Candystick: The Forest Plant That Keeps Our Matsutake Hopes Alive
My husband and I absolutely love matsutake mushrooms. Whenever we walk through a forest where matsutake might grow, we are not looking only for mushrooms. We also pay attention to the trees, the soil, and the smaller plants covering the forest floor. Sometimes we see thick carpets of green moss. Beargrass may be growing beneath the conifers, and patches of salal may appear nearby. None of these things can guarantee that matsutake mushrooms are present. Forest habitats are complex, and mushrooms do not appear simply because one particular plant is growing there. But there is one unusual forest plant that matsutake hunters often notice more carefully. Fresh candysticks rising together from the summer forest floor in the Pacific Northwest. It is called candystick , or Allotropa virgata . And whenever we find it, our matsutake hopes become a little stronger. A Summer Search We Had Not Expected Matsutake hunting has always felt like an autumn activity to us. I think of cool mornings, damp f...