Observations by jackl

Found a cluster of three under a coniferous tree on the side of the Lacamas Lake Trail.

They were all quite large, with light brown caps extending approximately 8-12 centimeters. The cap had brown scabers and on the older specimen was upturned.

The gills were white on the younger specimens turning dark purplish-brown. The spore print was a chocolate brown.

The stalk was white, fiborous and tough, with a skirtlike annulus.

When hunting for edible ferns this species is the ideal. It doesn't contain potentially harmful chemicals like other ferns, and luckily it is easily distinguishable.

This fern had brown flaky scales when young, and it WON'T have hairs on it. Keep it simple and just fry them in some butter with a little salt and pepper to taste.

When they get bigger these plants have totally vertical growth and are quite prolific around here. There is also sword fern and a couple other varieties around that I will get on identifying.

Being from the west coast I had no idea ramps even existed but I am converted and in love!

Only seen a couple patches but we took a few good looking ones to try to re-wild them on our place.

Looking for these plants i'd suggest sandy hillsides under pine and maple, they seem to dig rocky soil. You'll see 2-3 broad leaves sticking out of the ground and both patches i've seen have been huge fields of them.

Dig around them with a trowl to loosen up the dirt and pop them out so as not to damage the bulb. You'll pull out a leek essentially with long wiry roots.

Mostly cooked these with Italian dishes, and fish. They make an astounding pesto that gets better after a few days in the fridge and should tithe me over until the basil is popping on the farm.

The Northeastern wild blackberry (as with most wil species) is really prolific here on the edges of forestland. This plant has a trailing habit and bears fruit in late july-august.

The flowers are white with serrated edges, and there seems to be one at nearly every node.

The thorns are small but sharp and the stalk varies between green and brown (green in younger specimens).

Have yet to try the berries but I can't wait!

The Eastern white pine is one of the larger trees that populates the forests of the northern East Coast. It is easily distinguishable from the hardwoods all around

These big fellas are fairly fire resistant and are quick to re-seed, meaning after many of these forests were clear cut, the white pine really took over. Back in the wooden ship days these trees were valued as masts, and many of the original homesteads in the area were built from white pine lumber.

The cones are fairly large compared to other Evergreens. And the needles come in clusters of 5 most often, though i've noticed some with 4.

It seems that the needles can be made into a tisane (decoction) with very high levels of vitamin C. an old timer also mentioned that his father treated a case of tape worms by making pine tar and mixing it with some homebrewed beer.

I found this lichen on conifer bark near the Opal Creek Ancient forest center in Marion county, Oregon. This species was numerous in the area. It has long, light green thallus tips with cupped apothecia at the ends.

Light, blue green on upper surface, dark underneath. There are small, scattered ridges transversing the upper surface. There are powdery soredia present on the surface. This is a green algae associated species. Spot test showed
K+Y on both the cortex and medulla.

This gilled mushroom was growing in a northfacing bog at a low point in the Brown's Creek trail. It was under a large sword fern in a forest of mixed maple, fir, and hemlock. There had not been rain at the site in over 60 days but the ground was very moist in the patch where this, and many other specimens were found.

The stalk is fleshy and off white, though towards the top it was stained with what appeared to be spores. As I handled the specimen the flesh darkened.

The top is slimy when wet, and sticky in the center when dry. The cap is depressed and white colored with red and pink. The center of the cap was a dark pink spot where the most stickiness occurred.

A young sample around 6 cm in length. It was growing on several trees in an old growth patch of Doug Fir and hemlock.

It is a pale green color, and has many branches running off the thicker central stalk. The inner cord is tough and very white.

There are many sorelia present, especially at the nodes of the branches.