can be seen year-round
- LEAVE IT
- Look underneath without snapping a bracket off the wood.
CC0 · Rachel Webster / iNaturalist
Look after rain
Golden Jelly Fungus
Tremella mesenterica
This one almost seems made for After Rain. On wet dead wood it can appear suddenly bright against dark bark — yellow to orange, folded and gelatinous, sometimes almost translucent. In dry weather the same growth can shrink and harden enough that you might walk straight past it. Rain changes what you see.
- LOOK FOR
- Bright yellow-orange · folded jelly-like lobes · dead wood
- WHEN
- Possible year-round; particularly noticeable in wet weather
- LEAVE IT
- You already know what jelly feels like. There is no need to poke it.
CC0 · Dav Sargsyan
Look at age
Common Puffball
Lycoperdon perlatum
Young Common Puffballs look like small white or cream bulbs with a surface covered in tiny pearl-like spines. As they age they become browner, the spines fall away, and eventually an opening develops at the top so spores can escape. The same fungus can look quite different depending upon when you meet it.
- LOOK FOR
- Pear-shaped body · tiny spines or 'pearls' · woodland floor
- WHEN
- Usually summer into late autumn
- LEAVE IT
- Do not squeeze an old puffball to make the spores erupt. A raindrop may do it for you.
CC0 · Peter Gabler / iNaturalist
Look at scale
Parasol Mushroom
Macrolepiota procera
Not everything at your feet is tiny. A mature Parasol can be strikingly large, with a broad umbrella-like cap patterned in brown scales and a darker centre. If you can see the stem without disturbing the mushroom, look for the mottled or snakeskin-like pattern that often runs along it. Several mushrooms can resemble Parasols, so this guide is for noticing them, not deciding that one is safe to eat.
- LOOK FOR
- Very large cap · brown scales · darker centre · patterned stem
- WHEN
- Late summer and autumn
- LEAVE IT
- Photograph the whole mushroom where it stands. Do not uproot it for identification.
CC0 · Alexis Garretson / iNaturalist
Look at the tree
Birch Polypore
Fomitopsis betulina
The first clue is not the fungus. It is the tree. Birch Polypore is strongly associated with birch, particularly dead, dying or weakened trees. The fruiting body forms a thick rounded shelf, often pale buff or brown above with a much paler underside covered in tiny pores. Once you learn this one, you may start checking birch trunks without thinking about it.
- LOOK FOR
- Birch tree · thick rounded shelf · pale pore surface underneath
- WHEN
- Often noticed from summer into autumn; older brackets can remain
- LEAVE IT
- Leave the bracket attached. The tree is part of the identification.
CC0 · Ilkka Kaita-aho / iNaturalist
Look up
Hoof / Tinder Fungus
Fomes fomentarius
By now you should have stopped assuming fungi only rise from the soil. Hoof Fungus forms a hard grey bracket attached to trunks, often with obvious bands showing successive growth. Older examples can remain for years, which makes this one feel less fleeting than the small mushrooms that appear and disappear from the forest floor.
- LOOK FOR
- Hard hoof shape · grey-brown bands · attached directly to a trunk
- WHEN
- Can be seen year-round
- LEAVE IT
- No need to test how hard it is. Look, photograph and keep walking.
CC0 · Antti Salovaara / iNaturalist
Look at what is dying
Alder Bracket
Inonotus radiatus
Look on dying or dead alder, often for several brackets growing in tiers. Fresh growth can be warm rusty-orange, apricot or yellow-brown before darkening considerably with age. This is a useful final one because it brings together everything you have been practising: look at the tree, look above ground level, notice colour, and notice that decay is not an empty part of a woodland. It is busy.
- LOOK FOR
- Often alder · tiered brackets · warm yellow-brown to rusty tones
- WHEN
- Most noticeable from late summer into autumn
- LEAVE IT
- Do not peel a bracket away to inspect it. Photograph what the tree shows you.
How many did you notice?
Eight is enough. This is meant to change the way you look at the woods, not turn your walk into homework.
0 of 8 found
Find something we didn't show you.
The woods contain far more than these eight. If something catches your eye, stop and photograph it where it is.
Take one photograph from above, one from the side, and — only if you can do it without disturbing the fungus — one showing the underside. Tell us which wood or trail you were walking and what made you notice it.
Send it to MACALLÚ through the site. Perhaps we know what it is. Perhaps we don't. Perhaps your find deserves a place in the next version of After Rain.
We have shown you eight.
The woods contain hundreds.
What else can you find?