Need Help with Mushroom ID

sylvar · #1 09/01/05, 12:37 PM

I have torn the house apart and I can't find my Edible Mushroom fieldbook. Apparently the rains from Katrina told these guys to come forth and be fruitful....the yard (where there used to be an orchard) is covered with these. 2 questions:

1) are they edible?
2) are the good?

http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush1.jpg
http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush2.jpg
http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush3.jpg

If they aren't edible I want to get rid of them before the dogs start playing with them. If they are....well I just hit the motherlode cause there are easily 10 pounds out there.

Thanks for all your help!

Shane

Edited to add: I am in central Ohio

Canucklehead · #2 09/01/05, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sylvar

I have torn the house apart and I can't find my Edible Mushroom fieldbook. Apparently the rains from Katrina told these guys to come forth and be fruitful....the yard (where there used to be an orchard) is covered with these. 2 questions:

1) are they edible?
2) are the good?

http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush1.jpg
http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush2.jpg
http://www.shanemorris.com/images/mush3.jpg

If they aren't edible I want to get rid of them before the dogs start playing with them. If they are....well I just hit the motherlode cause there are easily 10 pounds out there.

Thanks for all your help!

Shane

Edited to add: I am in central Ohio

This could be any number of mushrooms... many poisinous. It looks like a yummy field mushroom but without more info it could be dangerous. Many, many look like this. What does it smell like? Take a spore print and tell us the colour.

Most animals will not eat mushrooms.

sylvar · #3 09/01/05, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canucklehead

Most animals will not eat mushrooms.

Most animals are not as stupid and chew happy as my beagle mix.

They smell very "mushroomy". Kind of woodsy, but not so much as a ****ake

I will try to get a spore print.

Shane

sylvar · #4 09/01/05, 01:00 PM

Ha! Blasted auto editor..try this: Shi-Take

sylvar · #5 09/01/05, 01:08 PM

I just cut open the little one. Pink gills inside. That is leading me toward Meadow mushroom.

Shane

Canucklehead · #6 09/01/05, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sylvar

I just cut open the little one. Pink gills inside. That is leading me toward Meadow mushroom.

Shane

I'm thinking so as well... it is certainly agaricus. I'm concerned it could be a. californicus but the lack of viel in your pic has me wondering. Check for a well pronounced viel on some of the other muture shrooms. a. californicus will grow in abundance as you describe. The pink gills in both fit.

a. californicus and the common medow mushroom (a. campestris) are commonly confused and hard to tell apart. Californicus is midly poisinous to some people and may cause an upset stomach.

sylvar · #7 09/01/05, 01:23 PM

I have been checking for a viel. none of them have a highly defined viel. I look at some pics of Agaricus californicus. definatly none like that. I am getting a good feeling here. I have a buddy who is a Mushroomer who I will see tonight. I will take one to him just to make sure.

Thanks!

Shane

Canucklehead · #8 09/01/05, 01:26 PM

No problem. I think you've got a good score there. Nice find... a little more rain here and I'll be out hunting. Temps are getting good.

Bret · #9 09/01/05, 03:05 PM

Dear Shane,

Now you post!

I could have used your pictures and information a couple of weeks ago.

I found this same type in my pasture after I mowed and after couple of rains.
My searches found lots of names including pasture mushrooms, field mushrooms and meadow mushrooms.

Things that I remember to identify from recent studying are: pink gills when first opening; easily detached stem; darkening gills as they mature. When in the button stage they remind me of the button mushrooms in the store, in both taste and texture. A little more woodsy in taste in the darker stage.

With garlic and butter the darkening gills made a darker sauce. Try it on bread, crackers or toast.They made a great country ommlette. I tried some with garlic and crushed croutins on top and baked a little on the grill while the steaks were cooking.

I liked them. My daughter liked them too but said, and I quote, " I'm still a little wiered out eating stuff that grows in the field"

There was something else I was gonna tell you but I'm a little fuzzie right now.(I know, this is no time trying to be funny.)

Please read,understand and follow all warnings about eating any outdoor edibles.

sylvar · #10 09/02/05, 08:54 AM

Oh, I try to be Uber careful with mushrooms. I still don't totally trust myself to identify them...I haven't eaten anything yet that hasn't been cleared by someone more knowlegable. The field book is a great help (a gift from my son for Father's day), also knowing someone who has done it all their life has been helpful. I only recently started hunting wild mushrooms, And this is my first BIG find....And its on my property! They are still emerging, I put what I picked yesterday in the dehydrator. Here is what I picked this morning (with a few from last night): http://www.shanemorris.com/images/firstload.jpg.

I need to find some recipes now! LOL

Shane

chas · #11 09/03/05, 12:20 AM

Those meadow mushrooms are just starting from all the warm rain in our area.The best way to tell if a questionable mroom is safe is to see if the birds pick at them or pull up a really mature dark one.They some times have little white worms in the stem close to the ground.Poison ones won't have anything nibbling them!
I like them best as buttons, but feel safer seeing a little pink as they start to open up.Dark brown are too strong tasting for me.
Chas

Puddleduck · #12 09/22/05, 01:56 AM

I also have mushrooms but am scared to death to try any without knowing for sure. Would it be possible to take a couple to my local county extension office for absolute certainty?

babetteq · #13 09/22/05, 04:06 AM

I just picked tons of meadow mushrooms from outside my place. however, there are look-alikes to meadows(feild) mushrooms that are deadly, specially in their button stage.

If you are going to eat mushrooms from the wild, learn to do a spore print, do a bruise test, get a good book (like the audobon) read up on any look-alikes in the area. It's important to be an informed consumer with any wild foods, but especially with mushrooms as the effects of picking wrong can be deadly.

babs

thebugguy · #14 09/22/05, 08:34 AM

Folks-

As a (way) amateur mycologist and a professional entomologist, I have to comment on Chas's statement above: different types of insect larvae absolutely do live in and eat poisonous mushrooms. I would never use their presence/absence as an indicator of the safety of a mushroom.

When eating wild mushrooms, educate yourself, have restraint, and don't eat anything you're not pretty darn sure of. I've lived in Kansas now for 10 years, and there are only a small handful of mushrooms I trust myself well enough to recognize as definitely edible. I am not a fan of having my liver digest itself from the inside out...

dlangland · #15 09/22/05, 08:38 AM

Moonwolf must be sleeping late today, or doing some real work. He would know.

Jennifer L. · #16 09/23/05, 03:26 PM

They certainly look like the field mushrooms to me. Ten pounds? Wow! I get them just a few at a time here, generaly enough for a meal and that's it, then watch and wait for a day or two and get another meal's worth.

I personally don't pick them when they are immature (button looking) just because I want to check them over really well. The field mushrooms are the only ones I feel safe picking, anyway.

Anyone know how to encourage them in the pasture? They don't grow in manure deposited in the current year, but I figure they like the ground where manure has been. I was wondering if I did a 2" deep circle, say, 4' in diameter around some mushrooms in the pasture now it would set things up for a good crop of them in 2006 or 7. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Jennifer

moonwolf · #17 09/23/05, 04:07 PM

If it's a mushroom you've never eaten before and are absolutely certain they are edible, I would still be cautious about eating too many.
Even morels can make some people sick, and never are recommended to be eaten raw. If meadow or horse mushrooms, be careful that you examine each one and be sure no 'strays' of possible poisonous ones get mixed in. It only takes one very poisionous mushroom having bad toxins that delay reactions that are the worst kind which can lead to organ failure later. Some of the very poisionous mushrooms shouldn't even be handled. Look under the stalk and be sure there isn't a knobby veil (volvulus) which is characteristic for most of the death type poisionous mushrooms.
I agree that to be sure, it's best to recognize spore prints along with the bruising colors, smell, and identify a mature specimen to help. Look to see if the stalk is solid or hollow, spacing of the gills, and how they are connected to the stalk. Books explain these features. If in doubt, ask your nearby university extension mycologist specialist with notes of where you found them (woodland, grass, open areas, etc.), what tree or other ground/plants are in association with the fungus you found, season, etc.

IMHO