Home | Community | Message Board
You are not signed in.
Sign In New Account
Forum Index Search Posts Trusted Vendors Highlights Galleries FAQ User List Chat Store Random Growery


This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Hunting and Identification
Threaded Mode Threaded  Previous topic Previous  View all topics Index  Next topic Next 

Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: North Spore Bulk Substrate   Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   PhytoExtractum Buy Bali Kratom Powder   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order   Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1 | 2  [ show all ]
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics)
    #901550 -

O.K. Folks,

Trying to compliment dinner here. LOL!

I believe what I have here are Amanitas and Lepoitas.

The Amanita specimen I took did not have or appear to have lost a ?tattered? skirt indicative of the deadly Amanita virosa or ?Destroying Angel? mushroom, however three others nearby did in fact have the skirt feature. The specimen shown here was a few feet away from a cluster of three that did have the skirt. Could this be an example of an edible Amanita agaricus growing in proximity to the Amanita virosa? Or is this specimen in
fact also poisonous?

Habitat is forest floor

This specimen was around the same size as the others nearby but it does have a bumpier cap surface. The other three nearby had less bumps on their surface. As you can see, there is a moveable ring on the stem of this one but the skirt on the others seemed to fall clean off leaving no ring.

This specimen is 6? tall w/ a 5? dia. Cap and ?? dia. stem.
The stem is solid/vertical fibers and breaks easily but outer layer tears.
Cap bruises brownish very quickly and the stem bruises yellow/brown
Cap flesh is white/gills off white-bone/yellowish

Emerging

cap


base


Gills with ring


These are the Destroying Angels near where the specimen was taken


Skirt on the Destroying Angels





This suspected Lepoita Procera is 8? tall and the caps (out in the habitat) are up to 6? and even bigger. This specimen is not totally mature obviously.

Habitat is wood mulch

Cap flesh is white and gills are almost the same color to slightly tan or cr?me.

Stem is hollow w/vertical fibers. Inside fibers snap readily but outside layer tears a little.
Bruising is not immediate but appears more translucent rather than an actual color change in about 20 min. There is a pocket or something at the base of the stem that appears watery or gel like.

emerging


Cap


base


gills


oozy stuff at base of stem


I?m waiting on bruising and spore print action now. I figured I would never be able to show the pics of the spore prints or bruising today anyway with the picture upload restriction and all.

I?ll report back with a visual on the bruising and spore print results.

Dinner time yet?



Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #901842 -

i would say amanita virosa, even if it doesn't show clearly the skirt. the spore print should confirm the id.


--------------------
comario


"crusaders against emotional poverty"

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #901909 -

Excellent photos and descriptions.

Your Amanita specimen strongly suggests Amanita brunnescens, primarily for the brown staining which is unusual among Amanitas. Your specimen is not typical of that species, so I would want to verify some features under a microscope to be confident of the ID. One thing you can check is that A. brunnescens smells like raw potatoes. In any event, don't eat this mushroom. Even though A. brunnescens is labelled in some books as edible, I don't have enough confidence in this ID to risk a life over.

Your nearby white Amanitas are *not* Amanita virosa as you guessed. A. virosa does not have warts on the cap as your specimens do, and they would also have a sacklike volva (which I can't see in the photo). I would put them much closer to Amanita cokeri (or one of its close relatives). We would need to see the base of the stem and volva to be reasonably sure (they will probably have a rooting stem that extends into the ground a bit). In general, for identifying Amanitas we will need to see the base of the stem and details of the volva.

Your Lepiota is Lepiota procera, as you guessed. Any staining should have happened within seconds, and the lack of bruising identifies it. Of course, you should verify the spore print color to be 100% sure, but that's all that's left to do. These are OK for the dinner table.


It looks like you did get something for the dinner table. Please stay away from the Amanitas for that purpose. While they're not as hard as some other genera to identify, the risks if you make an error are so high that it's worth waiting until you can be 100% sure.

Have a good dinner with that Lepiota!


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #901920 -

Excellent photos -very nice

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #902188 -

Thanks for the feedback,

I just popped in real quick to indicate that the Lepoita seems to be producing no spore print. It's been at least 6 hours and I see nothing to indicate a deposit.

The Amanita spore print is pure white, as white as the bright white inkjet paper I'm using. I can tell its there by the defined ridges reflecting the gills but it?s exactly the same color as the paper.

This is my first "lack-o-spore print" occurrence, what gives?

As I stated before, I'm ahead of myself a bit because I haven?t delved into an organized method of learning and reading all of this info, so the "lack-o-spore print" may be something I should see, but I'm ignorant of that knowledge.

I'll check back later when I have more time.

Thanks again for helping!


Gotta run,


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #902203 -

Nice find on the Lepiota, I've read that they are one of the best agarics to eat and they are even being commercially produced in Europe. As for that Amanita, don't eat it, first of all. Amanita agaricus isn't even in my key - David Auroras Mushrooms Demystified. A. brunnescens is probably correct, since it bruises reddish-brown. It's classified as a gastro-intestinal irritant so it may make you puke, but if we are wrong and it is one that contains amatoxins, you could die with 1 bite. I'm not sure why Toxicman was so sure that those are not A. virosa, though. Most Amanitas have a volva and skirt and warts, which are all remnants of the universal veil which covers the whole mushroom when young. The warts are remnants of this veil and rub or come off easily in rain. Maybe I'm wrong, but maybe he observed older specimens that had lost the warts. A white spore print may confirm its virosa, but there are other Amanitas with white spore prints, I believe. Great photos! But clear some humus from the base next time so we can see the volva!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: djamor]
    #902647 -

Hey, thanks a lot! We have a hot bed of the Lepoitas in one of our flower gardens, just gotta catch them before they mold. They sometimes grow in big clusters and when they die-off, they really stink. Funny how the ones you think look the best are the worst for you huh? I would have never thought to just eat one of the Lepoitas by its look by any means (nor any mushroom, but just for conversations sake), however I?m glad it appears we have a winner here.

What do you make of the non-spore print? I take heed to all the warnings and have yet to eat anything I have found. We love mushrooms and would love to have a free variety that is delicious. I wont be munching on any Amanitas, and I appreciate the warnings very much.

I thought I had identified the A. virosa with an autobon field guide, but it?s not comprehensive and I know there are dangerous consequences for missing the I.D. in those bad boys. These were very fresh and as you can tell I shot ?em early and watched them grow. Good thing for digital cameras, what a boom to mushroom land huh? I think it?s great.

ToxicMan has been a great friend and I listen to him well, and I also appreciated your post very much. I hope there can be even further clarification because I have bunches of fungi around here!

I tried to dig under the mushrooms on both of these but it seemed they weren?t any deeper. The ground is hard due to drought. What should I see further beneath what I culled from the site?

Also, can I do anything to preserve my potential find here? Or is it like an annual (bi-annual) that will come back. I cant tell for sure but we may have seen these before as well, in the exact same location (makes sense I guess). Should I shake them well so the spores hit the ground or something? I have read some, and basically understand how the spores, mycelium and fruit grow and all but I?m not that far along to know survivability.

Thanks again,


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #902955 -

There are 2 obvious possibilities with a mushroom which won't produce a spore print. First, it may have dried out a bit too much. Try a fresher specimen, and put a bowl over it (wet the inside first) to hold in the moisture). The other possibility is that you have found a sterile mushroom.

Alexander H. Smith has an account in one of his books where he was consulted on a mushroom poisoning. They took a spore print (they thought) of a Lepiota, it was white, so they ate it and got sick. I turned out that the mushroom was Chlorophyllum molybdites (the poisonous lookalike for the large Lepiotas) and it was sterile. There wasn't actually a spore print - they thought that since they didn't see the spores that they must have been white, when actually there weren't any spores at all.

As far as the Amanita virosa identification, my copy of the Audubon Field Guide has it as photos 123 and 124. Although photo 123 isn't really clear, 124 is exactly typical of that species. If you read the description of the species, you will see there is no mention of warts at all. The universal veil on these is membranous and tough - it splits and remains around the base of the stem as a sacklike structure. If you now refer to Amanita cokeri (photo 166), note the very conspicuous warts on the cap. When you check the species description the warts are mentioned as one of the first features. The difference is in the universal veil - in this species it is thicker and more fragile, so it breaks up into the warts on the cap, and the volva is not sacklike. There is also a line drawing of a specimen there, and that illustrates the rooting base which I am referring to digging up to verify. Gary Lincoff is also nice enough to add the note that Section Lepidella (the group within Amanita which includes A. cokeri) includes about 40 species which are all pretty similar to this species - that's code for "these are really hard to tell apart".

The one criticism I have of the Audubon Field Guide is that people who use it have too much tendency to look at the great photos and not bother reading the stuff at the back. The stuff at the back is the important part. After you match a photo make sure you go read the description and verify it against your specimen. If it doesn't sound really close then you should check the similar species part and read more. If you like this book, you will probably also like Roger Phillips' book Mushrooms of North America, which also has a lot of excellent photography.

Digital cameras are great! It's nice to be able to waste shots on the off chance that one might turn out good - when they do turn out good they can be great.

Lepiotas and Amanitas are among the mushrooms which tend to come up in the same places year after year. Keep track of where you find them and try again there next year about this time. If the weather is OK you should find more every year. The mushrooms that don't seem to occur in the same spot each year are mostly the wood rotting ones - once the wood has been rotted they stop growing there.


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #903662 -

I admit that mycology is not an exact science, key books differ and are constantly being edited and updated. I don't have Audubon's book, but Mushrooms Demystified (1986) has 'over 2000 species, and over 800 photos' -217 color!
Chlorophyllum molybdites is in this book and says the species is best defined by its greenish spore print.
Without seeing the vulva (hehe) I can't say for certain that that is A. virosa. If it has a saclike volva, I would bet like ten bucks that it's virosa. Saclike means that the volva and stipe (stem) are not attached - that is - it looks like the stipe is just sitting in the volva sac. Often when one picks it, the volva sac remains in the soil and thus the stipe would look straight and unless you dug around to find the volva sac, you might think there isn't one. A muscaria has a scaly volva, some have collarlike ones and a some have indistinct volvas, like A. rubescens. The species in question could be A. rubescens if it has an indistinct volva. Rubescens blushes pink but it is 'at first covered with white, pinkish, grayish or brownish warts with a white background at first.' and there is such thing as a 'false blusher' but it is not known from the east coast. But with the variability of the amanitas, we may never be able to tell from pictures and that is exactly why one should not eat questionable Amanitas. Good points toxicman, you obviously know your mycology.
People do go by pictures and more often go by a single trait - color, growing on shit, whatever. But to properly identify mushrooms, it's important to look at multiple traits. Sometimes spore microscopy is the only way to tell, sometimes it's obvious - like inky caps. Location that it's known to occur helps, but don't rule something out just because it's not known to occur in that exact region. Spores can be part of the dust on your hiking boots and can be brought to new locations that way and many others. Btw - that one could be A cokeri. My book says that one is a common oak and pine loving species that has smaller (to 5 mm broad) warts that are firmly attached, mainly at the center of the cap. A virosas warts should rub off easily. Good thread and keep on shroomin!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: djamor]
    #905295 -

Hey all,

I attempted to post earlier in the day and for some reason the post doesn?t exist. I tried to post a scanned picture of the Audubon page I was referring to; maybe it was pulled for copyright violation! I gave props and all, oh well.

The Lepoita did finally produce a light spore print that is just a little off white. It took a while but it?s definitely a deposit.

The Lapoita has not much odor to it at all but that amanita has an almost chemical smell like a cleaner or something with a bit of chlorine in it.

I have only 2 fresh lapoitas left, should I give them a taste? Should I try a bite first or do we think I have a positive I.D. here for sure. Everything I have read so far (elsewhere as well) suggests I have the good stuff here.

Thanks for all the great info and feedback!


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #905507 -

Hey,

Here is something I found that is interesting.

"Several species of Lepiota contain amatoxins; all of the Lepiotas should be avoided, including the Parasol Mushroom, Macrolepiota procera, until you have years of mushrooming experience under your belt and are very sure of your identification.

The false morels can be fatally poisonous, though it is rare. The poison in false morels is MMH, or monmethylhydrazine (a chemical also found in rocket fuel). Though MMH is not understood completely by scientists, there is no question about whether it is poisonous or not. It appears that MMH may occur in different quantities in different false morels (even members of the same species), that its presence may vary according to geography, that its affect on people may vary between individuals, and that its toxicity may be cumulative (raising the possibility of eating false morels safely for years and then, one day, croaking after one bite). Clearly, MMH is not to be messed with. See the pages on Gyromitras for more information--also the page on False Morel Toxicity, as well as our partner site, Identifying Morels and False Morels"


Any cause for worry? LOL


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #905512 -

You have a positive ID on the Lepiotas. They are Lepiota procera.

As a standard precaution, whenever eating a wild mushroom you have never eaten before, you should eat only a teaspoon or less. You may be allergic or otherwise sensitive to the species, and the small amount helps to minimize the effects if you are. If you don't feel clearly sick overnight then you can go for it. Refer to p. 875 in the Audubon Guide.

If you would like us to refer to a page in that book, just let us know what page and species - I have a copy and most people can get one easily if they don't already have it (there's always libraries if nothing else), and we'll look it up. If you want to make a short quote, go for it and give props.

As far as the chlorine-like odor of the Amanitas, there are several species which do, but it is a good character to note. If the species you think it is doesn't include the odor in the description, then it's probably something else. Note that David Arora lists 6 species with the odor in the notes under Amanita magniverrucata, and those are not the only ones.


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #906821 -

Thanks Toxicman,

That was along the lines of what I was thinking. What are your thoughts or knowledge about the ?Morels and False Morels? and the ?MMH? rocket fuel stuff?

Also, I have read that smaller Lepoitas can contain more toxins than the mature ones. Is this referring to species other than the procera? Sometimes writings can be confusing and digress a little bit across species, leaving a novice to be unclear about exactly what he just read! LOL

What I was trying to show was the page out of my Audubon guide, which I think is different and less comprehensive than the one you are referring to. I think mine is more the ?pocket? field guide. I will be scouting out some books including the ones you suggested in another post.

I will report back with the taste test soon.

Thanks for all the help, we?re getting some rain here soon so I may have another batch of Lepoitas to pick from soon!

Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #907003 -

For the morels and false morels bit, I just attended a talk by Dr. Nancy Smith Weber a couple weeks ago on this topic. She is probably the greatest living authority on the topic currently. She strongly recommends that people should only eat mushrooms from the genus Morchella and avoid Gyromitra, Helvella, Peziza, Discina, and Verpa. Many of the species in the other genera which do not produce methylhydrazine contain other toxins (of unknown structure) and chemicals which are known to be strongly carcinogenic. Many false morels, especially in the genus Gyromitra, contain a chemical known as gyromitrin (there are a couple other similar chemicals also) which breaks down into, among other things, methylhydrazine. MMH (MonoMethylHydrazine) is a potent toxin which has caused many deaths worldwide. It has been used as a rocket fuel by the aerospace industry, which resulted in numerous studies of its toxicology. It can be absorbed by eating, inhaling its vapors, or through contact with skin. Early symptoms of poisoning are gastrointestinal, and most victims recover. Severely poisoned individuals will also develop symptoms of liver and kidney damage, and fatal cases also show neurological damage. Oddly, MMH shows no symptoms until the victim has received a fairly large dose. The difference between a dose which causes mild vomiting and a dose which causes death is small. The result of this is that a family can eat these mushrooms and have one person die, another become mildly ill, and the rest show no symptoms at all. It also appears that it can take several days for the toxin to be removed from the body, so a second (or third) meal can trigger a poisoning. In a study done in 1967, 513 poisonings were reviewed and there were 72 fatalities. I agree with Dr. Weber's assessment: one should never eat false morels or any type - you are literally risking your life for a meal. Stick with the true morels (from the genus Morchella) and enjoy yourself.

On a side note, she is currently working on using molecular biology to rearrange the genera and species of the Pezizales (the morels and false morels). She went way out of her way to avoid using scientific names for the species because it would seem that they are about to be redone. Many of our old familiar names will disappear and many will remain. We will have to wait and see what they come up with. Here is one of the papers on this topic.

Several of the small species of Lepiota are deadly poisonous. Lepiota josserandii, L. helveola, L. heteri, L. castanae, L. subincarnata, L. brunneo-incarnata, and L. scobinella all contain dangerous levels of the same deadly toxins as the deadly Amanitas. They have caused numerous deaths worldwide. Any of the small species of Lepiota should be considered suspect, and they would be a bad choice for experimentation.

The large species of Lepiota seem to include only two poisonous species, Chlorophyllum molydites (which is why you should check spore print - not green!) and Lepiota brunnea (which is why you should check for immediate brown bruising in the cap tissue when it is cut). Both of these mushrooms cause what doctors like to call "acute gastrointestinal distress", which doesn't sound nearly as bad as what happens to the victims.

Enjoy your taste test and let us know how they are.

Happy mushrooming!


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #907122 -

:grin: nice pics yo ! :laugh: and welcome to the shroomery


--------------------
Cuba Libre

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #907369 -

Right on toxicman! Good info on the false morels! I kinda think morels are over-rated, as far as taste goes. But if I found a bunch I'd collect and sell them! True morels are not too difficult to identify, imo. The false morels grow strangely - rarely looking like the choice morels.
Not trying to be nit-picky toxicman, but on page 295 of Mushrooms Demystified (David Aurora's book that you refered to) it says (Green-Spored Parasol) after C molybdites and 296 says 'grayish-olive to greenish' spore print.
((Chlorophyllum molydites (which is why you should check spore print - not green!) )) Maybe I mis-understood why you said 'not-green!'. Oh well, no big deal. Take some more mush pics, ledfethered, this is fun! Here in Colorado, it's hard to find a lot of species. The edibles I find around here (on a good year) is A muscaria, the shrimp russulas- R xerampelina, shaggy mane coprinus- of course, western giant puffballs, and one I found once and to this day I swear was the best tasting CO wild mushroom, a very attractive, huge bright yellow honey mushroom. Armillaria mellea, I think. But Aurora says honey mushrooms vary widely in color and taste, so I'll probably never taste that one again. But one never knows. Good shroom hunting, everybody! And keep those digi-piks coming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: djamor]
    #907596 -

Yes you're right - I meant with the green spore print bit to refer to the one we hoped to find if we wanted to eat. But it wasn't as clearly phrased as it should have been.

Here in Colorado we have two species of Armillaria, the majority are Armillaria ostoyae which is almost certainly the one you found. In the right areas I find those by the pound. David Arora lists Armillaria as a broader genus than it is considered to be now. Currently the genus only includes what Arora refers to as the Armillaria mellea group which is now about 15 species. The other mushrooms which were in Armillaria are now in Tricholoma. The biggest Armillarias I've found were about 4 inches or so.

As far as finding edibles here, we have a lot of species. This year was really bad because of the stupid drought, but most years I have enough to tide me over until next season. Most years we do pretty good with boletes, chanterelles, matsutake, honey mushrooms, oysters, and a variety of other stuff.

If you're in the Denver area, drop by at the next Mycological Society meeting October 14th at the Botanic Gardens.

Happy mushrooming!


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #910293 -

Thanks for all the feed back again!

Sorry, I?ve been really busy.

I did taste the Lepoita and it had a very mild taste (just a small piece on the tongue) and the dried ones have a kind of semi-sweet smell. Can I re-constitute those? I did feel a small rush when I first put it in my mouth, but I think that was psychosomatic. I was paranoid and observing all my body pains and lethargy, and assessed that it was from mowing and string trimming!

I?m a little simple here still, but is the lepoita procera I have here, a mushroom to avoid for the false morels? You gave a great response to the question but I?m not far along enough be positive. I?ve learned a lot, fast, and I?m having fun too!

We have a bunch of stuff that comes up around here, so it will be fun to know what it all is. I have more pics, it?s just gonna take more time to process and upload. Found some tiny little brown mushrooms yesterday???hmmmm?..

?Thank you for your support?


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #910598 -

the false morel question doesn't apply to your post at all, who knows why it is even being discussed here. if your lepiota were poisonous, it would generally be about a tenth of that size and no bigger. or it would have to be chlorophyllum, which is a big, smoothish, white mushroom which, when the spores mature, has a seafoamy greenish tinge to the gills. what you have is, with relative certainty, lepiota procera. the chances of you being made ill by it are very slim. some people do get sick from the macrolepiotas, albeit infrequently and in usually isolated "allergic" responses. some people just get sick when they eat some mushrooms that others enjoy with no trouble. the lepiotas might fruit again for you, if not in this season, the next, but sometimes their substrate is depleted and they just are gone!
the morels are springtime treats in very specific, if random, habitats....the false morels of the generra gyromitra and verpa,a nd some discinas and pezizales produce that jet fuel stuff. dont worry about it till you decide to go get morels, which is another story all together.
maybe you could come to oregon for the morel feast that will probably result from the huge biscuit fire we just got thru......(fire brings out the morels)
peace. happy huntin.


--------------------
You do not know me.

You can't see me.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #910912 -

Psychosomatic twinges are not that unusual to notice when trying wild mushrooms for the first time. I've even heard of people actually vomiting and it's all in their head. If you didn't get sick overnight, then there's no problem.

Lepiota procera is not something you need to worry about being like a false morel. False morels look somewhat like morels and you will find most of them in spring.

You should be able to reconstitute dried specimens. Just soak them in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes.

If you haven't read it yet, check out David Arora's rant about identifying LBMs (Little Brown Mushrooms, p. 32). The point is that LBMs in general are really hard to identify accurately, so don't be surprised or disappointed if yours end up not being identified. But go ahead and post any photos you have and do your best description and people here will try.

Happy Mushrooming!


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #912520 -

Viscid,

The Morels/False Morels subject is my fault. While reading on another site, I ran across the information I posted a few days back. The wording about the false Morels came right after a warning about not eating any Amanitas or Lapoitas until you are an expert at identifying them.

I didn?t realize until just now that they are completely different mushrooms. I?m very green at this still! Thanks for the feedback and helping to clarify.

I am still curious about the small Lapoitas I have here. They are exactly the same as the larger ones in habitat, and appearance. They appear to be just smaller Proceras. Are these the smaller Lapoitas I should be concerned about, or am I once again in another ballpark? Should I spore and bruise test the smaller ones to be sure?

Toxicman,

Once again thanks for your wisdom. I?m glad I saved the drying mushrooms I had!

Are you referring to page 32 in the Audubon field guide? I think we have different books, mine is not nearly as comprehensive as yours. I think mine is more of a pocket field guide. I have just been so busy, I haven had time to do any book shopping but I hope too soon. I want to see the books before I buy them, so I don?t want to just order online.


Check ya later,


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #912654 -

Lepiota procera caps are more than 3 inches wide when opened up (7cm according to David Arora). If you have specimens which are smaller and you're not absolutely certain they are actually the same species then don't eat them. When you're going to eat mushrooms there needs to be no doubt as to which species it is. Especially in genera like Lepiota where a mistake could cost you your life.

As long as you stick to the Lepiotas with caps over 3 inches, thickest part of the stem at least 1 inch thick, a thick movable ring, white spore print, and not bruising brown immediately in the cap flesh when cut you've limited yourself to 3 species which are all edible. They are Lepiota rachodes, L. procera, and L. americana. That information is straight out a book (Edible Mushrooms of North America) by Dr. Alan Bessette and Daniel Fischer, two people who know their stuff. Using those rules you're enough of an expert on Lepiotas to eat those 3 species.

Remember to treat your dried mushrooms exactly as you'd treat any similar foodstuff (dried apple, for example). If they get moldy or otherwise look bad, toss them out like you'd toss anything else. Food poisoning is not something you want.

Happy Mushrooming!


--------------------
Happy mushrooming!

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ToxicMan]
    #913135 -

Thank you very much for all the info! On to new things now I guess!


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: ledfethered]
    #915054 -

as toxic man said, the large lepiotas are few in mumber and relatively safe, at least those three species, and they are the only ones i have ever seen.
the smaller ones, which number many in species, are more likely to kill you than just make you sick, especially if you gather enough to eat. some mycologists refer to these two groups as the MICRo-lepiotas, and the MACRO-lepiotas.
there is a tremendous size difference, most of the time.
in my experience, the size is enough to sort them into these two groups right off the bat. mushroom caps that open up to a plane surface are usually at the height of their maturity. so if the mushrroms you find are two inches around and the caps are fully opemn, it is likely that they are not just a miniature version of the larger lepiotas. see what i mean?the larger ones produce fairly large immature mushrooms, i mean they are sizable enough when just emerging to tell they are not the micros.
it's not that hard.
you should make a habit of storing your finds in open, non-plastic containers in your fridge, with a lightly moist paper towel on top to help with the drying out. they will last thru some id-ing online while waitng in the fridge better than out in the open.
peace!!
word up to the toxicman!


--------------------
You do not know me.

You can't see me.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Edible or toxic? 2 species (pics) [Re: viscid]
    #915075 -

Thanks Viscid!

Your additional info really helped to clarify things.


Peace


--------------------
Only man's arrogance could deem a mushroom illegal.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1 | 2  [ show all ]

Shop: North Spore Bulk Substrate   Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   PhytoExtractum Buy Bali Kratom Powder   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order   Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Hunting and Identification
Threaded Mode Threaded  Previous topic Previous  View all topics Index  Next topic Next 

Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Are these the same, or a different species (pics)
( 1 2 all )		 doo 7,191 20 06/06/01 08:29 AM
by Levi7
* Psilocybe violacea: A New Species: Pics mjshroomer 3,407 9 10/19/01 07:53 AM
by doo
* Anyone Know what these are? PICS Ekuenchuocha 1,361 9 09/03/02 10:54 AM
by Anonymous
* Mushrooms come from da rain...(PIC) OJ 1,208 2 09/22/01 12:15 PM
by Woodsman
* A little help please *pics* Anonymous 795 5 07/25/03 04:17 PM
by ToxicMan
* Houston help?(pics) whodi 1,857 11 07/06/02 03:16 AM
by Anonymous
* Re-post "maybe these pics can be useful" ledfethered 3,670 15 09/21/02 06:20 PM
by ToxicMan
* Toxic Shroom Id List for Shroom Dummies(Info) mjshroomer 6,853 10 08/22/04 04:53 PM
by wallace

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: ToxicMan, karode13, inski, Alan Rockefeller, Duggstar, TimmiT, Anglerfish, Tmethyl, Lucis, Doc9151, Land Trout
8,776 topic views. 0 members, 9 guests and 18 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2026 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.029 seconds spending 0.007 seconds on 14 queries.