Found near San Jose · 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.
Acorns1795 records within 40 km this month
Dangerous look-alikeWild fennel285 records within 40 km this month
Purslane58 records within 40 km this month
Dangerous look-alikeYarrow45 records within 40 km this month
Broadleaf plantain42 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
Western Hardwood Sulphur Shelf
Laetiporus gilbertsonii
223 records nearby
lace lichen
Ramalina menziesii
79 records nearby
Your woods
What's growing around San Jose
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.
- oak
- redwood
- arbutus
- maple
- sycamore
- Douglas-fir
- cherry
- pine
Know these first
What can hurt you around San Jose 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 kill17 records nearby
Death cap
Amanita phalloides
- Mistaken for
- Paddy straw mushrooms, young Agaricus, and anything picked as a 'field mushroom'.
- How to tell
- Greenish to olive cap with a faint metallic sheen, white gills, a ring, and a sac-like volva at the base. Introduced with European trees and now widespread, especially under oaks.
- What it does
- Responsible for most fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide. Half a cap can kill an adult; symptoms start only after the damage is done.
- Hospital735 records nearby
Poison oak
Toxicodendron diversilobum
- Mistaken for
- Oak seedlings and blackberry thickets on the Pacific coast.
- How to tell
- Three leaflets with scalloped oak-like lobes, glossy above, the middle leaflet on the longest stalk.
- What it does
- The same urushiol rash as poison ivy, often more severe.
- Hospital56 records nearby
Pokeweed
Phytolacca americana
Next
What to start watching for
Coming into season in the next month or two near San Jose, California. Seasons shift a week or two with the weather, so treat these as things to keep an eye on rather than dates.
