# Fascinating Fungi



## goldscapes (16 Oct 2022)

I might have got this wrong but something tells me there are some fungi hunters amongst the UKAPS members. And seeing as, in the UK at least, it’s most definitely fungi season, I thought I’d share a few of pics of recent finds to see if anyone else had similar to share.


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## Witcher (17 Oct 2022)

Only one of these mushrooms is edible and it's... amanita muscaria at the top. Tadaaaa!
But it can be consumed ONLY after 15 mins or so of boiling in water and then discarding/putting aside the stock - which when drunk gives hallucinogenic dream-like sensations.
Amanita muscaria (after boiling it like above) is very tasty when  marinated, I also like it as addition to the soups.

The other ones are (if I'm seeing them right):
2. Strobilurus trullisatus (fire-cone mushroom)
3.  Conocybe apala (milky conecap)
4. Hypholoma fasciculare aka sulphur tuft (assuming there is no ring underneath the cap and I can't see the gills) - be aware of this one if you forage mushrooms as it can be easily mistaken with edible (after few mins of cooking)  and very tasty honey mushroom (Armillaria species in general). While sulphur tuft is not deadly (although some sources say of kidney failure), it gives very bad gastric sensations after eating it - diarrhea and vomiting being most common ones. And it's very bitter in taste generally.


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## goldscapes (17 Oct 2022)

Thanks for the insight @Witcher 👍


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## ian_m (17 Oct 2022)

Me out yesterday, in the woods near my house.


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## alnitak (17 Oct 2022)

Blushing amanita, or rubescens, so tasty and seldom collected because of the terrible mix up that can be made with amanita pantherina... 

A picture of pantherina :


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## ian_m (17 Oct 2022)




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## Ghettofarmulous (17 Oct 2022)

I’m enjoying this at the moment. I recommend


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## goldscapes (17 Oct 2022)

Ghettofarmulous said:


> I’m enjoying this at the moment. I recommend


Me too! Maybe it’s where the inspiration came from 😀


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## Witcher (17 Oct 2022)

ian_m said:


> Me out yesterday, in the woods near my house.


I should move to Eastleigh, can you adopt me? 

Looks you have abundance of honey mushrooms there - at least this is what it looks like on 1st (it could be also undeveloped Pholiota squarrosa, known as the shaggy scalycap), 3rd and 5th img - not 100% sure without seeing gills, collars, smelling etc. and honey mushrooms are very very variable like... anubias or buces.
On the 2nd img it's a sulphur tuft and on the 4th one I can see a real treat - Macrolepiota procera or the parasol mushroom (young ones can be mistaken with Shaggy parasol /Chlorophyllum rhacodes which can give some gastric sensations to some people - although not very common).


alnitak said:


> _Blushing amanita, or rubescens, so tasty and seldom collected because of the terrible mix up that can be made with amanita pantherina..._


I find blushers as ones of the most underrated mushrooms when it comes to foraging etc. - they are very very tasty, especially the ones at early stage of growth. Fortunately pantherinas which are quite similar are not the deadly ones, in fact they are just contain much more ibotenic acid and muscimol than amanita muscaria (fly agaric) so when eaten can lead to some unsuspected hallucinogenic sensations. And their taste is rather unpleasant (mixture of raw potatoes with kind of untasty radish). Also blushers are quite easy to tell from the panterinas - when scratched, broken etc they just blush to reddish colour after an hour or so while pantherinas usually stay white-ish. Apart from that blushers have some kind of smooth bulb at the bottom of the stipe, while pantherinas bulb forms some kind of socket.



Ghettofarmulous said:


> I’m enjoying this at the moment. I recommend


Thanks for another one to go on my list, and this is one of my favorites so far:






But enough for theory, this is what I've found some time  ago:

This tiny beauty - tremella mesenterica known commonly as a Witches' butter






Clathrus archeri known as devil's finger - it smells absolutely "fantastic" - literally like rotten meat which attracts lots of flies - they very likely spread its spores around the area and it's yet another wonder of nature to me.


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## ian_m (18 Oct 2022)

*





*


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## Ehcosbie (18 Oct 2022)

Just found this growing in a pot in the garden. Any ideas?


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## PARAGUAY (18 Oct 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> Just found this growing in a pot in the garden. Any ideas?


Think  @Witcher   #9 shows something like it.


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## John q (18 Oct 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> Any ideas?



I'd say it's definitely in the genus Clathrus, possibly C ruber? Does it smell pleasant 🤢


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## Witcher (18 Oct 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> Just found this growing in a pot in the garden. Any ideas?





PARAGUAY said:


> Think @Witcher #9 shows something like it.


They are both of the same genus (Clathrus) - the one which grows in Ehcosbie's garden (lucky you!) is Clathrus Ruber (called latticed stinkhorn or the red cage*) *- when fully matured it stinks like the most of Clathrus fungi.  They are edible when in egg stage and as Wikipedia says: " they are even considered delicacies in some parts of Europe and Asia, where they are pickled raw and sold in markets as "devil's eggs."


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## sparkyweasel (18 Oct 2022)

A little garden on the top of a fence post;


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## Ehcosbie (19 Oct 2022)

Witcher said:


> They are both of the same genus (Clathrus) - the one which grows in Ehcosbie's garden (lucky you!) is Clathrus Ruber (called latticed stinkhorn or the red cage*) *- when fully matured it stinks like the most of Clathrus fungi.  They are edible when in egg stage and as Wikipedia says: " they are even considered delicacies in some parts of Europe and Asia, where they are pickled raw and sold in markets as "devil's eggs."


Fascinating stuff. I lost my sense of smell years ago so cannot comment on the smell of the Clathrus. We do get one or two in the garden each year, but this is the first to pop up in a pot. 

Thank you for identifying guys, much appreciated.


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## Ehcosbie (19 Oct 2022)

Oh and great thread.


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## Ehcosbie (22 Oct 2022)

Found these guys growing in my leaf mould bin.  Anyone know what they are?


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## Ehcosbie (23 Oct 2022)

And have found another stinkhorn, hand for size.


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## Witcher (23 Oct 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> Found these guys growing in my leaf mould bin. Anyone know what they are?


These are most likely Paralepista flaccida/Clitocybe flaccida (Tawny funnel cap) - it's tricky to tell for 100% without seeing gills and spore print as Lepista/Clitocybe species are very variable and often similar to each other within the genus.
Some sources say it's edible but other sources say that it contains muscarine (and many Lepista and Clitocybe mushrooms contain lots of it and they are very toxic) so I wouldn't risk eating it.
 What's interesting that also Boletus, Russula and Lactarius fungi (so generally one of the most sought for when it comes to wild food) contain muscarine but in really low amounts so not dangerous at all.


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## alnitak (25 Oct 2022)

Last meal 😉, a little bit disappointing, maybe I shall change location because too wellknown spot... Anyway it was a delicious mix 👍🏻






This one was left on site, seems to be a nice amanita virosa, one of these fungi you can eat only once... ⚰️☠️


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## PARAGUAY (26 Oct 2022)




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## Witcher (27 Oct 2022)

alnitak said:


> Last meal


Wow! The Trompette de la mort aka trumpet of the dead - where did you find them? I mean I can guess it's probably Essonne area but what kind of woods, soil etc? They are rather rare in UK.


alnitak said:


> seems to be a nice amanita virosa


I may be wrong but real Destroying Angel  is actually pretty rare, it looks like Amanita Citrina to me - they are quite often mistaken with Angels and Death Caps.

@PARAGUAY
that tiny red beauty is most likely Leratiomyces Ceres/Redlead Roundhead. And I'm 99% sure (as with any fungi - spores etc. need to be checked to be 100% sure) that there are washed by rain Armillarias on the first img - most probably Armillaria Borealis - very tasty mushroom, especially when pickled.


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## alnitak (27 Oct 2022)

Hi ! 


> alnitak said:
> 
> 
> > Last meal
> ...


Trompette de la mort is pretty common in our woods, in the south of Paris area. Soil is more or less sand (Fontainebleau sandstone blocks), with chestnuts trees and moss.  And you find it mostly at the bottom of the rocks and trees, hidden under the fallen leaves, The taste of this mushroom is so great ! 

I agree with you on the amanita, maybe citrina, but I found it really white compared to some specimen of citrina (with its typical radish smell) i found in another place. We have also plenty of phalloides in this area.


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## foxfish (27 Oct 2022)

Best puffball year for a long time, also huge amounts of deathcap  this year!
How is this for a Penny Bun….


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## Ehcosbie (28 Oct 2022)

Is this a turkey tail?


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## Witcher (29 Oct 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> Is this a turkey tail?


It's definitely a turkey tail (trametes versicolor) - one of the fungi considered as medicinal ones - and approved for medicinal use in Japan for cancer treatment. It's also considered as edible (at least in CN and HKG as I remember) but with rather hard and woody texture (I've tried it - nothing special).

The lesser known fact is that it's being used with  a success as a tree "defender" against Armillaria sp. (Honey fungus - quite popular in this thread as it's a very common and tasty edible mushroom) which is considered as one of the most destructive tree parasites among all fungi - causing generally white root rot but it's so significant that this kind of disease caused by Honey fungus is called Armillaria root rot. While most fungi parasites attack mostly dead, sick or dying trees, Honey fungus attacks also quite healthy trees, in shorter or longer span of time being a death sentence for them - and its mycelium is a pretty aggressive one spreading quickly and on large areas.  Thing is that it's not attacking trees where mycelium of turkey tail grows (which is causing rather mild damage and in longer span of time) so foresters in some countries are literally infecting sick or dead trees with turkey tail by rubbing it into the wood mass causing its mycelium to grow from the spores - and this reduces the spread of Armillaria mycelium.
Looks like the turkey tail is a lesser of two evils in this case.


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## Ehcosbie (29 Oct 2022)

That is really interesting stuff. This Turkey Tail is growing in th middle of a garden lawn, nearest three about 20 meters away.  Is this to be expected?


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## palcente (29 Oct 2022)

Great addition to my scrambled eggs in the morning


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## ian_m (31 Oct 2022)

Destroying Angel, found by me on a "fungi identification" course in New Forest at the weekend. Course organiser took it away to prevent " fatal accidents".




Rather large Porcelain Fungi.




Panther cap. (Amanita pantherina). Don't eat.




All know what this is. Used to be eaten quite a lot (carefully), but not now as tends to lead to death.




Magpie Inkcap (in my local woods).  Don't eat.




Common Puffballs.




Golden Spindle.



Violet Webcap.



Cauliflower fungus. Edible.




Chanterelle


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## mort (31 Oct 2022)

Can anyone recommend a good fungi id book? Mainly for a curious person to see what I walk past most days rather than wanting to eat them.


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## ian_m (31 Oct 2022)

mort said:


> Can anyone recommend a good fungi id book? Mainly for a curious person to see what I walk past most days rather than wanting to eat them.



If you have 4G phone coverage, which a lot of fungi places don't eg New Forest, then this web site is good:

Edible Mushrooms...

It has photo's of cap, gills, stem, skirts (bit left on stem when cap opens), flesh (cut in half), spore prints, smell, taste (break the cap, taste the "milk" ensuring you are 100% sure it is not a naughty mushroom !!) and possible confusion species. All needed to identify correctly. The guy we were with had a mirror on a pole so he could look at skirt and gills (and how gills attach to the stem) with out having to bend down or pick the mushroom.  He said spores under a microscope is really the best way for 100% id.

The book I have is the Bloomsbury Concise Mushroom Guide (£6 Amazon). Is OK, but only one drawing of each mushroom makes ID hard and there are many our guide found that are not in the book. Has index of both common and Latin names, handy when guide breaks out into Latin. Some Amazon reviews complain doesn't state if mushroom is edible or not, personally not bothered by that. I just leave the book in my waterproof jacket pocket, so handy if I see something.

What I (and wife) have found best is take phone photos, whilst out and about, make sure you have photo's of cap, stem and importantly the gills and then on sofa with cup of tea and biscuits using the above book and website you can identify your finds.


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## Witcher (3 Nov 2022)

Ehcosbie said:


> That is really interesting stuff. This Turkey Tail is growing in th middle of a garden lawn, nearest three about 20 meters away.  Is this to be expected?



What we can see on your image is only a fruiting body and reproductive organ*,  while taking that photo you were actually standing on the turkey tail - more accurately on its mycelium which is the body of the mushroom (and I can bet your turkey tail is at least 20 meters in diameter, connecting with the trees around).
Mushrooms mycelia can grow quite large, one of the biggest organisms in the known world is a mycelium of Armillaria ostoyae/Dark Honey fungus (in terms of edibility very tasty and quite often sought for) - covering approx. 1000 hectares of area of Blue Mountains in Oregon <<<one of the sources >>>.

*Reproductive organs of the fungis  can be quite  similar to phalluses of various animals (photos from internet):

Mutinus caninus/dog stinkhorn (stinking when old but edible at unmatured/egg stage):





Phallus impudicus/common stinkhorn (edible at egg stage too):


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## Tim Harrison (23 Nov 2022)

Found this little fellow and friends growing in the moss on my roof whilst cleaning out the gutters. Looks suspiciously like Psilocybe semilanceata. I can neither confirm nor deny its identity so if there is someone who can it'd be appreciated. 







​


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## Witcher (23 Nov 2022)

Tim Harrison said:


> Looks suspiciously like Psilocybe semilanceata.


Hey Tim, this is very likely Deconica Montana known as Mountain Moss Psilocybe - quite confusing as it's not of Psilocybe genus at all and it doesn't contain neither psilocin nor psilocybin.


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## Tim Harrison (23 Nov 2022)

Thanks for the ID @Witcher 👍


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