For many years I have thought of hickory jack (Pleurotus ostreatus) mushrooms as a late summer, fall and winter mushroom, but on May 7, when big yallers were pretty far along, I found a nice nest of hickories at ground level, growing out of a dead poplar (tulip) tree. The sight of the beautiful white hickories took me somewhat aback and I immediately knew that I had to record this unexpected pleasure with my camera . . . Upon focusing on the nest of hickories I noted a strange intruder in the background (about 18 inches from the hickories) . . . Taking the camera away from my eyes, I observed, then picked, my biggest yaller morel of the spring. Hickories offer a beautiful fresh aroma and I know some Hoosiers who rate them better table fare than the morel (even though others will consider such notions sacrilegious).

I stacked my double dip of mushroom pleasure on the stump of a dead elm tree . . . The stump was about 10 inches in diameter	The base of the dead poplar is on the right side, with the hickory jacks growing out of the decaying wood. The big morel (so big its stem could not support the cap) is in the background.