I took some time away from Atlanta this weekend to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains. I wanted to look at the local flora on lesser-traveled trails, and even had a few bear encounters.

Blue ridge mountains

This was my first time foraging! I’ve only previously clicked on pop-ups from mycology-related subreddits and seen photos, so I had an idea of what to look for, but I didn’t realize I’d see so much!

If you see something mislabeled, kindly leave a comment and I will update the post:) I recently became interested in fungi and molds because I’ve seen slime molds grow on the inside of my terrariums and I’ve been learning about Mycorrhizal fungi and their relationships to plants.

Mushrooms, slime molds and fungi

I had a lot of fun spotting fungi on decaying wood and under trees. I’ve tried to identify some of these, but they are a bit outside my wheelhouse:)

Ghost Pipes Ghost Pipes

Ghost pipes were among the coolest things to find alongside the trails - I think these ones are pretty self-explanatory to identify:) I went at the right time of year (this past weekend) to see these above ground, I believe, and learned that people make tincture out of them to use as a pain reliever.

Chicken of the woods Chicken of the woods

I did see this young patch of chicken on the first of three trails I walked down, I know they can get much bigger though. Stark yellow! Hard to miss.

Crowded parchment fungus or false turkey?

I’m not sure if the above is fungus or false turkey? But it was pretty, and there was a lot of it around, orange rings complimenting white ones.

I believe this is a Lepiota mushroom

I think this is a Lepiota mushroom.

Red raspberry slime molds Red raspberry slime mold

Further out, red raspberry slime molds Raspberry slime mold, wider-field

Red raspberry slime mold was super fun to see:) I did not know slime molds came in such colors or shapes.

I believe this is a Calostoma, gasteroid fungi

This fungi at first doesn’t look like more than garbage from another hiker, but I think it’s actually a calostoma.

I think this is birdsnest, or Nidulariaceae Birdnest

I think the above is a tiny birdsnest fungi. You can see the little egg-like shapes in the basket. These were tiny and I likely would have missed them if I hadn’t looked directly at them.

Coral fungi Coral fungi.

Corals come in lots of different colors I learned. And having kept saltwater reef tanks, I can say that it looks a lot like Acropora or a birds nest coral.

I think this is a hedgehog mushroom Hedgehog mushroom?

Insects

Yellow flat-backed millipedes I saw a lot of these yellow millipedes all over the trails, crawling on dead leaf litter.

Milkweed tussock moths Milkweed tussock moths

Lichen and tree trunks

Tree trunks differ so much depending on where you look. I thought I would include some photos here so others could appreciate how diverse even American forests can be.

Orange trunk This trunk was orange with lichen.

Fungus on trunk Fungus

Covered in green lichen Darker spots had lichen

A wild orchid

Sticker Wild rattlesnake orchids.