Agaricus bitorquis
Rodman's Mushroom

    This well known agaric is as common in the Southwest as it is in much of the northern hemisphere. It has much to recommend it as an edible as the flesh is firm, nutty smelling and tasting, thick, and much slower to become spongy as it grows old. Since it is a mushroom of wayside areas, there is much habitat for it. I have found large numbers of fruiting bodies along road shoulders, the Santa Fe city dump, in trails, on lawns, on banks of streams high in the mountains, on a barren outcrop, in desert washes—essentially anywhere that features a bit of decomposing organic material, timely moisture, and warm temperature. Occasionally, Rodman's mushroom will fruit in the fall, well after our normal season is over. All it seems to take is a warm rain or runoff. A favorite place to find A. bitorquis is along a walk or roadway where salt has been applied for ice control. After the ice melts and temperatures warm, the salt seems to be of some value in basidiocarp formation. Perhaps the salinity assists in keeping water from evaporating from the mushroom and thus prolongs the fruiting-sporulation period.
    Specimens vary in shape and size, depending upon habitat and growing conditions. Some of the most atypical basidoiocarps I have seen were in Seattle, where the ring may become relatively broad and flaring, the stipe tall, and the cap color nearly pure white. Alternatively, miniscule, scrunched, light tan ones are common in arid areas.
    The most astonishing fruiting I ever saw occurred in the late 1960's along the Hyde Park Road on the way to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Near what is now called Hyde Park Estates, there is broad curve with an extensive shoulder on the east side of the road. Chuck Barrows, Jim Gilbert and I were returning from an especially successful collecting trip and we stopped when we spotted a mushroom at the bend. In a giant arc paralleling the highway was an absolutely massive fruiting of Rodman's mushroom. Hundreds of fruiting bodies were pushing up through the holes in the road shoulder, smashed together so that the caps were folded double and the old stalks attached to each other. Chuck and Jim began yelling, grabbing boxes, and staking out the areas. In short order the back of the pickup was full of boxes and sacks of mushrooms, whereupon the dynamic duo began to argue about whose box was whose and who picked the most mushrooms. Soon they were tugging at boxes, shouting, and pushing each other; mushrooms were thrown, the argument continued all the way to Santa Fe. We returned a number of times after that to collect more until it became too dry. I've never seen Rodman's mushroom at that location since then, but the memory of the big mushroom shootout will remain with me always.

Bill Isaacs
1997-01-11