Mushroom ID please

Latest Articles

Mushroom ID please
Page 1, 2 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Foraging

Author

Message

moumou

Joined: 07 Feb 2010
Posts: 3

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 4:52 pm Post subject: Mushroom ID please

Hello all,
This is my first post as I am trying to identify a mushroom. I have no experience but I would love to start learning and eventually picking mushrooms. I spotted these guys in our local park on a sunday walk.

There are growing on the side of a tree trunk, did not look dry but it had been humid that day.

If anyone can help identify them it will be great. Most importantly are they edible

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 4:54 pm Post subject:
No idea here. Welcome aboard anyway. Someone more useful will be along soon.

mihto

Joined: 03 Feb 2008
Posts: 3273
Location: West coast of Norway

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 5:06 pm Post subject:
Welcome to the site. Where are you? Identifying a mushroom may be a bit easier once your climate zone is established

moumou

Joined: 07 Feb 2010
Posts: 3

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 5:15 pm Post subject:
I am in south west london if that helps. Thanks

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 5:45 pm Post subject:
Could do with seeing the stem and the underside (and if you're learning, these are things you also need to be paying attention to).

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 6:50 pm Post subject:
Possibly velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes). The stems should be chocolate brown at the lower end and well, velvety (sort of). Like this fella: https://pbc.codehog.co.uk/bhs/pics/200601/velvet_shank_24jan06_640_20a.jpg

moumou

Joined: 07 Feb 2010
Posts: 3

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 8:20 pm Post subject:
I am guessing these are edible?

mihto

Joined: 03 Feb 2008
Posts: 3273
Location: West coast of Norway

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 8:26 pm Post subject:

moumou wrote:

I am guessing these are edible?

If they are Flammulina velutipes they are edible. I'm not the fundi here, though. I have never found those and would certainly ask licenced people before I ate them. Somebody who is really good at mushrooms should be able to give some advice.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 8:41 pm Post subject:

moumou wrote:

I am guessing these are edible?

Don't. Really, really don't guess about whether stuff is edible. "There are old foragers and there are bold foragers but there are no old, bold foragers."

mihto

Joined: 03 Feb 2008
Posts: 3273
Location: West coast of Norway

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 8:43 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

"There are old foragers and there are bold foragers but there are no old, bold foragers."

Nicely put.

And very true.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46231
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 10 8:51 pm Post subject:
stem photo might be a good move what colour is the stem? what does it look like ?

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 10 3:51 pm Post subject:

Note the 'ifs' and 'possibles'. In all honesty you'll be hard pressed to get a positive id from anyone online - only their opinion - and so you'd do well to heed Sean's advice:

Quote:

Don't. Really, really don't guess about whether stuff is edible.

I suggested it could be velvet shank but there are similar fungi that grows in the same sort of clusters that will definitely make you ill, for example - the sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) and your photographs don't cover enough of the features to make the necessary differentiation.

If you can, go back and take a sample or two from that group. Photograph it from every conceivable angle (cap, gills, stalk etc), work out how big it is, cut it open, is the stem hollow? Fiberous? Sniff it, do a spore print. Basically get really familiar with your fungi and then you'll be some way to identifying it.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 10 4:30 pm Post subject:

hedgehogpie wrote:

I suggested it could be velvet shank ...

...and if I were pushed for a suggestion I might say likewise, with the same proviso that from those pics we haven't got enough to go on.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46231
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 10 4:38 pm Post subject:
hence the can we see the stem

Nick Rickerby

Joined: 30 Jul 2009
Posts: 19

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 10 2:23 pm Post subject:

Definately velvet shanks, nothing else they can be this time of year.

Tasty but if you want to cook them quickly remove the slime from the cap, otherwise drying or cooking a fair time will get rid of it.

.....and to those who say I'm a bit bold, I ate a load of them last weekend and enjoyed them....they're about as easy to confuse with something poisonous as confusing a mouse with a duck!

Having said that, you'd be stupid to eat them without getting a decent field guide and being sure yourself they're ok.

Last edited by Nick Rickerby on Tue Feb 09, 10 2:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Foraging	All times are GMT Page 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2

View Latest Posts