more mystery fungus! Agaric?

[Lordyosch]

Took these shots of a fungus I encountered on a walk in Cambridgeshire not so long ago...

Looking through Roger's Mushrooms I think its an Agaric, but which one?


http://www.flickr.com/photos/41704036@N07/sets/72157622863395826/

I'll have to look up the proper way to inser photos when I've time!


Jay

 

[gregorach]

Nah, I don't think so... Can't tell you what it is off the top of my head, but I don't think it's an agaric.

 

[Adze]

Looking through a guide (Collins Nature Guide, Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe) all the all the agarics I can find have free (detached from the stem) gills so your example is unlikely to be Agaricus as the gills in your photo are slightly decurrent (attached to and descending the stem).

I can only find one example in the guide of a mushroom with decurrent gills and a ring on the stem, which is Catathelasma imperialis

A quick google image safari turns up this link on RogersMushrooms.com:
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5723~source~gallerychooserresult.asp

Your pics look a lot like an old version of this:

DISCLAIMER:I am not an expert - all I have done is look through some guides and do a quick google scholarship.

Rule 1: If I say something is poisonous assume I'm right.
Rule 2: If I say something is good to eat, assume I don't know what I'm talking about and that it's actually deadly poisonous.

Following these two rules will not cause you to be poisoned by my inaccurate advice.

I mean it about not being an expert so the above is purely for interests sake - always seek the advice of a real expert when it comes to fungi.

 

[chickenofthewoods]

I doubt it's an agaric either. The gills are too pale and the stem looks wrong. I wonder if Xylaria's about? She could probably tell you what it was.

 

[keen-edge]

It looks like the one i found last week

[/IMG]

[/IMG]have a look here http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/wild-food-entry.php?term=Horse Mushroom

 

[Melonfish]

I'm also shunning away from the agaricus here, the gills are all wrong, wrong colour and wrong attachments too. agaricus are generaly adnate.
however it has a ring, or remnants of, which would indicate either agaricus or amanita.
i'd discount amanita as i can't see a volva (sack on the bottom of the stem)
what type of tree did you find it growing at the base of? some mushrooms actually prefer certain types of tree

 

[xylaria]

i agree with adze on it been an imperial mushroom, but I really aren't sure all at. it is a very odd looking fungi.

keen egde that is very clearly a clytocybe, not a horse mushroom!

agarics including horse mushroom have dark gills and dark brown spores none of the fungi this page have.

 

[keen-edge]

i agree with adze on it been an imperial mushroom, but I really aren't sure all at. it is a very odd looking fungi.

keen egde that is very clearly a clytocybe, not a horse mushroom!

agarics including horse mushroom have dark gills and dark brown spores none of the fungi this page have.

ok thanks

 

[fungi2bwith]

I think people are misunderstanding terms here.

'Agaric' is a fungus with a cap, stem, and gills. The mushroom in question is an agaric.

'Agaricus' is a genus which includes horse mushroom (agaricus arvensus), field mushroom (agaricus campestris) and many more. The mushroom in question is not of the agaricus genus.

Unfortunately I am not able to positively identify it.

 

[Lordyosch]

I don't mind that...

1. I was wrong
2. You guys aren't sure either

Its all part of a flipping hard fungoid learning curve for me! (Why can't they be as easy as trees, or better still, cars to identify!?)


I've just started to volunteer as a countryside ranger and one of my new colleagues is a bit of a mushroom expert. I shall learn what I can when I can!



I never pick the mushrooms when I find them, partly from a 'leave nothing/take nothing' philosophy and partly because of the poisoning risks, is that (the second reason) a little paranoid? WIll a thorough wash of the hands solve the problem or are some mushrooms contact poisons?




Jay

 

[chickenofthewoods]

There's little real chance of you poisoning yourself by just handling a toxic fungi but there's no harm in being respectfully cautious either. If you do feel a little paranoid, then keep some kitchen about you when you're out and about and you can use that to pick up your specimen and even wrap it to keep it separate from other stuff if you decide to take it home for further study.

I used to get really hot under the collar about people picking without knowing what they were looking at but that was mainly when they're chancing their arm and gathering a heap of unknown stuff and carting it off just in case any of it turned out to be edible or worse still, because they had some kind of 'value'.

I can't condone that kind of behaviour but if you want to learn then harvesting one or two specimens is sometimes necessary in order to make a thorough id because it's simply not always possible to do it in situ. You might want to cut the fungi open to see what the stalk, gills and cap are like and do a spore print to help confirm what you have, to feel the texture of the flesh or get a real idea of the aroma (if it has one).

Fungi aren't easy but they are fascinating.