Over the summer and fall, after we started getting some rain, these pretty little onion stalk parasol mushrooms (Leucocoprinus cepistipes) began popping up all over the woods. They tend to grow in clusters in leaf litter, and dead wood including on mulch and gardening wood chips. They’re usually pretty small mushrooms and they are quite pretty. Because they’re so pretty and they have the word onion in the common name, it might be tempting to taste them, but that’s not a great idea. Eating them won’t kill you like eating some mushrooms will, but they will do a number on your intestinal tract. Eating these pretty little fungi usually causes vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea of varying severity. Like the rosy oysterlings from yesterday, these little mushrooms are responsible for the breakdown and recycling of nutrients from dead wood and leaf litter. After an especially dry spring in 2023, it was quite pleasant to see rain and the accompanying mushrooms again.