Fun Guy

[661-Pete]

Well, this is our 'bag' for this morning's foray, probably the last for this season. About 1½ lbs of Hedgehog fungi - Hydnum repandum; French Pied-de-mouton. An eminently delectable variety, this is probably the safest mushroom for even a newbie to collect, without guidance: all you need to make sure of are the short 'spines' under the cap in place of gills (see inset). You cannot possibly confuse this with anything poisonous.


They need to be well cleaned, trimmed, sliced and fried in butter for about ten minutes, then use in any dish where you might use fried mushrooms. They do not taste the same as cultivated ones. Ours will probably be going in an au gratin dish with potatoes and onions tonight.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Actually, to be a bit more seriousl
The bottom four look like Russula vesca which, if I've got that right, would be edible in theory, but I wouldn't, myself: far too easily confused with poisonous ones.
The top row I'm not sure, maybe more Russula or Lactarius, maybe a type of Clitocybe, others maybe Hebeloma or Entoloma. Whatever, may be poisonous: avoid!

Perhaps someone else can do better. Try Rogers Mushrooms site.

Now for a bonus point: who can give me the correct pronunciation of Clitocybe?

Right I'll be off to that site shortly, but just to be accurate in viewing my pics and looking from top left to bottom right as in reading a book, the first two pics are of the same mushroom, the next three are again the same and the last four are the same.

I heed your warnings tho' about munching them. I don't trust myself with picking the standard field mushroom either. Fly Agaric I can identify tho' - unless you tell me there is more than one that looks like that in the UK.

Now I'm off to Rogers.........

 

[661-Pete]

Right I'll be off to that site shortly, but just to be accurate in viewing my pics and looking from top left to bottom right as in reading a book, the first two pics are of the same mushroom, the next three are again the same and the last four are the same.

That's what I thought. I was actually trying to cover my embarrassment, in not having a clue about the top row, by the subterfuge of sounding grand and spouting a lot of Latin...

It's actually quite hard to identify many fungi from a photo. Well, it's quite hard to identify many fungi, full stop. So many are small, brown or white, nondescript...

Anyway, Rogers' sounds like a good bet. They have a sort of forum section full of people asking "what's this mushroom, then?" You could plonk your piccies down there...

 

[theclaud]

Wot Pete said - don't ever trust anyone to ID a mushroom from a photo. All mushrooms are edible... but some only once.

Right - I'm now going to ID a mushroom from a photo. The second one is most certainly a Lactarius - the question is how well the photo represents the colour. Confirm it's a milk-cap by breaking the cap, which should exude a latex-like substance. It looks like a pallid, washed-out version of Lactarius deterrimus - that would account for the greeny tinges and carrotty tinge in the stem. If it looked more orangey in the flesh, than that's where I'd put my money, but a lot of species are quite variable in colour anyway. If you cut or bruise L. deterrimus it goes a red-winey colour, and the latex should be orange. It is in fact rather good to eat - a sort of not-quite-as-tasty substitute for the similar and more attractive L. deliciosus, aka the Saffron Milk-Cap.Under-appreciated in this country but relished by the Spanish. I eat both species quite often, and if I find any I'll post some pics. If you find any more and want to eat them you should go through Roger's description feature by feature, in case I'm wrong . There are no deadly milk caps, and only about three poisonous European species - none of which have the green tinges or the carrotty milk. So once you're confident about IDing milk-caps it all becomes a little easier - the dodgiest one you're likely to encounter very often is the Woolly Milk-Cap, which is, er... woolly.

I'll defer to Pete about mushroom no 3, which is clearly a Russula but I don't know which. It's a big genus with one species worth eating and one which induces serious vomiting - I've never bothered getting to grips with the stuff in between. I don't know what the first mushroom is, but it looks a bit iffy to me - could even by a Clitocybe, which should most certainly be avoided. Reassure us that you're still there, 26x25!

 

[Fnaar]

could even by a Clitocybe, which should most certainly be avoided.

I've searched the forest for one of those, but can't find it

 

[theclaud]

I've searched the forest for one of those, but can't find it

 

[surfdude]

could even by a Clitocybe, which should most certainly be avoided.

they dont use pigs to find these you know its only women who can find them !

 

[661-Pete]

I refer the esteemed gentlemen (and lady) to my request for the correct pronunciation of that word.
I knew this would happen. Worse than "Uranus"....

 

[Midnight]

Now for a bonus point: who can give me the correct pronunciation of Clitocybe?

Just pronounce it as it is written - very easy to get your tongue around that one

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Wot Pete said - don't ever trust anyone to ID a mushroom from a photo. All mushrooms are edible... but some only once.

Right - I'm now going to ID a mushroom from a photo. The second one is most certainly a Lactarius - the question is how well the photo represents the colour. Confirm it's a milk-cap by breaking the cap, which should exude a latex-like substance. It looks like a pallid, washed-out version of Lactarius deterrimus - that would account for the greeny tinges and carrotty tinge in the stem. If it looked more orangey in the flesh, than that's where I'd put my money, but a lot of species are quite variable in colour anyway. If you cut or bruise L. deterrimus it goes a red-winey colour, and the latex should be orange. It is in fact rather good to eat - a sort of not-quite-as-tasty substitute for the similar and more attractive L. deliciosus, aka the Saffron Milk-Cap.Under-appreciated in this country but relished by the Spanish. I eat both species quite often, and if I find any I'll post some pics. If you find any more and want to eat them you should go through Roger's description feature by feature, in case I'm wrong . There are no deadly milk caps, and only about three poisonous European species - none of which have the green tinges or the carrotty milk. So once you're confident about IDing milk-caps it all becomes a little easier - the dodgiest one you're likely to encounter very often is the Woolly Milk-Cap, which is, er... woolly.

I'll defer to Pete about mushroom no 3, which is clearly a Russula but I don't know which. It's a big genus with one species worth eating and one which induces serious vomiting - I've never bothered getting to grips with the stuff in between. I don't know what the first mushroom is, but it looks a bit iffy to me - could even by a Clitocybe, which should most certainly be avoided. Reassure us that you're still there, 26x25!

Yes I'm still in the land of the living - thanks for your concern.

I popped out earlier and found only two of the greenish ones. Both had been broken off (I did one to photograph the gills yesterday but don't recall breaking two). So I broke the cap as you indicated and got a big fat no latex result. At the top of the gills, however, there was a thinish layer of orange and then a spongy looking blue stuff (most of the cap) followed by a very thin skin at the top of the cap. The colours in the photo are a bit lighter than reality. They are really quite bluey-green and not that washed out.

So that's a negative result with your tests - but they were both probably broken yesterday so they may have "dried out"?? I shall now have to hope more pop up.

Now pronunciation of that word:- Clit-oh-sigh-bee is my guess

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Rats, I'm attempting to look at Rogers Mushrooms to check The Claud's diagnosis but the site doesn't wotk as it should

 

[theclaud]

Yes I'm still in the land of the living - thanks for your concern.

I popped out earlier and found only two of the greenish ones. Both had been broken off (I did one to photograph the gills yesterday but don't recall breaking two). So I broke the cap as you indicated and got a big fat no latex result. At the top of the gills, however, there was a thinish layer of orange and then a spongy looking blue stuff (most of the cap) followed by a very thin skin at the top of the cap. The colours in the photo are a bit lighter than reality. They are really quite bluey-green and not that washed out.

So that's a negative result with your tests - but they were both probably broken yesterday so they may have "dried out"?? I shall now have to hope more pop up.

Now pronunciation of that word:- Clit-oh-sigh-bee is my guess

Hooray!

Yes I should have said that mushrooms specimens need to be fresh for ID purposes. I'm about 110% sure that's a Lactarius - going on what birdwatchers call the "jizz" , so I reckon it's a drying-out thing. There are several boletes that stain vivid blues or indigos the second you cut them, but this effect fades with age as well. I'm a bit baffled by the blue, unless it's just a deeper kind of green. If you find fresh ones, and they have the carrotty milk and the greenish tinges but not the wine-coloured staining, then you might be lucky enough to have Lactarius deliciosus - in which case it will have distinctive orange pits on the stem, as in the pic below. Again - don't take my word for it but check a fresh specimen against all the features on Roger's site or another thorough field guide.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Well I say blue but it is greeny-blue. Those pics are of one I don't have in the garden. I'm looking in a Mitchell Beazley guide at both L deliciosus and L deterrimus. I can see the likeness of the former to your pic but don't see a likeness of the latter to my pic/sample. The book says both are rare in the UK..... I've no doubts you are probably correct non the less.

This is why I have problems with I D-ing mushrooms

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I just Googled for images of L deterrimus and got this http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=e...itle&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQsAQwAA&biw=789&bih=395

They all look pretty different to me and yet claim to be the same thing. How does one sort all this out??

 

[661-Pete]

Just don't eat 'em. DON'T! Simples (they'll be going off by now, anyway). I can't tell what they are from your description and photos, probably not even if I saw them for myself: I know a fair number of easy-to-identify species, that's all, 99% of all wild fungi are not easy-to-identify.

Oh, and by the way, it's "Cly-tossy-bee". First syllable rhymes with "fly", second, stressed, with "bossy". Yep, I got it wrong for many years. Mycologists are fond of abbreviating the rather cumbersome Latin names, they'll often say "Cort" for Cortinarius or "Trick" for Tricholoma. But you'll never hear them say "Clit" for Clitocybe. I wonder why not?