Mushroom ID please

[bert333]

found those on grassland

edible? or dodgy?

 

[demographic]

Looks like a young field mushroom to me, as they get older the dark colour of the brown spores causes the gills to go darker through to brown.

 

[bert333]

nearest I can find in my Collins is the Agaricus arvensis or horse mushroom- any thoughts?
and what is recommended as the best mushroom guide pref. without weighing in at a ton? !
The Complete Mushroom Hunter: An Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms
By Gary Lincoff
OR
Mushroom Picker's Foolproof Field Guide: The Expert Guide to Identifying, Picking and Using Wild Mushrooms
By Peter Jordan
OR
Collins Wild Guide - Mushrooms and Toadstools
By Brian Spooner

or any other please- I'n not too good on tummy upsets!

 

[Melonfish]

if it smells mushroomy i'd say possibly field, if it smells like aniseed then horse.

 

[bert333]

another pic- sliced thru

 

[Geoff Dann]

I think those are horse mushrooms.

 

[bert333]

thanks for above- any heads-up on the best compromise book? better than my collin mini gem but not atlas size?

 

[Geoff Dann]

You cannot compromise on this. You need Mushrooms by Roger Phillips and the full collins guide. Anything less detailed is USELESS. Either of those on their own misses too much out.

 

[ged]

edible? or dodgy?

Nobody seems to have answered the question. Very edible.

 

[demographic]

I recently bought a Collins Nature guide on Mushrooms and so far am very impressed with it, small enough to carry about, has full colour photographs, a decent key and perhaps most importantly of all it gives the spore colours which is one place where the Collins Gem book is woefully inadequate.

One point that a fungus expert* I spoke to recently made was that when picking, its handy to unearth the bottom of the mushroom stalk with a culinary fork. That way you get to see properly of its got a volva which identifies it as an Amanita, a genus that contains many pretty nasty mushrooms.

Made a lot of sense to me and made a lot more sense than the practice of cutting the stalk.

*As he was running the mushroom identifying course I went on I'm calling him an expert.

 

[Geoff Dann]

I recently bought a Collins Nature guide on Mushrooms and so far am very impressed with it, small enough to carry about, has full colour photographs, a decent key and perhaps most importantly of all it gives the spore colours which is one place where the Collins Gem book is woefully inadequate.

One point that a fungus expert* I spoke to recently made was that when picking, its handy to unearth the bottom of the mushroom stalk with a culinary fork. That way you get to see properly of its got a volva which identifies it as an Amanita, a genus that contains many pretty nasty mushrooms.

Made a lot of sense to me and made a lot more sense than the practice of cutting the stalk.

*As he was running the mushroom identifying course I went on I'm calling him an expert.

Re: cutting the stalk and identification.

Some people say you must cut the stalk to avoid damaging the mycelium. I suspect this is a myth - you aren't going to cause much damage to the mycelium by picking it. I cut the stalks because I want to minimise the amount of dirt that ends up in the basket/bag. I try to identify anything I find before I pick it at all, and that involves looking at the base for a volva if one is suspected. The idea of cutting it, taking it home and then trying to identify it without its base is just silly...