"Everybody likes them on pizza, but nobody wants them in the yard," said Sid Mullis, the University of Georgia Extension Service director for Richmond County.

Typically, late summer and early fall is mushroom time in the south, when cooler, damper weather activates fungi hidden in local soils.

"Usually, you see the most after a long dry spell, like we've had recently," he said. "Then, when you get a good rain or two they'll pop up all over the yard."

Most homeowners aren't fond of fungi.

"People call and ask what to do," Mr. Mullis said. "I tell them to just kick them over - or hit them with a golf club. There is so much fungi decomposition underground, there isn't anything you can do to stop them."

The South produces many edible mushrooms with appealing names such as oysters, puffballs, cauliflower mushrooms, Santa's beard and hen of the woods.

But they typically don't show up in people's yards - and the consequences of eating a misidentified mushroom can be deadly.

"It takes a true expert to know what a true edible mushroom is," Mr. Mullis said. "I always tell people not to eat anything unless they know for sure."

© 2007 The Augusta Chronicle