The Ultimate "What is this Fungi?" thread.

[Druss]

Great idea, glad i saw this on facebook before I started my own thread.

Ey up all can anybody help me with these? There are a lot of them in Miggy woods near me and i don't know the first thing. In my bood the closest thing is King Bolete/Penny Bun but not close enough for me to be confident. I need a better book but I thought one of you guys might be able to help.

Cheers.

 

[Paulm]

Birch polypore I believe, very common, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piptoporus_betulinus

Cheers, Paul

 

[Druss]

Birch polypore I believe, very common, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piptoporus_betulinus

Cheers, Paul

Cheers mate vertainly looks like the boy. If it's that common I definitely need a new book. Shopping today, anybody got any recommendations on a good Funghi reference book that's small enough to carry around?

 

[Geoff Dann]

Cheers mate vertainly looks like the boy. If it's that common I definitely need a new book.

One of the very few species I find every time I go out looking for fungi. In the top ten most common species in the UK.

Shopping today, anybody got any recommendations on a good Funghi reference book that's small enough to carry around?

Hmmm. Nope. If you want small then lots of things won't be in it. The smallest one that's any good is Collins Complete Guide by Sterry and Hughes.

 

[wildranger]

First wax caps of the year for me. Found on an old coal spoil heap. I sort of assume common wax cap, but hesitate to be definitive about it.

I believe you may have hygrocybe persistens var.konradii there, I notice the specimens have mostly conical caps and a white stem base. I think that's the more likely candidate than h. reidii

 

[Emdiesse]

I believe you may have hygrocybe persistens var.konradii there, I notice the specimens have mostly conical caps and a white stem base. I think that's the more likely candidate than h. reidii

I'd love to know what these three are, I tried to keep the images of their surrounding in case that helps

1. The first mushroom I found on my little walk last weekend, smelt like a typical mushroom and had a slippery cap

2. Growing in a ring in the grass in the park

3. Just caught this out the corner of my eye. When I was out there it made me think of chicken of the woods.... but then when I got home that looked more bracket like?

 

[Geoff Dann]

1: Sulphur Tuft
2: Fairy Ring Mushroom (Marasmius oreades) (yum)
3: God knows...

 

[Clouston98]

Is the third one a type of witches butter ? Just a guess.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Is the third one a type of witches butter ? Just a guess.

My guess is that it is a chicken of the woods that has been collected or eaten by someone/something and started to regrow. But it could be some other bracket-y thing.

 

[Emdiesse]

Wow, that middle one sounds pretty cool. After a bit of reading it turns out it's quite favourable among the connoisseurs (especially since they grow in rings and you can gather a decent batch from the one ring). Also looks like it can be confused with a sweating mushroom which sounds pretty viscious. I read it contains the same toxin as found in Fly Agaric and Panther Cap but from the impressions I have got the sweating mushroom sounds a little more lethal. The sweating mushroom, false champignon or fool's funnel can be distinguished from the Fairy Ring Champignon from it's crowded gills that are fully attached to the stem and their caps are often depressed in the centre.

 

[Clouston98]

My guess is that it is a chicken of the woods that has been collected or eaten by someone/something and started to regrow. But it could be some other bracket-y thing.

It certainly could be. I no barely anything about mushrooms and just took a guess at something I glanced at In a guide once. I often find fungi that show irregular characteristics to ones in the book so that could well be a deformed chicken of the woods. The only way to know for sure would be smell and texture I suppose but you're guess is better than mine so you're probably right.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Wow, that middle one sounds pretty cool. After a bit of reading it turns out it's quite favourable among the connoisseurs (especially since they grow in rings and you can gather a decent batch from the one ring). Also looks like it can be confused with a sweating mushroom which sounds pretty viscious.

Yes, and yes. They are interesting little mushrooms - very sweet, because they contain a sugar that helps to preserve them when they dry out, so they can come back to life when it rains. You can bake with them, as a substitute for dried fruit. But yes they are one of the ones that newbie foragers need to be VERY careful about, because they are regularly mixed up with Clitocybe rivulosa, which can hurt you badly. Both species are very common, and sometimes grow in the same place at the same time. Also, if you are collecting them from a local park you are likely to be picking them from a dog toilet. Middle of a big roundabout is better!

I read it contains the same toxin as found in Fly Agaric and Panther Cap but from the impressions I have got the sweating mushroom sounds a little more lethal.

Not so much that it is more lethal, but more frequently picked and eaten by mistake, because people get them confused with M. oreades.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Why has this thread gone so quiet? There's mushrooms all over the place!

 

[Paulm]

I'm down in the New Forest camping again this week and not found anything at all so far, really surprised as I thought recent rain would have helped. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough or in the right places !!!

Cheers, Paul

 

[Geoff Dann]

I'm down in the New Forest camping again this week and not found anything at all so far, really surprised as I thought recent rain would have helped. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough or in the right places !!!

Cheers, Paul

I'd wager it is actually because you're in the New Forest, where everybody goes looking for mushrooms. Unsurprisingly, this results in there not being very many mushrooms left to find. That's my experience anyway...

 

[Paulm]

Could be Geoff, I covered a fair area, some on foot and some on bike with regular stops for a look around likely looking areas, but not a thing

By contrast my local area in Hampshire has shown a fair few oak boletes in the last couple of weeks, but not as much or as much variety as usual, so seems a bit quiet overall so far at any rate. I'll see if I can get out again this morning or over the weekend at home if the rain stops for long enough !

Cheers, Paul

 

[mercurykev]

Up here my usual spots haven't yielded anything yet. The ground is still really dry and my best spot last year is near a reservoir and the water level there is a bout 6 feet lower than last year. I'm hoping for a late season flush.

 

[Geoff Dann]

All set for Brighton Food Festival masterclass tomorrow.

Found some winter chanterelles today!!!

(and yes I know not all of those are edible. Most are though.)

 

[Harvestman]

Nice haul Geoff.

There's one of the best sites in the UK for wax caps near me that I intend to visit next week. I hope to post some pictures.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Nice haul Geoff.

A lot of walking involved. And somebody gave me the giant puffball.

There's quite a wide variety of stuff about at the moment, but it is very patchy. Long stretches with nothing, then a hotspot or two. But I think that is just changing in the last couple of days. It's about to kick off properly. I think...