JACK IS BACK

SLIPPERY JACK MUSHROOMS

Saturday, posted Thursday evening.  The day started out cold, humid and foggy, but changed to warm and pleasant by afternoon.
   Slippery Jack mushrooms are a cosmopolitan species, growing almost everywhere that pines grow.  The roots of the pine trees and the underground mycelia of the fungus have a symbiotic relationship.  Slippery Jack, Suillus luteus, is a Basidiomycete fungi, its spores developing on the underside of the cap in pores, rather than in gills, as is the case with many other mushrooms.  The latin genus name refers to its being eaten by pigs, and the species name to the mushroom's  color when young.
   Slippery Jack is so called because it has a very distinctive, slimy coating on the cap.  When it first appears, usually after a fall rain, it is sulfur yellow, but in a few days turns brown. It is referred to as edible, but I would consider the slime off-putting.  It is a very distinctive mushroom, and once you are familiar with it you are not likely to confuse it with any other.
   It is fall, and Jack is back.