Sunday, October 15, 2006

Can anyone identify this fungus?


The photos aren't the greatest quality, but a few clutches of this fungus have appeared on our allotment. I'm a pretty diligent spotter of the plain old field mushroom; pink gills, peels, smells like a mushroom and has no real ring round the stem. These aren't field mushrooms; their gills are pure white. So, characteristics (differences from field mushroom as I know it in bold):
  1. Smells of ordinary field mushroom.
  2. White gills.
  3. About 5-10 cm across.
  4. The cap can be peeled easily.
  5. Very noticeable ring round the stem.
  6. I didn't see a basal bulb.
  7. Growing on freshly cultivated heavy clay soil - nearest trees are elm saplings 10-15 metres away.
I've been looking around online and I think it's probably some sort of edible Agricarus, but I'm not going to take the risk.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Kathie said...

Do not eat that fungus. Agaricus species always have dark, almost black spores. A white fungus with white gills and a ring is a very good thing to avoid. If you need more convincing, read the scary story at this site:

http://hosts.cce.cornell.edu/mushroom_blog/?p=68

I don't think your fungus is a destroying angel. It might be a Leucoagaricus--I wouldn't eat it either.

2:29 PM  

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