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Fungi: the neglected kingdom

Interesting Tony.

It's been pretty barren around here for a few weeks and I was thinking that maybe the peculiar end to Summer had ruined things but... after many years of 'Shroom picking you do get a bit of a sense of things and I felt today that the recent rain and relatively mild weather may have started something...
A short late afternoon walk yesterday turned out a 'flush' of fungi including Russulas , Sulphur Tuft, Lactarius and others I couldn't easily ID. I have some phone pics but maybe tomorow.. it's late.
 
The only mushrooms I would pick are morels: unmistakable and delicious.

Morel-Mushrooms-by-Kevin-Miyazaki-2000.jpg
 
Cheese when someone asks nicely for consideration that will cost you nothing, while the lack of it costs them much, you are just a twat if you slap them down.
 
@DonQuixote99 : the thread is about mushrooms. Sorry. Your four-lettered insult, in turn, hardly convinces me about your heartfelt compassion and dignity.

@ all fishies desperate for a ‘like’: criticise me in any thread, no matter which one and what for. Soon, ff1d1l will very diligently come up with a thumbs up. Works every time.
 
Cheese said:
@DonQuixote99 : the thread is about mushrooms. Sorry. Your four-lettered insult, in turn, hardly convinces me about your heartfelt compassion and dignity.

@ all fishies desperate for a ‘like’: criticise me in any thread, no matter which one and what for. Soon, ff1d1l will very diligently come up with a thumbs up. Works every time.
Click to expand...

I apologize for being unkind, and take back the four-letter word. Live and be well.

Now, all threads are about everything, don't be a topic nazi.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
I found a large crop of field mushrooms this morning whilst out with the dogs & picked a good few. But most were maggot-infested and some were yellow stainers... Wasn't worth bothering with in the end. Here's a photo of the ash stump in our front garden, and it's colourful collection of fungi.
Click to expand...
Damn. An errant apostrophe! Another failure chalked up.
 
Meanwhile.. as promised.. Not great shots.. taken with my phone at dusk. Also not sure why they're so reluctant to appear 'inline'.

As I said above.. learning to recognise the general characteristics of the major groups of 'shrooms can be a place to start. So, three below from different but prolific groups.

Next to the local allotments.. several piles of what looks like farmyard or stable manure, each with a plant label stuck in the top indicating ownership. 'Digger Dave', 'Joe and Pat', 'Beetroot Bill' etc. And all with good crops of this stuff. I'm pretty certain it's a species of 'cup fungus' from a group called 'Peziza' ..in this case P.Vesiculosa. Known to inhabit rotting straw bales, manure etc. Poisonous unless well cooked.. but not something I'd even consider eating.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sQ557UbYQiWjmh9Z8

Next up a Milk Cap. One of many 'Lactarius' species. Almost certainly the Oak Milk Cap Lactarius Quietus. Very common under oaks. Edible.. but not by me...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mD4da7bdNrpjDXtC7

And this shows , though not too clearly.. just why they are called 'Milk Caps'.. Note the milky substance oozing from the broken 'shroom.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xaLZbjjFoDvvMemk9

Last in this series.. a large Russula. Its cap was a dirty greyish white but the pic was even more rubbish. Still.. this pic of the stem and gills shows the general form of Russulas, which is usually a white stem and white gills which are brittle. Hence the common group appellation 'Brittle Gills'. I just ran a finger over the gills and the results are visible in the lower right of the pic. Exact species? I'm not sure. Russulas are notoriously difficult, but I'd say the 'Milk White Russula', R. Delica or the 'Blackening Russula', R. Nigricans. Like most Russulas.. technically edible... but I don't bother. I'll keep an eye out for some more colourful Russulas. of which there are many.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XAfkFNvf8vpB7hGH6
 
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I've tried to keep out of the discussion over the common name of Auricularia Auricula Judae... usually known in the vernacular as 'Jew's Ear'. I have no desire to provoke, or get into, debates about prejudice of any kind and if I refer to this species in future I will use the term 'Tree Ear', which seems to have some currency. However, I've done a quick search of a dozen or so of my books on Fungi and the Latin name used in all is Auricularia Auricula Judae. Alternatively in some earlier books, there is a further separation of 'Auricularia', on a minor structural point, which results in the name 'Hirneola' being used for 'ear' fungi.. thus 'Hirneola Auricula Judae'. So.. until there is some agreement among the Mycological Taxonomists for in alternative name, for accuracy of identification, we are stuck with the currently accepted Latin name.
 
I'm off out in a bit, to a place where I usually see the beautiful 'Scarlet Elf Cup' (Sarcoscypha Coccinea) in abundance. I shall take a proper camera this time.
 
Following on from my posting about the decaying tree stump in our front garden - There's been a bewildering variety of fungi springing up around the stump, presumably feeding on the subsurface rotting tree roots. These rather lush fellows have emerged almost overnight, and my amateur identification skills have tagged them as Funeral Bell. Nasty...

ySvBVqu.jpg



t3j6v8S.jpg
 
I had never heard of 'Funeral Bell'... but I initially marked down your pic as possibly a 'Galerina' species and therefore possibly suspect. I'm not so sure now and would want to get a closer look, a spore print etc. and even then as I have to continually emphasise.. I am no expert.

I set out tonight to post some pics of recent finds.. but I got sidetracked. I'll try again tomorrow..
 
As far back as October I was out and about looking for Fungi but it was an odd year. So far..I haven't seen a single Wood Blewitt..yet they are usually fairly plentiful if you know the sort of habitats to look at.. and then they surprise you.. I have a nice pic of a solitary specimen somewhere.. but I can't find it.
One day I went out specifically looking for them.. sometime in Nov. I think..but I found none. I found something which I thought might be Lepista Sordida..smaller version of the Blewitt.. but it turned out to be a Cortinarius species.. though I don't know exactly which. An overnight placing of the cap on white paper produced a brown spore print.. ruling out Blewitts...
So anyway.. yesterday I made the third foray in three weeks to a place called Sidings Lane in Rainford, Lancs. It's an old colliery site abandoned in the 1920s and now a nature reserve. I was looking for one of my fave fungi.. the Scarlet Elf Cup, Sarcoscypha coccinea. And at this third attempt I found it...

Excuses first. my my Panasonic TZ200 had..as usual..got accidentally put into some weird mode and I couldn't get out of it.. (I really must get TZ200 for Dummies..or something) .. so these are phone shots.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BRaxVFijYpKJ2sJs5

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wqWfqGV7STgwuJ8L9

Scarlet Elf Cup apparently grow more commonly in the west. According to Roger Phillips' book it is edible and though it doesn't look it from the pics it is fairly substantial..having white and quite firm flesh. Only the inside of the 'cup' is a brilliant scarlet colour. The ones I found yesterday were pretty early showings and they will get about 4-5 times bigger in the next days/weeks.
An even worse pic follows:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uwaK6kq1uHyTy3wM6

This a a small group of 'Velvet Shank' aka Flammulina Velutipes. The one on the left has been pulled from the dead stump to show its blackish 'velvet' shank, or stem..or 'stipe'..as we mycologists like to call it..:rolleyes: This fungus is edible and apparently good.. though I've not tried it. It has two other claims to fame:
1. It can withstand being frozen solid and then carry on growing and producing spores.
2. It is exactly the same species as the one marketed commercially as 'Enoki', or 'Enokitake'. which looks like this:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHop6hyY1BTg8VLso2lrmGTOl8ITjSYjuaqg&usqp=CAU

The difference is down to the fact that commercial Enoki are grown under different conditions...artificially.

As far as I understand it 'Taki' or 'Take' is Japanese for 'Mushroom', In the case of Shitake, the Shi, or Shii, refers to the Oak tree.. so that Shitake = Oak Mushroom. It seems a bit more complex with Enoki Take..where assorted Japanese and Chinese trees seem to host them. In the UK, F. Velutipes was known for infesting Elm. I have no idea what the dying stump was that I found mine on.

BRaxVFijYpKJ2sJs5
 
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Here..a couple of things found in the lawn at the front of my house. The larger one on the left is definitely a Hygrocybe, aka Waxcap. These are typically very colourful and many are edible. My bet would be it is the Blackening Wax Cap which...as the name implies, blackens over time.. but it could be one of several others.
To the right of it are a couple of 'Golden Needles' Again..ther are a number of species which fit the bill.so I'm not sure exactly which one it is..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6CtwxhNEvfaumWjFA
 
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