The mushroom season is upon us!

I stepped into the bog today, since I haven't been there in a while and since I'm unable to come to any work parties this month. I'd like to share some mushrooms I saw. Both of these mushrooms are have beneficial symbiotic relationships with the roots of coniferous trees:

Lactarius rufus

These were under the lodgepole pines in the western part of the bog near the 21st ave entrance. The genus Lactarius is characterized by a trait of exuding 'milk' when they get cut. That's right, they lactate! The milk is white in this species, but it can be red or clear in other species. The specific epithet 'rufus' refers to the red colour of the mushroom.

Russula fragilis

This one was on the far side of the bog, but I saw some old one's in amongst the Lactarius too. Russulas are known to have white gills (almost all have white stems) and they are known to be fragile and shatter easily.