Amanita muscaria, Psilocybe cyanescens, Tricholoma apium, these are just a few of the hundreds of different mushroom species that are found on the south slope of Mt. Elphinstone. Devastated by a forest fire over 120 yrs. ago, Mt. Elphie is a mix of mostly 2nd-growth and some fire scarred old growth cedar and fir and is situated above Robert's Creek on the Sunshine Coast of beautiful British Columbia, Canada. The forests of Mt. Elphinstone support an amazing number of mushroom species, estimated at over a thousand. Strange and unusual fungi such as Earth Tongues, Conifer False Morels and Pink Crowns pop up in the Spring. Summer brings the early White and Yellow Chanterelles, Panther Amanita's and Chicken of the Woods.

                         Elphin Saddles      Helvella lacunosa

      The forest floor comes alive after the October rains with dozens of different mycena's, clitocybe's and cortinarius popping up everywhere. Large fleshy specimens of various Tricholoma, Lactarius and Russula species dot the mossy forestscape while numerous polypores cover the logs. The bases of trees often sprout hundreds of Honey, Sulfur or Pholiota mushrooms. Poisonous species such as Amanita muscaria, smithiana and silvacola are very common. The  recently discovered  A. aprotica is rarer.

     Tasty Honey mushrooms,  Oysters,  Angel Wings and Cauliflower's abound and are ripe for the picking by keen-eyed foragers. Many mushroom pickers make a living working the valuable pine pickery (Tricholoma magnivelare) 

    Mycorrhizial mushrooms, those that form a symbiotic relationship with the trees, such as the Matsutake (Pine) thrive, and many Boletus species are also common as are parasitic fungi like the Artist's Conk and the Polypores. The Yellowfoot  or Winter Chanterelle, (Cantharellus infundibuliformus) can actually be found throughout the entire year.

     On the inhabited lower part of the mountain is Robert's Creek,  a community of  musicians, artists,
writers, poets and hippie types, both young and old. During the spring and summer one can easily find Amanita pantherina's lining the highway through "The Creek" and throughout the local golf course. In the fall, the popular hallucinogenic Psilocybe cyanescens, the Bluing Psilocybe, makes it's appearance in local fields.

     The area has such a diverse and prolific mushroom population that members of the Vancouver Mycological Society regularly take field trips to Mt. Elphie and the discovery of a 'rare and endangered' specie, Tricholoma apium, helped to have part of the mountain included in the provincial Protected Areas Strategy.

     Three separate plots totaling 150 hectares is not enough to protect the biodiversity of the forest. The Mt. Elphinstone Living Forest environmental group continues is efforts to protect the full 1500 hectares of Mt. Elphie's south slope.