The Sickener

Very occasionally, I will come across a mushroom that has been pulled, presumably by someone who is studying fungi. This was the case the other week, when I came across a display of several of these large, amazingly beautiful Russula emetica (also called "The Sickener", as it is poisonous) in Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. Only this one had been pulled, and I made the most of it : ) Though I have now pulled a handful of mushrooms, I would still find it impossible to make myself pull most of the beautiful ones I see, especially if there is only one glorious individual. I always feel that someone else might come along the trail after me and might notice it and thoroughly enjoy seeing it. Sigh ... I guess most of the fungi I see will go unidentified, without a photo of the underside. Or maybe I will eventually change - Ron W, you surely did everything you could to convince me that pulling mushrooms is OK and in fact essential to possibly getting an ID : ) By the way, this is the forest that has bears, cougars, and moose (have only seen a moose so far, and I hope it stays that way!). Actually, two cougars were seen in there just recently, along with their kill. Just looking at this photo creeps me out - I find it extremely uncomfortable and freaky in there.