Found near Grand Rapids · September
What people actually find here
400 species have been recorded within about 40 km of here in September, from verified public observations. These are the ones we have written up, ordered by how often they turn up.
Acorns97 records within 40 km this month
Staghorn sumac86 records within 40 km this month
Pawpaw40 records within 40 km this month
Black walnut26 records within 40 km this month
Elderberries22 records within 40 km this month
Dandelion17 records within 40 km this month
Dangerous look-alikeYarrow16 records within 40 km this month
Also out there, that we haven't written up yet
Recorded near you this month. We have no identification guidance for these, so treat them as a list of things to go and learn — from a regional key or someone who knows them — not as a list of things to pick.
Fungi
Dryad's Saddle
Cerioporus squamosus
97 records nearby
turkey-tail
Trametes versicolor
60 records nearby
Your woods
What's growing around Grand Rapids
The commonest trees recorded nearby, most often seen first. Most of the good mushrooms are tied to a particular tree, so this is the first thing to know about a wood.
- maple
- oak
- poplar and aspen
- pine
- beech
- tulip tree
- sycamore
- black locust
Know these first
What can hurt you around Grand Rapids in September
15 species on our hazard list have been recorded near here this month, 6 of which can kill a healthy adult. Learn these before you learn anything you intend to eat.
- Can kill36 records nearby
White baneberry
Actaea pachypoda
- Mistaken for
- Nothing edible, but the berries are conspicuous and children pick them.
- How to tell
- Porcelain-white berries each with a single black dot, on thick red stalks — the common name is doll's eyes.
- What it does
- Cardiac sedative: a few berries cause severe symptoms in a child.
- Can kill10 records nearby
Moonseed
Menispermum canadense
- Mistaken for
- Wild grapes. It climbs beside them and fruits in the same blue-black clusters.
- How to tell
- Split a fruit and look at the seed. A grape holds two or more round seeds; moonseed holds a single flat crescent. The leaves have no true lobed points and the vine has no tendrils.
- What it does
- Contains an alkaloid related to curare. Children have died from eating the berries as grapes.
- Can kill2 records nearby
Brown roll-rim
Paxillus involutus
Next
What to start watching for
Coming into season in the next month or two near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Seasons shift a week or two with the weather, so treat these as things to keep an eye on rather than dates.
