I get it, I do this too. Whenever I have to go to the other end of the island for a quest or what-have-you I make sure to pick up some resources if I see them.

[He fast-tracks all his travels with totems and therefore misses out on many explorable areas these days, and once on location he just focuses on getting the work done as efficiently as possible, but even so he still manages to stumble over odd mushrooms or crystals or phosphorescent flowers!

As they get ahead of the group he slowly turns his head from side to side so his lamp can illuminate any potential threats as well as anything worth harvesting. A pair of merrows speed away as the light his them (which is preferably to any alternative reaction in Hijikata's book), and after another minute of swimming he pauses when he notices some seaweed that appears to glitter.]

Is that worth picking?

[He has virtually no knowledge about Avalon's flora (except the carnivorous or otherwise dangerous plants), so for all he knows this fancy plant might either be a potent healing potion ingredient or a particularly malicious poison... but Emet-Selch is likely better verse than him.]