The mushroom hunters of Los Angeles

Steve Gross smells an agaricus bitorkquis mushroom.

An agaricus bitorkquis mushroom, which is edible, found in the Cleveland National Forest.

A large jack-o’-lantern mushroom found in the Cleveland National Forest. These nonedible, toxic mushrooms glow in the dark.

The agaricus bitorkquis mushroom is distinctive for its two collars, the double rings on the stem.

A clump of jack-o-lantern mushrooms lie by a creek bed. These mushrooms are nonedible and toxic but glow in the dark.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Mycological Society members Andy Wallace and Carol Snyder consult the mushroom book “All That the Rain Promises and More.”  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Psathyrella candolleana mushrooms pop through ground cover in the Cleveland National Forest. They’re edible but unsubstantial.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Steve Pencall searches for mushrooms in the Cleveland National Forest during a mushroom foraging hunt with the Los Angeles Mycological Society.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)