Found near Halifax · 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.
Acorns253 records within 40 km this month
Broadleaf plantain164 records within 40 km this month
Dangerous look-alikeYarrow118 records within 40 km this month
Rose hips116 records within 40 km this month
Wintergreen (teaberry)98 records within 40 km this month
Wild cranberry66 records within 40 km this month
Dandelion51 records within 40 km this month
Dangerous look-alikeJuniper berries41 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
turkey-tail
Trametes versicolor
96 records nearby
birch polypore
Fomitopsis betulina
70 records nearby
Your woods
What's growing around Halifax
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
- pine
- oak
- hemlock
- birch
- fir
- poplar and aspen
- larch
Know these first
What can hurt you around Halifax in September
6 species on our hazard list have been recorded near here this month, 1 of which can kill a healthy adult. Learn these before you learn anything you intend to eat.
- Can kill2 records nearby
Brown roll-rim
Paxillus involutus
- Mistaken for
- Assorted brown gilled mushrooms; it was eaten as an edible in Europe for generations.
- How to tell
- Inrolled felty cap margin, gills that bruise dark brown and can be rubbed off the cap, growing under birch.
- What it does
- Sensitises the immune system over repeated meals, then one day triggers it to destroy the eater's own red blood cells. People have died after eating it safely for years.
- Hospital162 records nearby
Bittersweet nightshade
Solanum dulcamara
- Mistaken for
- Its red berries get picked as currants or tomatoes by children.
- How to tell
- Purple flowers with a yellow beak, leaves with a pair of small lobes at the base, and berries that ripen green to orange to red on the same cluster.
- What it does
- Solanine: burning throat, vomiting, and in a child, worse.
- Hospital34 records nearby
Jack-o'-lantern
Omphalotus illudens
Next
What to start watching for
Coming into season in the next month or two near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Seasons shift a week or two with the weather, so treat these as things to keep an eye on rather than dates.
