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Mushroom Hunting 2017 (Read 13276 times)
Morphy
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #45 - Aug 8th, 2017 at 12:07pm
 
I'm glad you like them CA. More to come.

As for the scale issues I actually thought about this yesterday. I found some very respectable mushrooms, possibly Green Spored Parasols, in two different places but did not get pictures because I wanted the viewer to see the scale of them for what they are.

I plan on going back today to do just that. Can't have a thread like this and leave those beauties out.  Smiley
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Morphy
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #46 - Aug 9th, 2017 at 9:05pm
 
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This partial fairy ring is what I thought might be Green Spored Parasols as I drove by. They are not. They may belong to a group of mushrooms known as Lepiotoids.  Lepiotoids are a group of mushrooms containing many white spored, free gilled mushrooms that have partial veils that often, though not always, leave rings on the stem.

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Here is a close up of one of the mushrooms in the fairy ring. The ring and the gills being free from contact with the stem are both apparent.

Houston is drowning in Lepiotoids/Lepiotas at the moment. The taxonomy is incredibly confusing. After 10 years in this hobby, I've only recently learned enough to realize how little I know.  Yay.  Roll Eyes

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All of the above 4 pictures contain the same species of mushroom. The differences in macroscopic morphology at various stages of growth can be pretty extreme in mushrooms and only adds to an already difficult task in identification. Some genera are even more extreme.

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And a few more.

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These look sort of like Galerina. But there's no evidence of rusty brown spores.

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Morphy
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #47 - Aug 11th, 2017 at 10:52pm
 
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Here's another common mushroom to the Southern Texas area. This is a Bolete. Unlike other mushrooms, Boletes have pores or tubes from which the spores drop, instead of gills.

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Here are the pores. Some boletes are considered choice edible mushrooms. One of the most sought after is the King Bolete, Cep, or Porcini. All the same mushroom, but known by different names. Boletes can be difficult to pin down to a species. One rule of thumb is to avoid boletes that bruise blue.

Gilled mushrooms that bruise blue are often hallucinogenic. (Not always, so don't id them solely by this.) Where as with many blue bruising boletes the only trip you will have is to the bathroom or the hospital.




The color change is pretty dramatic. Take a look.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #48 - Aug 12th, 2017 at 8:52am
 
I saw this rather alien looking shroom at Grenloch Lake Park the other day while walking Benji. Any idea?
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #49 - Aug 12th, 2017 at 9:21am
 
Judging by the cap only I would say possibly a bolete (??) I'll take a look later and see if I get a lucky id. Maybe walter or someone has an idea?

Whenever possible if you can get a shot of the cap, shot from ground level and then carefully pull it up from about 3 inches undergroud and put it upside down for a shot of the underside.

Although it would be unlikely to get an id down to species, doing this we can sometimes get a genus at least. Whatever it is, its quite strange looking. Nice find!
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #50 - Aug 12th, 2017 at 9:56am
 
the cap sure looks boleteish to me. quite a few slippery jacks and agaricus popping here. King and queen boletes should be popping right now in the white mnts.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #51 - Aug 27th, 2017 at 2:02pm
 
   Something about mushrooms had puzzled me for quite a few years.  I know that mushrooms and such are parasites.  It doesn't surprise me to see them growing out of rich, wet soil or rotting logs.  But I could never understand why I would often see mushrooms growing out of the middle of dry, sandy trails. What on earth could possibly be sustaining them there?  At the aforementioned mushroom festival I got my answer.
    The mushroom is just a small part, the fruit, of the plant.  Most of the plant is buried.  Sometimes the root system of an individual mushroom can become huge, extending for miles.  The largest one yet discovered is somewhere out West... I can't remember exactly where.  It's literally the size of Rhode Island.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #52 - Aug 27th, 2017 at 10:14pm
 
Good explanation. It's a common misunderstanding that the mushroom itself is the actual organism. A mushroom is actually the fruiting body of the real organism, the mycelium. Despite what some well intentioned people might tell you the organism is neither better off for you leaving it unpicked nor worse off for picking it.  It's no different than picking an apple from an apple tree. You might leave the apple there because it is so beautiful but eventually it will rot and decompose and the tree will never notice one way or another.

The only precaution you might take is cutting the stem with scissors or a knife so as not to disturb the mycelium. Other than that, it's up to you.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #53 - Aug 28th, 2017 at 7:19am
 
yep the single largest organism in the world is a honey fungus mycelium.
Edited:
Italian chef Antonio Carluccio says it is delicious with spaghetti and red chilli. But to gardeners it is a menace that threatens their hedges, roses and rhododendrons.

The parasitic and apparently tasty honey fungus not only divides opinions; it is also widely seen as the largest living organism on Earth.

More precisely, a specific honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles (3.8 km) across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth.


Fungi are not necessarly parasites. Many of them are symbiotic with trees.
Supplying nutrients to the tree via it's roots and presumably gaining some benefit in turn.
Truffles are in this category.

Fungi are also NOT plants. They don't photosynthesise and some species actually trap and consume worms.

They also are possibly the most important class of organism on the planet. Without fungi nothing would ever break down or rot away.

Mushrooms are awwesome Smiley

Now for homework go away and look up the total amazingness that are Slime Moulds !
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #54 - Aug 28th, 2017 at 7:22am
 
so is that a billfold or a full size wallet ?
(pedantic ? moi ? lol)
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Morphy
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #55 - Aug 28th, 2017 at 8:23am
 
Curious Aardvark wrote on Aug 28th, 2017 at 7:22am:
so is that a billfold or a full size wallet ?
(pedantic ? moi ? lol)


Not sure how it is in other places but most places in the US carry a pretty standard size wallet. In length it's just big enough to hold a credit card.
Not the best item for scale but I know I always have it with me.

And yes Mushrooms are completely amazing. And hunting for edible ones is a blast. I love the fact that as difficult as some mushrooms are to tell apart without anything less than a microscope and a dna test, there are still plenty of delicious first rate mushrooms that are safe to pick with a bare minimum of training.

It makes the hobby accessible to everyone. And the payoff is food, so hey... cant really beat that.  Cheesy
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #56 - Aug 31st, 2017 at 2:24pm
 
   I would love to try mushroom hunting but Mom, rest her soul, ruined it for me.  As children she had us convinced that if we so much as touched a toadstool (poison mushroom) and put our fingers in our mouths even hours later we would drop dead on the spot.  We believed her.  Also she had a good collection of stories of horrible deaths caused by people attempting to eat wild mushrooms. I know why she did what she did.  We practically lived in the woods and ate a lot of what grew there while we played.  She may have saved our lives with her mushroom phobia but unfortunately it stayed with my sibs and I to this day.  I wish there was some local course given on the subject, like at our community college.  With all of the rain we've had in the past month it's a mushroom wonderland around here.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #57 - Sep 1st, 2017 at 12:27pm
 
Most places you can look into local mycological society meet ups. You living so close to the Pine Barrens I would bet you have something in your area. You sling and walk your dogs alot. Both great hobbies you could potentially combine with mushroom hunting. As long as you can trust your dogs not to eat everything they see.

As far as the fear, thats great. Thats a great foundation because it keeps you safe. If you ever do look into it you need not be overwhelmed by the incredible amount of unknown species.

You simply focus on 2-3 species that are easily identifiable and have a blast searching for those. As you learn, some of that fear naturally is replaced with respect and understanding. Meanwhile youre having some of the best steak and mushroom dinners youve ever had.  Smiley

At some point Ill post my testing "protocol" for species that Im sure about but new to trying. That and my own natural fear has helped keep me safe for 10 years now.
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #58 - Sep 4th, 2017 at 11:42am
 
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This will probably be my last Lepiotoid post.  I like this group of mushrooms but there are an almost endless amount growing in Houston at the moment. This one was too big not to post though.

Im finding that having too many mushrooms presents its own challenges. I dont have time to get id's on many of the mushrooms Ive posted. Too many and too much going on to do so.
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« Last Edit: Sep 4th, 2017 at 12:51pm by Morphy »  
 
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Re: Mushroom Hunting 2017
Reply #59 - Sep 4th, 2017 at 2:47pm
 
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At first I thought this could be a sun bleached Agaricus Agustus. Also known as The Prince. Which is considered a very good edible. However it does not have the unique sweet almond smell of that species. Too bad.
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