A purple mushroom and a brown one

[rich59]

My local park in London seems to have masses of fungi. A lot are under oak, but today I found lots under hornbeam. Here are a couple of the more colourful and large ones. Any clues on identity would be great.

Here is a purple one

And here is a brown one

 

[Montivagus]

Top one a Russula sp.(what does it smell like?) bottom.... shaggy parasol? though the tint to the photo makes it look fly agaric

Edit; yes dave k is probably right looks more Amanita after a cup of tea not nice!

 

[dave k]

bottom one looks like a panther cap...

not a very nice shroom!

 

[Snufkin]

Top one a russula and the bottom one a panther cap or possibly a blusher.

 

[rich59]

hey that's great. From your help I have read around on the net and so have learned a great deal about these two families of mushrooms.

Before your help I was thinking that the brown one looked nice and wholesome and would probably be one to eat. How wrong I was! I have now looked up some of the key differences between closely similar fungi and I note that the habitat and the fact that it does not turn pink when broken strongly suggests it is the panther cap.

The purple one looked intrinsically a threatening colour and I would have thought it was one to avoid. But I can see that it is almost certainly a russula. According to the guide I can taste it and if it doesn't taste bad then I can eat it.

Hmm. Fungal foray with an expert next week might actually give me the confidence to try?

 

[jcarver]

Hi, I'm new to this thing but wanted to know how is the best way to learn which funghi are best to eat. Went to a place called Newlands Corner near guildford and picked a variety that looked ok but turned out that some could cause the runs etc ( looked like light-brown truffles).

Any ideas on guides on the net or any groups that do guided walks or whatever.

Cheers.

 

[Snufkin]

Roger Philips' Mushrooms and other Fungi of great Britain and Europe is the book you want to get. Best thing is check out the meet ups forum and see if there is a group near you that you can go out with and get some first hand pointers. And welcome to BCUK .