Want your Mushroom ID? Ask here and also look at some of the old posts here to see what you might have. Make sure you use a field guide and triple check using google images.
Okay Tom, you're not going to like this, but I have to say it.
You are almost entirely wrong. You are so wrong that you should not be picking mushrooms at all.
The first ones, the puffballs, you have right. They're puffballs, maybe Stump Puffballs.
The second is not a Tawny Grisette in my opinion. The stem is wrong and it has no volval bag.
The third is so far from being a chanterelle that it's unbelievable.
You think that fourth one is a bolete? Holy crap! Boletes have tubes Tom, not gills. This is a very bad error.
The other "chanterelles" look more like False Chanterelles, which are mildly poisonous.
And last, those are not Wood Blewitts. They look nothing like Wood Blewitts. They are Laccaria amethystea, the Amethyst Deceiver, much smaller than blewitts.
I'm sorry to be so antagonistic and I don't mean to be rude, but you are badly wrong here. You seem to have missed identification characteristics that ought to have been obvious to you. It is my view, based on some years as a self-taught mushroomer, that you are not yet ready to be picking wild mushrooms. You should certainly not be eating what you find, you're just not ready. If you insist upon eating mushrooms, based on such sketchy ID skills, you will get yourself killed. No shit.
On the bright side, you got one right. You had the sense to be unsure. You had the sense to check before eating them. You got a good book and you clearly have enthusiasm.
My advice is to keep trying, keep looking, but leave the mushrooms to grow where they are until you have got a bit more familiarity with the characteristics that separate mushroom species from each other. Keep looking at your books. Keep looking at sites like this or the River Cottage site, where you can get a wealth of advice. Just keep plugging away at it.
Just whatever you do, don't eat those "chanterelles"!
Jack, no problem at all! I'd much rather someone came along and said it. It's very hard to make out from the photos and short descriptions in books what stuff is, and without someone on hand to talk you through it as you've done I wanted to make exceptionally sure.
The reason for picking them, rather than leaving them and trying to describe them was because it was easier to verify them at home via an external means like this.
If it makes you feel any better, the puffballs were the only ones I felt comfortable with identifying, the others looked close, but no cigar, so thank you for pointing out exactly why they weren't what my guess was.
At the moment I don't have any plans to eat what I find, until I'm much happier in identification. It was still fun to be out spotting the fungus in the woods.
Thanks again
Hiya! I too am self taught (only been doing it a couple of years though) and i've got three or four books that i use because i find it gives me a good crossover of data that help identify my finds. I think where you've gone a bit off-track is by using a book that is limited to edible shrooms and poisonous lookalikes. I'd suggest you get a collins gem guide to mushrooms. That gives you a complete list of all fungi (in Britian i think), including the non-edible ones. Once you've figured out roughly what you've got, you can use your edible mushroom books to narrow down your ID even further. Quite often though, I use my first find of an edible purely for IDing (not for eating), and then if i can be certain i've found the same type again i'll eat some. Be patient!
Slippery Jack wrote:Okay Tom, you're not going to like this, but I have to say it.
You are almost entirely wrong. You are so wrong that you should not be picking mushrooms at all.
The first ones, the puffballs, you have right. They're puffballs, maybe Stump Puffballs.
The second is not a Tawny Grisette in my opinion. The stem is wrong and it has no volval bag.
The third is so far from being a chanterelle that it's unbelievable.
You think that fourth one is a bolete? Holy crap! Boletes have tubes Tom, not gills. This is a very bad error.
The other "chanterelles" look more like False Chanterelles, which are mildly poisonous.
And last, those are not Wood Blewitts. They look nothing like Wood Blewitts. They are Laccaria amethystea, the Amethyst Deceiver, much smaller than blewitts.
I'm sorry to be so antagonistic and I don't mean to be rude, but you are badly wrong here. You seem to have missed identification characteristics that ought to have been obvious to you. It is my view, based on some years as a self-taught mushroomer, that you are not yet ready to be picking wild mushrooms. You should certainly not be eating what you find, you're just not ready. If you insist upon eating mushrooms, based on such sketchy ID skills, you will get yourself killed. No shit.
On the bright side, you got one right. You had the sense to be unsure. You had the sense to check before eating them. You got a good book and you clearly have enthusiasm.
My advice is to keep trying, keep looking, but leave the mushrooms to grow where they are until you have got a bit more familiarity with the characteristics that separate mushroom species from each other. Keep looking at your books. Keep looking at sites like this or the River Cottage site, where you can get a wealth of advice. Just keep plugging away at it.
Just whatever you do, don't eat those "chanterelles"!
Absolutely wonderful post. A warning to all. I have studied mushrooms in my area for many years. I know about twenty and about five of those I eat. I do know many of the poisonous types. When choosing to eat, if I have the least doubt they are thrown out. One cannot play Russian roulette with mushrooms.
Tom,I dont know about near you,but near here (Far Forest) they regularly have guided fungi forages(Far Forest,Worcs.) aint a zillion miles from you and I'm sure there will be somewhere nearer. I learn't from friends and relatives in Italy (it's a way of life there) but many species there I don't see here,and vice versa,consequentially ,field mushrooms aside,I don't pick and eat here in the UK. Best Wishes.
Cheers for the extra tips people. The guided tour sounds like a good idea. I'm a hands on type learner, even though I love reading, so being able to actually see stuff always helps me.
Cheers
T
I love the idea of mushroom picking, have the river cottage book, but with Chocolate bourbons ar 28p a packet, I think I'll stay safe, and leave them be, or not.....
Millymollymandy wrote:Bloody smilies, always being used. I hate them and they should be banned.
No I won't use a smiley because I've decided to turn into Boboff, as he's turned all nice all of a sudden. Grumble grumble.
