Gardener Richard Murphy tends the grounds here making sure the notable varieties are marked with identification cards so the general public can enjoy an easy mushroom hunt. The mushrooms in the Botanical Gardens are not for picking. They are for admiring. There are some 3,000 varieties of mushrooms in the Mendocino area. A few hundred varieties are edible but only a fraction of these are both safe, tasty and easy to identify.
West cautions the uneducated public never to pick and eat wild mushrooms.
He says the only safe way to gather wild mushrooms to eat is to take a course in mycology and become serious about the identification process. There is a saying among mushroom hunters worth remembering, There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters. West says mushrooms are identified by various factors including structures such as gills, where they grow, for example in the dirt or on a tree trunk and things like size, shape and color. Murphy recommends the more serious fungi aficionado take along a mushroom guide book to help with identification and just enjoy a leisurely walk in a lovely forest.