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Let's go foraging

heinous seamus said:
Loads of mushrooms about when I was walking the dog today. Anyone want to have a bash at identifying them?

This one was massive, it must have been around a foot in diameter with a very short stem.

48783177732_1a171ab754_b.jpg


I'm thinking maybe dusky puffball for the below but not 100%.

48783143392_ce72a1139f_b.jpg


Loads of these around. Obviously past their best but I'd still be interested to know what they are.

48783130367_6af36531ac_b.jpg


These were growing on fallen birch trees, I'm assuming birch polypore?

48782956486_52eb13936b_b.jpg


Not sure about the below, can't see anything too similar in my mushroom book.

48782956776_8da24fc76e_b.jpg


From my book I think the below might be amethyst deceiver? They look very pretty anyway.

48783125272_c50c6cb8d0_b.jpg
Click to expand...

First one down looks a bit like a Penny Bun but would need to see more of it to be sure.

Second one looks like an Earth Star - often mistaken for a puffball but is black to purple inside. Technically edible but not that nice and can give you an upset stomach.

Third one looks like a Horn of Plenty

Fourth one looks like bracket fungus.

Fifth one I’m pretty sure is Chicken of the Woods - fantastic mushroom with the texture of its namesake.

Last one is an Amethyst Deceiver - found on forest floors - a lovely aniseed taste and beautiful in a creamy sauce with pasta.

Great stuff!

As for mushroom safety I’ve heard some really dangerous nonsense spouted by people who should know better. A friend of mine is adamant that “If you can peel the cap, you can eat them” - however she hasn’t tried that with a Deathcap yet...
 
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The top one ... need to see if it has gills or pores.
the boletes are probably the safest mushrooms after puffballs.
You also need to show context - tree species etc.
At work we have nasty bitter boletes near the hornbeam hedges and some impressive brown birch boletes which look quite like Ceps and have no known toxicity, but are unfortunately tasteless.
 
Chicken of the woods is fine when found on oak - though I would prefer them safely above dog height - but they're apparently toxic when growing on yew.
 
The ornamental contorted hazel this fell off is in an enclosed courtyard so I'm not depriving squirrels (who I hate anyway for chewing the fruit I put outside in a bag on the fence the other week) and it's the first year I've noticed it being so fruitfull...
And there are masses of viable-looking acorns this year.

nut.jpg
 
seeformiles said:
First one down looks a bit like a Penny Bun but would need to see more of it to be sure.

Second one looks like an Earth Star - often mistaken for a puffball but is black to purple inside. Technically edible but not that nice and can give you an upset stomach.

Third one looks like a Horn of Plenty

Fourth one looks like bracket fungus.

Fifth one I’m pretty sure is Chicken of the Woods - fantastic mushroom with the texture of its namesake.

Last one is an Amethyst Deceiver - found on forest floors - a lovely aniseed taste and beautiful in a creamy sauce with pasta.

Great stuff!

As for mushroom safety I’ve heard some really dangerous nonsense spouted by people who should know better. A friend of mine is adamant that “If you can peel the cap, you can eat them” - however she hasn’t tried that with a Deathcap yet...
Click to expand...


Not sure about earthstar... The ground looks green and mossy, I thought they grow in woody mulch? And although Ive never seen an earthstar in the wild, it doesn't look like any picketers or specimens I've ever seen. But the sides do look rounded, like a puffball. Or maybe a shaggy parasol before the sides turn up?

The bracket fungus is definitely birch polypore. Nothing else looks like it.

Fifth one isn't CotW. CotW grows on living trees, not fallen stumps. I think it's false chanterelle.


This is false chanterelle

Omphalotus_olearius_in_NE_IL.JPG



And this is CotW:


upload_2019-9-28_21-4-28.jpeg






Have you ever seen a death cap in the wild? They're quite spooky. I mean, they really do feel bit sinister. I wonder if your friend would insist on peeling it ends eating it if she ever found one.


That story of the Horse Whisperer bloke poisoning his family: apparently they'd had a few beers and they were being a bit gung ho in the kitchen, all "Yeah, how bad could it get!?"

"There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters."
 
gentlegreen said:
The top one ... need to see if it has gills or pores.
the boletes are probably the safest mushrooms after puffballs.
You also need to show context - tree species etc.
At work we have nasty bitter boletes near the hornbeam hedges and some impressive brown birch boletes which look quite like Ceps and have no known toxicity, but are unfortunately tasteless.
Click to expand...

Devil's bolete is pretty nasty.


Google tells me that the Red Pored Bolete has been deadly in at least one instance.
Rubroboletus pulcherrimus - Wikipedia
Fortunately it doesn't grow here.
 
Artaxerxes said:
Makes sense, yews toxic as hell.
Click to expand...


The flesh or the aril is very edible. and so sweet! Spit out the seeds, but the flesh is like a sticky dollop of pure sugar.

When I do this I always check around to see if any children are nearby. I never eat them if there's a chance a child may see me. Too toxic, to much risk of the kid copying me and getting dead.
 
SheilaNaGig said:
Fifth one isn't CotW. CotW grows on living trees, not fallen stumps. I think it's false chanterelle.
Click to expand...
that explains the COTW I found years ago looking a bit odd.
It's upside down on an oak recently cut following a storm ...

chickenofwoodslowres.jpg

Actually that may not be COW either ...
 
Hard to tell in that photo.

This is the underside of CotW:



01460650.jpg




There are lots of different Laetiporuses, and with fungi each one can be so different to the next.
 
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Oops. What to clarify something I said earlier.

CotW grows on dead or dying trees, and also on living trees.

It does not on trees or stumps that have been dead for a while. So you won't see it growing on stumps or logs that are laying in the forest floor and have been down for some time.

But you can find it in trees that have recently come down in a storm, like that one gentlegreen . It's not a great snap, but that does look like CotW.
 
MVIMG_20190927_094413903.jpg MVIMG_20190927_094432368.jpg
Apologies for the rubbish photo...

About 5/6 inches across, growing in a patch of heathland.

Any ideas?
 
It does look like a parasol, and nothing else really looks like it.

But where’s the skirt? Did you break the stem above the skirt? kebabking


When taking photos of mushrooms for ID, you need to take a photo from the side as we’ll a show the top. And harvest it very low down, so the base is obvious as we’ll a see thr whole stem.

Gills are very important too. Parasols have crowded white gills, which is what you've got there, and the stem is usually pinkish. The top certainly looks like it’s a parasol for sure. But no skirt on the stem...
 
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It makes a change to spot some fungi I can identify - Geastrum triplex, Collared Earthstar - except I didn't get the "collared" bit and thought they were in the lycoperdon family .:oops:

lycoperdon.jpg

I'm almost certain it's the same garden that had a lovely crop of Morels come up when the previous resident dumped a load of ornamental bark on the garden 14 years ago.

morellowres.JPG
 
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