We will try to ID your mushrooms here

[MKG]

Hi webxu. I don't think a definite ID can be given until you actually post those photos you mention. In the meantime, you haven't really given enough information for an identification. For instance, what shape is the cap? Is it domed, flat or dished? What you have mentioned suggests that the mushroom may be one of the Waxcaps or a Clitocybe - but saying it may be a Clitocybe doesn't help as there are hundreds of them.

Perhaps someone else can get you further but it's difficult without those photos.

[Geoff Dann]

Perhaps someone else can get you further but it's difficult without those photos.

Not only is it impossible without a photo, but it is not even clear what continent webxu picked the mushroom on. There is no location given in the post or the user's profile, and two Americanisms in the English suggest he/she is north American ("backyard" and "store".)

[MKG]

Hi Geoff. What you actually read there was my attempt to find out a little more about webxu, who is no longer a member of this forum. What I know about fungi can be written on a postage stamp and still leave a lot of space.

[Sally S]

Number 1

2014-09-06 12.31.20.jpg (720 KiB) Viewed 12306 times

Number 1

number 2

2014-09-06 12.31.12.jpg (1.47 MiB) Viewed 12306 times

Number 2

Number 3

2014-09-06 12.32.54.jpg (144 KiB) Viewed 12306 times

Number 3

IMG_6660.JPG (976 KiB) Viewed 12306 times

Common puffball Number 4

Hi
I'm new to the forum & also to foraging. I've been out today & found lots of various mushrooms (most more than likely poisonous), but only 1 that I'm sure of.
Any help would be great.

Found today in rural Highland Perthshire, Scotland.

#1
Light mushroom smell. Size ranging from 2 to 5cm. Grey-ish Cap. White firm tight packed flexible gills. Chunky stalk with very slight bulb. Found 4 growing within 50cm of each other (growing separately from each other) in grass strip with fields surrounding & various trees mainly ash about 5 to 6 ft away.

# 2
Light mushroom smell. Size ranging from 4 to 7 cms. White flexible but more delicate gills. Slender stalk which since picking is turning more salmon, as time passes. Found along the same strip of grass & within 2 meters of mushrooms shown in pic number 1.

#3 Could be an older version of number 1?? Found same place. Didn't pick & didn't measure or gain anything further than the picture..

#4 Common puffball. I'm about 99% certain, but as I'm new to foraging & my husband is muttering "you never know in my ear... I'm doubting myself.

[Sally S]

Note sure if my pictures have uploaded or if I've done something wrong??

[MKG]

Nothing you've done wrong, Sally - the pics are only a click away. You may have fallen foul of an age-old site ruling that people can't post pictures directly until they've made 25 posts. I'm not entirely sure if that's the case, but it used to be and maybe still is.

Anyway - welcome to Ish

[Zech]

Hi Sally,

I've only been studying mushrooms for about a year, so you need to take my IDs as suggestions for further research (i.e. look up the names I've suggested and see if you think the descriptions match), but no. 1 looks like a brittlegill, possibly charcoal burner. No. 2. is probably a blusher - you need to check the ring for grooves on that one. No 3, I don't know, but note that the death cap had a dingy cap and white gills.The bag at the base of the stem is important for identifying this one. No 4, I really don't know, but wondered about earth ball, as I see a lot of those. Earth balls are smaller than puffballs - I can't tell the size from your photo.

[Oink]

Hi there Sally.

First of all thanks to Zech for starting the ball rolling.

I am not an expert, just a keen amateur.

May I begin by saying that photographs of fungi are great and occasionally an ID is simple. However this is not always the case. Even the best photographs can leave the amateur mycologist in need of more help. This is where a genuine expert and possibly spore prints come into play.

I will make an attempt with your fungi to move things in the right direction though. Excellent photos by the way!

1) This is probably the only obvious mushroom in your bunch. Zech is correct that this is indeed a charcoal burner (Russula Cyanoxantha). It belongs to the russula family which throughout Europe comprises close to 160 species. The charcoal burner is edible and I eat them regularly. The family itself contains no deadly mushrooms, with only a couple that will make you slightly ill. The most common to give you an upset stomach is the aptly named bright red "sickener". A difficult family to learn as so many look similar but almost all are edible so a reasonably safe family for the amateur forager to pick with a degree of safety.

2) My first thought was another russula, BUT Zech made me rethink this stance. The pinkish staining is highly indicative of a blusher and I can see looking closely that it does appear to have some remnants of the universal veil still on its cap. To be certain though I would like to see a ring on the stipe and a bulbous base, but luck is not offering those details to us in these photos. Conclusion - This may or may not be a blusher. Blushers are edible when cooked, BUT this is not a mushroom for newbies. When it is young it looks frighteningly similar to the Panther Cap, and believe me you do not want to make this mistake!

3) I strongly suspect an old russula of some description. The trick with russulas is to look to the families common name "brittlegills". Apart from the aforementioned Charcoal Burners which doesnt conform to the brittlegill rule, turn the shroom upside down and run your finger over the gills. Brittlegills break easily. Once you are confident with the russula families size and shape this test is the next best step ID'ing Russulas with some certainty.

4) Very difficult to tell from the photo I'm afraid. There can be no certainty about this except to say that it is indeed a Puff Ball lookalike. Highly unlikely to be an earth ball due to the fact that common Earthballs do not have a stem. If you cut your shroom in half and it is pure white inside you may have hit the jackpot, but without closer examination I cannot be sure. An earth ball by the way when cut in half is most often almost black and bizarrely looks truffle-like.

I began by saying I am not an expert, just a keen amateur and I repeat that.

Please never munch on a hunch, do your research and then do some more for each and every new fungi you find.

Most of all though have fun foraging.

Regards,

Oink

[Sally S]

Thank you so much, that was very helpful. I'd also guessed the charcoal burner, after lots of research.
The puffball was white.

Thank you for your kind words on my photos. I have lots of photos of mushrooms, as I'm trying to learn photography & we have plenty of mushrooms around on my walks. Had wondered if a site might like some for their ID pages, but don't know how I'd go about that.

[Sally S]

http://s35.photobucket.com/user/laughin ... /Mushrooms
some more mushroom pictures

[Oink]

Hi Sally,

I can see you are super keen like me to learn as many fungi as possible. Loads of photos!

At this time of year there are plenty of good edibles to seek out.

I'll just put a wee list of the edibles on offer up here in Bonnie Scotland at the moment near me.

Chanterelles, False Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles, Tawny Grisettes, Ceps, Larch Boletes, Birch Boletes, Bovine Boletes and several other Boletes. Russulas and Milkcaps galore! Hedgehog Fungus, Chicken of the Woods, Beefsteak Fungus, Cauliflower Fungus, Dryads Saddle, Birch Polypore (edible when very young, white and spongy), Amethyst Deceiver, Shaggy Parasols, Shaggy Inkcaps and other Inkcaps. Honey Fungus, Fly Agaric (edible if cooked correctly). The list goes on!

Incredible year so far for fungi, and it can only get better now we are into September.

Enjoy your shrooming.

Oink.

[Geoff Dann]

#2 of the collection above is definitely a blusher.

#3 might be a russula, but could also be a milkcap.

#4 is a common puffball.

[Geoff Dann]

Incredible year so far for fungi, and it can only get better now we are into September.

I wish that were true, but unfortunately it isn't. Recall 2011, when it stopped raining about now, and then we had the hottest, driest October on record. By the 20th of October, at least down here in the south, there wasn't a mushroom to be found. Nothing. November sort of made up for it, but if we'd had an early frost then even that might have failed!

It's storming start though. If it continues on this trajectory then we're in for a treat.

[Zech]

Great to have some more input here

4) Very difficult to tell from the photo I'm afraid. There can be no certainty about this except to say that it is indeed a Puff Ball lookalike. Highly unlikely to be an earth ball due to the fact that common Earthballs do not have a stem. If you cut your shroom in half and it is pure white inside you may have hit the jackpot, but without closer examination I cannot be sure. An earth ball by the way when cut in half is most often almost black and bizarrely looks truffle-like.

I spotted an earth ball the other day, and thought I'd post a couple of photos (complete with typos in file names - oops) for comparison:

eath ball.jpg (22 KiB) Viewed 12573 times

I hadn't noticed before that the little stumpy bit at the bottom isn't actually a stem. I don't usually bother picking them up to look underneath.

eath ball cut.jpg (26.78 KiB) Viewed 12573 times

Cut open, you can see how dark it is inside.

[Zech]

Oh, and on the charcoal burner... there are some brittlegills growing near where I live that look just like Sally's 'obvious' charcoal burner but are not - very strong acrid taste. Most disappointing, especially as there a loads of them