# mushrooms. I'm totally lost



## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I apologize for having to ask help with what is probably a very simple task, but I've been trying to read the "mushroom ID" books, and i'm getting totally overwhelmed. gills, no gills, clear juice, moss, grows on oak, grows on cottonwood, multiple stem, no stem, platelike, shelf,...

I've put 10 pics up on my photobucket account in an album MUSHROOMS and I'd sure appreciate any help with identifying you folks could give me. If the pics need to be more clear, or from a different side, I can try to get more.

thanks for any and all help. 
Ann


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i guess the most important question for now is if you plan to eat what you ID or if it is just for fun? i saw one definate choice for eating. the first picture is oyster mushroom and is edible and palatable. some would call it choice. 

i have seen a few of the others, and some i could not tell from the pics. it is usually a good idea to get pics of fresh mushrooms as they can look like others if they are partly decayed. sometimes you do indeed need several angles and not just shots of the gills and stem. i noticed there are many pics of mushrooms that grow on wood. in my limited experience, most that do, oyster mushroom being one and an exception, are a bit too woody for eating, even if they are edible. there are several types of mushrooms that grow on trees and stumps that many people like. i am sure someone will be along to list those here shortly. i can think of two or three that people like, but because common names get confused, i will refrain from listing them.

so, get a few more pics from several angles...of the freshest mushrooms you can find. 

decide and share why you wish to ID mushrooms.

most importantly...do not eat anything you are not absolutely sure about.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I would like to harvest them for eating, yes. If the first one is oyster mushrooms, then it's a bumper crop. There are hundreds of those in that particular area. (i'm not planning on munching anything until I've got them id'd. if there's any question we won't eat it.)

I'll grab a few more shots of the ones that are still up. try to get some of them emerging, some decaying....i'll harvest a couple and do the 'cut and look inside' thing, too. 

pretty wet out last night, so we'll see what pops up during the day. supposed to be sunny and 73ish.

eventually (next year) I'd like to put out logs and/or "areas" to grow edible mushrooms. We've got a lot of light forest (mainly oak, hickory, aspen and similar) where native mushrooms thrive, so I figured it would be a good place to create a sort of farm.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I agree with Meloc about not eating any of those. I'm not even sure from the picture about the oyster musrhoom It 'looks' like it might be, but I'd want to see it grouped with others of the same kind and a clearer picture. You can google that image for comparison purposes. Several of those other fungi clinging from the side fo the tree might be sorts of brachen fern, most are inedbile and tough anyway. 
I would say from just looking at those pictures don't bother with thinking to eat any of them. Some of them are nice to look at though.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Here's a few photos in my collection that I've picked and ate over the last year or so (still picking pine boletes and aspen boletes and eating and storing some):

OYSTER MUSHROOM (Pleurotus) on a rotting aspen log (mid to late spring):










harvested for eating (Oyster Mushroom):










MOREL (Morchella...species augusticeps complex most probably) Spring (late may/early June here):










a bunch of fresh picked morels split and cleaned ready to process for cooking:










a bunch of morels fried up and ready to eat! :










A recent picture of emerging Lobster mushrooms. I like chopping these up to make mushroom loaf sometimes, a bit of dirt and all. LOL :










Suillus americanus, or chicken fat mushroom (commonly found growing in association with white pine early fall):










Pine bolete or Slippery Jack (commonly found in association with red pine or scot's pine late summer/fall):


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

A bunch of pine boletes drying on the greenhouse bench:










Woodland Boletes....Aspen Bolete (good for drying) :










Coral Fungus, but watch out. Some species of these are problematic. Don't recommend for amateurs. Taste peppery and good with egg dishes.










These are just a few I have of some edible mushrooms around here I've harvested. 

A website for some good information and comparitive photos by Tom Volk from Wisconsin at www.tomvolkfungi.net


REMEMBER: THERE ARE OLD MUSHROOM HUNTERS, AND BOLD MUSHROOM HUNTERS. BUT, THERE ARE NO OLD BOLD MUSHROOM HUNTERS.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

One more photo from this day finding some nice Lactarius deliciousus, or Saffron Milk cap mushrooms to make a european mushroom loaf.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i have eaten corals before. the common folk around here call them "buck horns". that is indeed one that has been given mixed reviews by different mycologists...even concerning the same specie. if you read several different texts, you will find different opinions on the same mushrooms.

not to be bested on the morel harvesting, this was a good 10 minute hunt...


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

thanks for the responses. I can see needing more shots of each. Kind of hard to tell size, if it has a stem, and so forth.

guess it's a 'you have to see them in person' sort of thing,eh? 

I did go out and get a bunch more shots, various angles, cut open, etc. but I think I won't bother putting them up in the album....found one HUGE thing that's the size of dinner plate, and thick. looks a lot like your chicken of the forest, WIHH. Broke off a piece and it's like a solid meat all the way through. 

I'll take some samples in to the university and see what I can learn  Hmm, they'll be familiar with local types, too...so that will narrow down the options! :doh: why didn't I think of that earlier?

oh. I know morels. took over 100lbs off the property last year. wish they grew all year! 
Thanks for all the help, keep up the hunt and may all your fungi be edible!

Ann


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Wisconsin Ann said:


> oh. I know morels. took over 100lbs off the property last year. Ann


WOW! That is a fantastic poundage of morels to reap off your land. I wished I could get that much. I thought I was doing okay to get about 30 lb. over the season when they grew last year. The year before that was none, because of drought. 
How did you store that many? or did you sell them, or what?


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

The area we live in is perfect morel ground. hilly. hard woods. excellent hunting land. left alone for decades. as for what happened to the morels...eaten! every one of them.

The realtor we bought the land from has been harvesting morels from it for nearly 10 years. He always leaves as many behind as he takes out.


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## airotciv (Mar 6, 2005)

I have always been told never eat a mushroom unless you are SURE what they are. We have deaths every year in Oregon because of mistaken indentity. What we have in our county is the local Mushroom Society, that give classes and fieldtrips to learn to idenify mushrooms. They also identify mushrooms for people that have no clue what they have harvested. So I would check and see if there is a Mushroom Society in your area. They are most helpful. Also may check with the local Community College, ours gives classes on mushroom identification. Just a thought.


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## kemrefarms (May 9, 2005)

I have the same problem. I have 3 books but hardly ever does it look like the picture in the book. And mushrooms are always at various stages and different shapes at different times etc. I have found probably 25 different mushrooms on my 5 acres and have only been able to identify very few. But, there ain't nothing like the thrill of the hunt.......I still get excited every time I discover one, its like a sickness or something.


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

If you can't find any help close.. try contacting you local agri. dept. they should have a list, with pictures of all the native mushrooms.. Good luck.. queen Bee


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I am an avid mushroom fiend, both edible and inedible. Why limit myself to only hunting and identifying edible ones? That's like birdwatchers who only watch for ducks. 

I too have a lot of problems with pictures. Once I've held a mushroom in my hands and had another "expert" tell me what it is, I never forget and can always recognize that specimen but just a glossy photo doesn't always do the trick for me. 

Keep it up. You'll add new species that you can recognize all the time, and part of the fun is finding new ones that you need to go learn about. 

As a warning though, whenever I'm eating something for the first time, I always keep a little bit in a ziploc bag in the fridge, so the wife can give it to the paramedics if necessary and say, "the darn fool ate some of _this_".


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## BasicLiving (Oct 2, 2006)

Ernie said:


> As a warning though, whenever I'm eating something for the first time, I always keep a little bit in a ziploc bag in the fridge, so the wife can give it to the paramedics if necessary and say, "the darn fool ate some of _this_".


That is funny!! 

I'm really glad for this thread. My husband grew up eating morels, but neither of us has much experience identifying much else. We have SO many different types of mushrooms here, and I'd love to figure out what some are and the ones that are edible. Beaglady put up a pic of chicken mushrooms in one thread, and I'm fairly certain we had a bumper crop of those growing around here last year. I can't wait until next year so I can see what we've got!

And thanks to those that posted pictures. It really helps!

Penny


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## dancingbear (Mar 25, 2008)

I totally agree with finding a Mushroom society to hang around with and learn from. Nothing like field experience to learn from. 

I will recommend some books, though. My fave was (it got disappeared by somebody who thought she needed it more than me) "All the Rain Promises and More", probably the best pocket field guide I ever found. Also, it's home shelf companion, "Mushrooms Demystified". Finally, the "Audubon Mushroom Identification Field Guide". That last one, I'm not certain that's the exact title, but it's close. It shows toxic look-a-likes of edible varieties, and tells what to look for to tell the difference. Great photos in all three. The 1st is the most informative and entertaining at the same time.

Have fun, it's a great hobby, and tasty, too, when you learn your stuff. My favorite finds have been shaggy manes, chicken of the woods, oyster mushrooms, angel wings, and white chantarelles.


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## quadcam79 (Oct 1, 2007)

dont eat these that you find in cow pastures 
















well unless you have about 10 hrs with nowhere to be LOL


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I remember reading that the value of mushrooms in the NW exceeds the value of the logs in some places. It seems that there are a bunch of people who make a living at collecting mushrooms for the market.

How does one prepare the Chicken of the Forest mushroom?


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

So, those red mushrooms. I have ~8-12 acres of mature Eastern White pines. Those red mushrooms are EVERYWHERE in the Fall. THOSE are good to eat?

I only eat morels and false morels because I am wary of anything else. I ate "beefsteak" mushrooms until I realized that I was getting sick from the poison that builds up...

*sigh*

thanks, mom.


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## Gideon (Sep 15, 2005)

I quit messing with 'rooms years ago. A bud had a ruined outing because of eating a bad one. I have several books with glossies and after a wet season I looked at about 40-50 different varieties and none of them matched any pics. There are many other plants in the forest that can sustain life that I know about so I stick to them, wc
ETA: Those cow manure 'rooms create problems for a friend with a low lying pasture. After every summer rain he has to run the collectors off. Maybe he should charge a fee for visiting his "cabinet". wc


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

A dead give away to identifying the oyster mushroom is the smell. No, they don't smell like oyters, they get that name from the shape of the fruiting body - looks like oyster shells. The scent will be like faint licorice. Also, they harbor a tiny beetle about the size of a grain of rice or smaller. The beetle is black with a redish head. Harmless, but you want to knock them out of the gills. I use a tooth pick to remove them. Don't let the shrooms sit around much after harvesting as the beetles were doing more than eating the shroom, they were laying eggs and tiny nemetodes will emerge in a few days. I don't worry about them, just added protein. I dice the shrooms up and fry in butter and then pack into half-pint canning jars and top off with hot water and process at 10 lbs. pressure for 45 min. Makes great topping for pizza or added to meatloaf. One of the best.

Slippery jacks and chicken fat shrooms are also excellent.


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## recyclerguy (May 15, 2008)

Gailann Schrader said:


> So, those red mushrooms. I have ~8-12 acres of mature Eastern White pines. Those red mushrooms are EVERYWHERE in the Fall. THOSE are good to eat?


Gailann,

Not necessarily. There are at least three common red species that occur under White Pine in Indiana. I think only one is edible: Amanita Cesarea. Amanita muscaria and Russula emetica are toxic. Since you said yours were numerous and grew in the fall, I suspect they were the toxic Amanita muscaria. Were they large with white spots?


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## natybear (Mar 26, 2005)

I so wanted to eat one I found in my garden, it looked so tasty, I just don't have the knowledge to be comfortable eating them yet. Can anyone recommend a good book for the Pacific Northwest. Or better yet, where do you buy those big bags that you can grow certain ones in?


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

No, I don't think they have red spots - but I'll check next time. Too bad you don't live close! I'd invite you over to take a look!

These tend to be small and in HORDES in the E. White pines I have. Sometime I'll figure out how many acres are in pines. I guess-timate 10-13 acres.

All kinds of stuff in that woods.


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## recyclerguy (May 15, 2008)

giliann,

hmmm. small and red but in the Fall. that's curious. maybe a red hygrophorus?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrocybe_conica

here's russula emetica 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russula_emetica


these are bigger:

amanita cesarea
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_caesarea

amanita muscaria fiormosa (scroll down)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

any of those look familiar?


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

I'll have to wait until Fall now to see what they look like again.

Very small and EVERYWHERE...

lovely, really.

I've got all kinds of interesting stuff in the woods. I found a ring-neck snake in my inadvertent compost the other day... Gorgeous little snake slate grey with a coral-colored belly. ~1' long. Beautiful. It was so chilly he let me look at him for a while... So, going back to the fungii, I could have anything growing back in the woods if I find ring-necks so close to the house... I've been told I have some rare native orchids in there too...

I'll take some pics next time (but I really don't want to hurry Fall yet).


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