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asukawashere
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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(Pretty!) Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests
#22390121 - 10/16/15 07:41 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hi All! Long time lurker, first time poster. Thought I'd offer some photos from my recent hikes and I've got two oddballs at the end that I was hoping somebody might recognize. I'm not a super-experienced mushroom forager, but I do know enough to pick out the easy-to-ID edibles and not get myself killed in the process. I have zero interest in the psychedelics, FWIW.
[EDIT: These photos are all of fungi found in Connecticut, where I live]
First the stuff I do (more or less) know:
 Pholiota (P. limonella?) buttons being all shiny and slimy.
 Some variation of a large pored polypore—Daedaleopsis? Pore surface below:

 Irpex lacteus closeup (I really like this photo...)
 A flush of Laetiporus
Saw from a distance another big cluster of orange at the foot of an oak and got my hopes up expecting more chickens…
 …until I got closer. Alas, Omphalotus!
 I'm reasonably sure these are Armillaria, but wasn't positive enough to take the un-nibbled ones home to eat. It's not a genus I'm terribly familiar with and there are plenty of lookalikes. In the shot below, you can see the fairly substantive veil, and they appeared to be growing parasitically in a grove of mature oaks (the oaks all showed damage around the root base, the fungi were popping up around the feet of the trees, etc.)

 Agaricus campestris turned up right outside my door (gill shot below)

And now for something I haven't the foggiest clue about:
 This turned up at the foot of a sizable hickory in my yard, grew half way, stopped since there was no rain for a two-week period and died back some (you can see where it mildewed over some at the bottom there), and then resumed growing when it rained again. If it has spores, I haven't figured out where it's keeping them—definitely no gills (a really fine pored polypore, maybe?). It's 5-ish inches around, rubbery in texture if you poke it (not particularly wet, but not dry either), and doesn't have any distinctive odor. Doesn't change color when bruised, either. The hickory has appeared healthy up until now, so I'd also like to know if this is a saprobe/parasite, in case it means my tree is ailing.

And the other thing I can't place:
 This was about a foot off the ground on an oak tree, associated with some damage to the otherwise still-living tree, and was very delicate and wet to the touch—I barely laid a finger on it and it utterly smushed those little round globules. I'm going to hazard a guess that this isn't a mature fungus, but it was deep enough into the woods that I didn't fancy hiking all the way back just to check up on it a few days later. No noticeable smell, nor did it change color where I bruised it. The whole cluster was about 3 inches by 5 inches, and the little round bubbly nub bits were about the size of a grain of millet, give or take.

Thanks for looking/reading! —Amanda
Edited by asukawashere (10/21/15 06:00 PM)
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Akhkharu


Registered: 01/19/15
Posts: 238
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22390149 - 10/16/15 07:46 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Wow! Great shots. Those are definitely armilaria. Tabescens yellow var. The weird ones I'm unsure of. I've seen some like them myself and wondered what they were as well.
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asukawashere
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Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: Akhkharu]
#22390188 - 10/16/15 07:54 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Akhkharu said: Wow! Great shots. Those are definitely armilaria. Tabescens yellow var. The weird ones I'm unsure of. I've seen some like them myself and wondered what they were as well.
Thanks for the compliments and confirmation—I thought A. tabescens was the ringless one, though? These have a partial veil on them.
I keep meaning to find someone who can help me get more familiar with Armillaria so I can add them to my repertoire of edibles, but I've always been leery of them...too many small brownish mushrooms that look like them.
Edited by asukawashere (10/16/15 07:55 PM)
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Akhkharu


Registered: 01/19/15
Posts: 238
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22390335 - 10/16/15 08:23 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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My bad. Mellea is more like it. They are definitely honey mushrooms, I can spot them from a mile away. I think there's a specimen on my propert that spans well over a mile. Though I'm not sure exactly how far because of the ravines and caves and such. Have to do DNA identification to be sure, but they've been known to spread over miles. The yellow variant is the only one I have here, so I should know the name. Sorry haha
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Akhkharu


Registered: 01/19/15
Posts: 238
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: Akhkharu]
#22390346 - 10/16/15 08:25 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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They should spore print white and the mycelium glows at night
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asukawashere
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Registered: 10/16/15
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Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: Akhkharu]
#22394106 - 10/17/15 04:04 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Akhkharu said: They should spore print white and the mycelium glows at night
I'll have to remember to take a sample of mycelium home next time I hike up in that direction so I can see if it glows... not the kind of thing I'd normally think to do. I admit I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the smaller mushrooms around there (except to note that there was a surplus of them); I'd been scouting that oak grove for maitake. No luck on that front, unfortunately (I imagine the Armillaria were outcompeting them), but if I can use it as a source of honeys in the future it'd at least be a consolation prize LOL.
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asukawashere
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414267 - 10/21/15 03:47 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Bump to satisfy my burning curiosity–what the heck are those last two? (Also, is bumping against the rules here? I didn't see anything against it when I read through them, but I know it varies from forum to forum)...
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relic
of a bygone era


Registered: 10/14/14
Posts: 5,623
Loc: the right coast
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414397 - 10/21/15 04:22 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
asukawashere said:
<snip> I'd been scouting that oak grove for maitake. No luck on that front, unfortunately (I imagine the Armillaria were outcompeting them), but if I can use it as a source of honeys in the future it'd at least be a consolation prize LOL.
not that this disproves your working theory about the competition between the two species, but about six weeks ago i found several large maitake on a hillside that was overrun by Armillaria mellea...every fifth to tenth tree had honeys growing at the base and once i located old oak stumps (killed by the Armillaria?), the maitake were fruiting wonderfully.
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relic
of a bygone era


Registered: 10/14/14
Posts: 5,623
Loc: the right coast
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: relic]
#22414406 - 10/21/15 04:23 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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oh and pics 7 and 8 are definitely honeys, BTW. 100% chance.
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asukawashere
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414470 - 10/21/15 04:40 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
relic said:
not that this disproves your working theory about the competition between the two species, but about six weeks ago i found several large maitake on a hillside that was overrun by Armillaria mellea...every fifth to tenth tree had honeys growing at the base and once i located old oak stumps (killed by the Armillaria?), the maitake were fruiting wonderfully.

It could always just be that no maitake spores ever got there, too... but there were downed oaks in there too, and none of those held anything of interest, either. I have found chicken of the woods on downed oaks not terribly far away, where there weren't any of the honeys—so I at least know there are chicken spores in those woods. Mostly I'm just frustrated that I haven't found a good nearby spot for maitake... and meanwhile the chickens occur all over the place. You'd think an old-growth oak forest could at least cough up some sign of one!
(Also, thanks for a second opinion on the honeys. I'm feeling more secure about going back and collecting some next time it rains.)
Edited by asukawashere (10/21/15 04:41 PM)
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relic
of a bygone era


Registered: 10/14/14
Posts: 5,623
Loc: the right coast
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414561 - 10/21/15 04:59 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
asukawashere said:
(Also, thanks for a second opinion on the honeys. I'm feeling more secure about going back and collecting some next time it rains.)
welcome. i discard the stems and use only the caps. i enjoy them but they're sometimes pretty mucilaginous so some don't like the texture or consistency when cooked unless it is a dish that lends itself to that characteristic. i sometimes use them in a stirfry to thicken the sauce instead of corn starch or a roux.
and a word of warning...this is one of those species that doesn't agree with a significant percentage of people who try them, so cook them well and eat a small portion the first time.
have fun!
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asukawashere
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414599 - 10/21/15 05:07 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'm familiar with the need for thorough cooking and the tendency towards mucilaginousness from reading, it's just the field ID I was shaky on (and I always sample my mushrooms in small portions the first time regardless of their history). Thanks for the advice, regardless. It's stuff that absolutely bears repeating!
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asukawashere
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Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22414666 - 10/21/15 05:22 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Mad epic googling has led me to consider Brefeldia maxima as an ID for the second of my two mystery fungi. Still totally lost on the one before it!
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asukawashere
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22432869 - 10/25/15 05:21 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Another thought regarding the Omphalotus above: I actually found those not terribly far from a cemetery in Easton, CT that's allegedly one of the most haunted places in CT, if not the country. How far away can you see the glow coming from an Omphalotus? It'd be pretty dang funny if some of those "ghosts" were just bioluminescent fungus!
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RuralAnomaly
Sporadic



Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 2,153
Loc: Spitzenkörper Ohio
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22433700 - 10/25/15 08:47 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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i think your first mystery one might be something along these lines?
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/sparassis_spathulata.html
(or crispa which is what came to my mind first. when/if they get dried out early they look funny if they keep at it awhile)
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asukawashere
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Registered: 10/16/15
Posts: 89
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: RuralAnomaly]
#22433804 - 10/25/15 09:16 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
RuralAnomaly said: i think your first mystery one might be something along these lines?
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/sparassis_spathulata.html
(or crispa which is what came to my mind first. when/if they get dried out early they look funny if they keep at it awhile)
I can see how that might work. Thanks for the input. 
…Though, if that is the case, I have very mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, another edible in my backyard is a happy thing... but that's a really nice hickory tree it's fruiting from and I'd hate to have to take it down due to a parasitic fungus. Hrm…
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countrymushroom77
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Re: Some Recent Mushroom Photos and 2 ID Requests [Re: asukawashere]
#22433962 - 10/25/15 10:04 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Coral fungus?
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RuralAnomaly
Sporadic



Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 2,153
Loc: Spitzenkörper Ohio
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https://www.google.com/search?q=Coral+fungus&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
common names aren't as helpful since they can be many different things sometimes, and in this case, probably not the thing in question
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