Mushrooms.....

[46er]

I came across literally hundreds of these yesterday. I know nothing about them and I realize its hard to id from a picture, but does anyone have an idea of what kind of mushroom they are?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2925561284_a22857a014_o.jpg

 

[grendel]

I sorry to hijack your thread, but on the mushroom subject...I try t get a backpack trip in every year about the first week in November. About 4 years ago I ran into a russian immigrant who was walking the railroad tracks stuffing a bag full of every kind of mushroom he came across. I asked him what he was going to do with them and he said "I eat them". He had a bunch like your picture 46er. Well the following year, on the same weekend I ran into him and his wife again, he said he had eaten the mushrooms and felt fine. I told him he was a very lucky man.

 

[manumuskin]

that appears to me to be an exploded death cap mushroom of the genus amanita.all amanita has a poison that will liquefy your liver.i can't be sure without taking a spore count but it looks like deaths cap to me.any white mushroom leave it alone.destroying angel also is an amanita.quite deadly and also beautiful.all amanita have a veil around and half way up the stem unless it's worn off through westhering or been eaten off.turtles and squirrels love amanita mushrooms but they will kill us.
Al

 

[46er]

Here is a side view. It looks like something has been munching on it, although others seemed untouched. I just couldn;t get over the numbers of them, driving home they were on the road shoulders as well.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2925561884_ca05a7fbb7_o.jpg

 

[manumuskin]

amanita are quite prolific.that looks like the veil remnants clinging to the stem.I would almost say definitely it's death cap but I'm no mushroom expert and to identify these thing you almost have to be.best to leave any white shroom around here alone.The only kinds i would collect to eat around here are brick tops and honey shrooms.pretty obvious and hard to confuse.A spore count is needed to identify most species which requires a reputable guide which i have and then slicing the stem off flush with the cap,placing the cap on white paper and misting heavily with water and leaving 12 to 24 hours then removing the cap.the spores will fall out on the paper .the color and pattern will identify your species when compared to the book.
Al

 

[46er]

Thanks Al. No worries, I had no intention of making a meal of them. Last time I went picking was with my grandfather; many, many, many years ago. He was from the old country and it was a fall ritual to go pick. I was a bit too young to learn anything though, now I'm to old too

 

[Bobbleton]

yeah as a fun side-note . . . this is a pretty great reason not to eat box turtles. depending on how large a part of their diet the mushrooms are, they can be quite toxic.

I have a personal theory about boxies as well . . . seems that at times their markings do a great job with camo, yet at other times they scream out of the background. this is (in my opinion) a devilishly clever evolved combination of both cryptic coloration AND aposematism.

that having been said . . . a question that might be worth asking is whether or not there's any correlation between gender and food preference (since males are almost universally more brightly colored than females). it would be neat to think that dimorphism in this species fits cleanly to support both aposematism AND sexual selection, but the answer seems too obvious and cookie-cut. there are a billion behavior-related factors to consider (nevermind the mess genetics would incite).

either way, its the kind of topic I find fun to chew on.

those mushrooms, however . . . not so much.

 

[AJ1957]

Great site you have there.

I see you live in the panhandle. Anywhere near Cottondale (Jacksin County)?

 

[manumuskin]

the old country.i have met russians in the barrens shrooming.the old man said the ones he had in the basket look like the ones he had in russia.he made no effort to use a book to identify them that i could tell.they were honey shrooms which are good,i just wonder how he knew that based on looking alike half a world apart.
Al

 

[46er]

My grandfather was from the Ukrain. I guess they, along with Native Americans, and others from long ago learned which ones were safe from experience. A tough way to learn, even tougher if your the one taking the first biites. Don't think they had many id books like we have now. Not sure now that they were death caps, the pictures and desriptive info I've found are different. Got my curiousity up, I'm going to send the pictures to David Fairbrothers and get his opinion.

 

[grendel]

Took my son and nephew on an overnight camping trip back in wharton yesterday. On the hike in we met three folks with buckets full of mushrooms. They were from Poland. On the way out this morning we ran into another group also from Poland who were picking mushrooms. I talked with the man for a few minutes about how he knows which are which. He basically said "I have always known". He also said not to try this myself. He then told how wonderful the mushrooms would taste, cooked in a special sauce. I asked what time was dinner served but he just laughed!

 

[kayak karl]

Mushroom Gatherer

I came across literally hundreds of these yesterday. I know nothing about them and I realize its hard to id from a picture, but does anyone have an idea of what kind of mushroom they are?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2925561284_a22857a014_o.jpg

my son and i hiked the Wharton Track this weekend and ran in to a mushroom gatherer at Apple Pie Hill from the old country (? he lives in Princeton now). took a pic of his basket.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90675553@N00/2955187253/

He said there is a saying from the old country.

"There are Old mushroom gather's, there are Bold mushroom gathers, but there are no Old Bold mushroom gathers."

 

[Teegate]

Nice basket also! You have some nice photo's on your flickr pages.

Guy

 

[Sue Gremlin]

yeah as a fun side-note . . . this is a pretty great reason not to eat box turtles. depending on how large a part of their diet the mushrooms are, they can be quite toxic.

You mean you need a reason not to eat box turtles?

that having been said . . . a question that might be worth asking is whether or not there's any correlation between gender and food preference (since males are almost universally more brightly colored than females). it would be neat to think that dimorphism in this species fits cleanly to support both aposematism AND sexual selection, but the answer seems too obvious and cookie-cut. there are a billion behavior-related factors to consider (nevermind the mess genetics would incite).

Male and female members of the same species can occupy fairly different niches so competition between disparate sexes is reduced, so yes, I think it's plausible that there is a correlation between sex and food preference or intake.

 

[BlueMoonMuskrat]

 

[cynthia387]

Types of Mushrooms

The first one is Sponge Mushroom. This mushroom is one of our most popular and edible mushrooms, and is also one of the easiest to identify by sight.
The second example is the Black Morel. . It is a plant that is also very successful in regions of the country that experience forest fires.
The last example is the Scarlet Cup fungus.. It is one of those fungus plants that is not the most palatable, and consequently should be avoided. The bright red or orange fruiting bodies you first see appear in early April.
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cynthia jacquline
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