Have you eaten elephant ear mushrooms? I found one, just one, when I was about 10, took it home, fried it in butter, and ate it. It was great. The only other mushrooms I saw back then in the countryside near Peoria were morels and hen of the woods.
Never had the pleasure. Looked it up and found this:
http://americanmushrooms.com/taxa/Gyromitra_brunnea_01.htm .
Ever find “dead man’s fingers”? Weird but no eat.
http://www.illinoismushrooms.com/Home.html
“A site for Illinois mushroom lovers”
(gotta be some compensation for being from Obamaland)