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GGreatOne234
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Registered: 12/23/99
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Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores
#7932379 - 01/25/08 09:51 PM (16 years, 7 days ago) |
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Psilocybe cubensis, wild collection from Florida:
 And a mystery to me i suppose. I have not tried to key them out macroscopically yet. A type of skull cap/puffball thingy perhaps. Found growing underneath a Oak tree. They have dark brown spores, and the closest shape i can come up with so far (seen below) is Nodulose (there is a high probability that i am wrong about that):

Both were observed using Iodine.
The images did not load up as large as they should have for some reason, so just put your eyes up to the screen and look closer
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Alan Rockefeller
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: GGreatOne234]
#7932566 - 01/25/08 10:39 PM (16 years, 7 days ago) |
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> Psilocybe cubensis, wild collection from Florida:
The spores look a bit elongated, like the pics are stretched out a bit. Why is the microscope viewing area not a circle?
> They have dark brown spores, and the closest shape i can come up with so far (seen below) is Nodulose
Those are really cool.
> Both were observed using Iodine.
Why did you use iodine?
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GGreatOne234
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#7932823 - 01/25/08 11:54 PM (16 years, 7 days ago) |
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i used iodine because that is all i have right now is iodine and water. and a water droplet seems to evaporate quickly. plus i have no idea how do to microscopy really, yet, to be perfectly honest. 
but it is fun for me and i will get better with it. i have only been using a microscope for one day now, i will improve with practice and studying
well i have some ammonium hydroxide (but i am not sure what to use it for yet), and 91% rubbing alcohol for rehydrating dried material, and a bottle of oil of some type that came with the scope (but i was told not even to use the stuff). all kinds of reagents and stains and oils and whatnot i ordered should arrive in the mail soon. and a friendly mycologist might send me KOH.
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CureCat
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: GGreatOne234]
#7933170 - 01/26/08 01:04 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Yeah, the bottle of oil is immersion oil, to be used with the x100 objective lens. Though, if it's cheap definitely don't use it, cause you don't want to fuck up the highest magnification lens.
If you try and use the x100 without oil, you may accidentally break the cover slip, or worse, so just wait until you get the good oil.
Also, make sure not to switch back to 80x or 60x (not sure how many lenses you have) after immersion oil has been applied to to slide, cause that may mess up that lens if it is not cleaned.
Lastly, make sure you have lens paper to clean off the 100x lens after use.
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ToxicMan
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Registered: 06/28/02
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: GGreatOne234]
#7933290 - 01/26/08 01:26 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Nice first light with the microscope shots.
The first one isn't quite circular because of vignetting. You can see on the right edge where the field edge is a bit fuzzy. It's no big deal, and it can be difficult to eliminate completely.
With the low magnification it's bit tough to tell, but those second ones look subglobose (almost spherical) with really conspicuous ornamentation. Nodulose spores will be so oddly shaped that there's really not much else you could call them. Figuring out the details of ornamentation is the main reason for using an oil immersion objective. When it's time to try it, remember to put a drop of oil on top of the condenser (which should be all the way up in contact with the slide), then put the slide on top into the oil, then put a drop of oil on top of the coverslip before rotating the objective into position. You need both drops of oil to achieve the full numerical aperture, and I've seen many professionals not bother with the oil on the condenser. Remember also to carefully wipe all the oil off every time, as the oil can damage the cements used to glue lenses together.
Happy mushrooming!
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CureCat
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: ToxicMan]
#7933456 - 01/26/08 02:03 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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> When it's time to try it, remember to put a drop of oil on top of the >condenser (which should be all the way up in contact with the slide), >then put the slide on top into the oil, then put a drop of oil on top of >the coverslip before rotating the objective into position. You need >both drops of oil to achieve the full numerical aperture, and I've seen >many professionals not bother with the oil on the condenser.
I've heard that technique, and that it is much more effective. I will have to try it.
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Alan Rockefeller
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: CureCat]
#7933610 - 01/26/08 03:00 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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> Yeah, the bottle of oil is immersion oil to be used with the x100 objective lens. Though, if it's cheap definitely don't use it, cause you don't want to fuck up the highest magnification lens.
No, but bottle of oil is mounting solution, it should never be used as immersion oil.
They include a bottle of balsam mountant with every new scope, I guess its some kind of evil trick.
If it smells like pine sap, don't use it with the 100x! Use it instead of water under the cover slip to make permanent slides that are good for years.
> i used iodine because that is all i have right now is iodine and water. and a water droplet seems to evaporate quickly.
I don't think it will evaporate any slower with iodine added.
It does provide for nice contrast.
> well i have some ammonium hydroxide (but i am not sure what to use it for yet)
You can use it to check for chrysocystidia and for the KOH color staining reactions.
> and a bottle of oil of some type that came with the scope (but i was told not even to use the stuff).
Thats right, don't use that stuff.
I brought my scope to the fungus fair the other weekend, but didn't bring any immersion oil. I used denatured alcohol solvent instead and it worked great. I had to reapply it every 5 minutes but that was not a big problem.
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CureCat
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#7933677 - 01/26/08 03:38 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Huh. Alan, how do you know that it is mounting solution?? Just curious, i thought someone here mentioned that some 'scopes come with cheap immersion oil that should not be used.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist


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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: CureCat]
#7933716 - 01/26/08 04:18 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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> Huh. Alan, how do you know that it is mounting solution??
Its a common trick.
> Just curious, i thought someone here mentioned that some 'scopes come with cheap immersion oil that should not be used.
Its not always cheap immersion oil, often its balsam mountant. There is nothing wrong with using cheap immersion oil, but mountant is like turpentine and leaves residue on the lens.
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ToxicMan
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Registered: 06/28/02
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#7934335 - 01/26/08 10:47 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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I seem to recall a thread awhile back where somebody had purchased a new microscope and the small bottle that came with it turned out to be balsam. They discovered this after they had used it as immersion oil, and were asking how to undo the mess they had made on their immersion objective. Definitely not a good situation to be in.
Happy mushrooming!
-------------------- Happy mushrooming!
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GGreatOne234
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Posts: 8,946
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Re: Basidiospores: Psilocybe cubensis & Unidentified Mystery Spores [Re: ToxicMan]
#7934589 - 01/26/08 11:42 AM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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yes i just smelled the little bottle and it smells like pine trees.
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