Identifying Mushrooms
May 29, 2019 9:56 AM Subscribe
I wouldn't really even know where to begin with identifying the mushrooms in the pictures in this folder. Casual clicking around the internet isn't popping up anything; I want to know what these are whether or not they're edible or whatever. They don't seem to be anything from here or here but I'm not sure.
I've broken the mushrooms down into Big Brown Guys, Irregular Ones, Round Ones, Log Ones, and the Big Ugly Lump. The round ones and the irregular ones may be the same kind. I'd love to know what they are, or at least get pointed in the right direction.
I've broken the mushrooms down into Big Brown Guys, Irregular Ones, Round Ones, Log Ones, and the Big Ugly Lump. The round ones and the irregular ones may be the same kind. I'd love to know what they are, or at least get pointed in the right direction.
Required disclaimer: don't eat anything you're not absolutely sure of. Photos are often not adequate to ID mushrooms - you may need spore color, or whether the flesh bruises, etc. That said, these aren't choice edibles, so you're not missing out. I'm a lazy mycologist and would just call these LBJs (little brown jobs) and be done with it.
I think your tiny orange guys are slime molds, if that helps. For stuff like the Log Ones (shelf fungi) especially, you're going to want to look at the underside of the fungus for spines/gills/pores.
David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified is a pretty accessible guide that covers our area well, but the taxonomy is outdated at this point.
posted by momus_window at 10:07 AM on May 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
I think your tiny orange guys are slime molds, if that helps. For stuff like the Log Ones (shelf fungi) especially, you're going to want to look at the underside of the fungus for spines/gills/pores.
David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified is a pretty accessible guide that covers our area well, but the taxonomy is outdated at this point.
posted by momus_window at 10:07 AM on May 29, 2019 [5 favorites]
Post it to a mushroom id facebook group or forum .. Here's an article that will be a good starting point, some of the folks mentioned in it are very active in some ID groups and would give credible info - https://www.sfchronicle.com/thetake/article/The-Regulars-For-East-Bay-mushroom-hunter-12796115.php
posted by elgee at 10:13 AM on May 29, 2019
posted by elgee at 10:13 AM on May 29, 2019
the little orangish ones are called Wolf's Milk (you can google that).
As far as edibility, I am a mushroom forager in my area (N. Minn), and it's taken years of learning to get where I am. That means reading books (lots of books), learning to take spore prints, and reading specific mushroom ID forums until I'm absolutely certain about what I'm looking at. And I wouldn't eat any of those you posted. (Though some of them look like they might be a type of honey mushroom, but too aged to eat.)
Basically what that means is you start with the easy ones to identify that don't look like anything else--the so called foolproof four. I started with chicken of the woods, lobster mushrooms, then shaggy mane, then hen of the woods, then chanterelles. Now I'm pretty good at picking boletes as well, and honeys. The best way to become a mushroom forager is you become an expert one species at a time.
posted by RedEmma at 10:45 AM on May 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
As far as edibility, I am a mushroom forager in my area (N. Minn), and it's taken years of learning to get where I am. That means reading books (lots of books), learning to take spore prints, and reading specific mushroom ID forums until I'm absolutely certain about what I'm looking at. And I wouldn't eat any of those you posted. (Though some of them look like they might be a type of honey mushroom, but too aged to eat.)
Basically what that means is you start with the easy ones to identify that don't look like anything else--the so called foolproof four. I started with chicken of the woods, lobster mushrooms, then shaggy mane, then hen of the woods, then chanterelles. Now I'm pretty good at picking boletes as well, and honeys. The best way to become a mushroom forager is you become an expert one species at a time.
posted by RedEmma at 10:45 AM on May 29, 2019 [10 favorites]
There is no substitute to learning from an experienced forager, especially if you plan on eating what you find. Join a local club and go on some walks, you'll learn far more than you can from books, especially about your local area.
posted by veery at 11:46 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by veery at 11:46 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
In addition to spore color/spore print and bruising, ecology can also be very important to helping to ID mushrooms, both their growing medium (dead stuff? soil? etc) and the area where you're finding them (under oaks, under pines, meadows, etc).
If you are comfortable with dichotomous keys, I've found Mushroom Expert to be a really useful resource.
For a visually based id scheme, MykoKey's Morphing Mushroom Identifier is also pretty good. But dichotomous keys are best.
posted by migrantology at 6:14 PM on May 29, 2019
If you are comfortable with dichotomous keys, I've found Mushroom Expert to be a really useful resource.
For a visually based id scheme, MykoKey's Morphing Mushroom Identifier is also pretty good. But dichotomous keys are best.
posted by migrantology at 6:14 PM on May 29, 2019
The big ugly lumps are probably birch polypores, or horseshoe polypores. The log ones might be white cheese or Berkely's polypore, hard to tell from the photo.
posted by ananci at 6:54 PM on May 29, 2019
posted by ananci at 6:54 PM on May 29, 2019
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posted by Caduceus at 10:06 AM on May 29, 2019