Sorry, but another 'What is this fungi' thread

[durulz]

OK, whilst out and about today we decided to have a go at IDing some fungi.
The only one we felt pretty certain about is this:
(sorry it's just a link to the images - I seem to be having continual problems linking to Flicker using the Insert Image tag).

www.flickr.com/photos/9179907@N06/4144649672/

www.flickr.com/photos/9179907@N06/4144649692/in/photostream/

We reckon it's a wood mushroom - gills weren't quite the colour it said in the book (pinkish-grey), but there was a slight aniseed smell to it.
Cheers for your help. Mushroom ID is something I'd like to able to do, even if it's just being certain about 2 or 3 types. Realise it may be tiresome for some seeing the constant 'Fungi ID' threads, but advice is gratefully appreciated.

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Something about the gills (colour) and the stem (thickness and colour) makes me wonder, but I'm not sure I could say what it is at the moment. I'll have to go through my books. Did you do a spore print? Have you tried asking for Steve's* opinion over at the Mag forum?

*Badger.

P.S. I don't find 'what's this' threads tiresome - how is anyone supposed to learn anything if folks don't feel comfortable about asking and no-one ever discussed or shared?

 

[Melonfish]

hmm, tbh the shaggy cap along with the ring and bulbous volva make me think some kind of parasol mushroom, or even an agaricus?
only things listed with an Anise smell would be either the Clitocybe (stinking mushroom) or some kinds of agaricus, but i would think agaricus would have darker gills so this ones thrown me!
then again for a parasol mushroom its awfully cap like and lacks the central "spot" they seem to have.

i love these mushroom threads, its always fun trying to figure out what the next batch of fungi is!

 

[Adze]

With those white gills I'm more than a little dubious about the Wood Mushroom identification - I'd love to be proved wrong but the chances of Amanita phalloides is just way too high and 50g of that will kill a healthy adult apparently

Extra care needed before eating it if that's what you were intending.

 

[durulz]

Cheers so far.
Yeah, there's NO WAY we'd eat any without an absolute 100% ID and someone who knows what they're talking about with us. IDing from a book is fraught with risks - all you have is that one picture to compare things to, and nature tends to be a bit more random.
Just trying to start developing the skills and thought I'd see if I could identify it then get people who know more to give their opinion.

 

[Melonfish]

white gills, downturned ring, large base or volva? RUN AWAY!
death cap in the making especially if it has a yellow-green colour or stains/bruises yellow.

 

[Laughoutlouder]

Yep scary looking one. White gills, saccate/friable volval sack plus bulb, what looks like it could be volval remnants on the cap, ring on the stem. Run away! Amanitaceae?? Stem colour is strange. The cap margin doesn't have little lines on it as far as I can tell so it would take it out of the Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) group or series. I'll have a quick look and get back. This is fun!

 

[Laughoutlouder]

Hey Durulz,

So had a little look. This is a nice site by the way, http://pluto.njcc.com/~ret/amanita/mainaman.html#spp. Em not sure what it is. Really looks like family Amanitaceae, Genus Amanita and possibly subgenus Lepidella or Phalloidae(Death Cap, Destroying Angel etc...) but to difficult to tell so only really a bit of a guess at that point. Gills are free from the stem, forgot mention that earlier, is another good charachter for Amanita. Anyway thats my bit for now. Hope it helps even though thread is old. Dont ever eat anything even similar.
Only learning myself Durulz but started with the Amanitaceae family. Figured it would be a good 1 to know.

 

[Laughoutlouder]

O and if it is A.phalloides or similar well done its a good find!

 

[Laughoutlouder]

Have continued looking for this mushroom. Looking at the photos again I'm not sure if the base of the stem is a bulb or not which would not rule out Amanita but would make me question it. Aniseed smell has been mentioned in connection with subgenus Lepidella. Have you a spore print? Were they white?
I would love to put a positive ID on this one now. Had a loan of a very good mushroom book a while ago but had to return it recently. It had excellent keys which would have been usefull.
Can anyone out there nail this guy?

 

[durulz]

No spore print, I'm afraid. As you can see by the date of the original post, it was some weeks ago now. All there is are the photographs posted.

 

[Laughoutlouder]

no worries durulz, I just love identifying stuff. Havent had a huge amount of time ot get out there recently so got a bit exicted. still wondering bout that 1 though!