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100 Very Common Species of Summer

According to the records of the Northeastern Mycological Foray, after 30 years of annual 3-day collecting events in states from Pennsylvania to central Quebec, Canada, names have accumulated that suggest the most common Summer fungi in the broad region.  Those names are presented in the table below.  They were selected from the NEMF database in a tally of the number of years in which each species was recorded.  The 100 named species in the list were recorded in 20 or more years.  Five species -- Daedaleopsis confragosa, Piptoporus betulinus, Pluteus cervinus, Scleroderma citrinum and Trichaptum biforme -- were recorded in all 30 years.

As of 2006, the database had 2379 records.  A small number of records represent genus determinations only.  Because the annual Foray is usually held in August or September, fungi that normally have an early Spring season, like morels, may be, or are, underrepresented.  Likewise, late Autumn fungi.  There are few if any voucher specimens backing up species determinations; the foray is not organized to preserve and store collections.

Variables like weather pattern and other growing conditions effect fruiting of fungi in typical locations from year to year.  Identifying fungi can be difficult even for experts.  Mistakes and unknowns are not uncommon even with microscopic study of collected material.  Therefore any list such as this is subject to correction.  Questions and comments are welcome.

Species names in the list are linked with permission to Web images and text at pages created by various individuals including George Barron, Gary Emberger, Roy Halling, Michael Kuo, and Rod Tulloss. Gary Emberger's pages are especially diagnostic and comprehensive over a broad range of species. Gary is a NEMF regular and several of his images were made at the display tables of past NEMF forays.

 Click on species name to link to image and in some cases descriptive text.

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