Dryads Saddle

Dryads Saddle (Polyporus Squamosus) is the only mushroom that smells like cucumbers or watermelon rind. It grows on living and dead hardwoods, often near river banks. You can find it in the spring and fall, often year after year in the same location, recurring until it depletes its food source.



The mature mushroom is much too leathery and bitter to eat, but any part of the immature cap that you can cut with your fingernail is edible.  This was found in a small mixed oak, poplar maple woods  near Utica, NY.