Any ideas please on funig ID.

[juliejam]

Any idea on this little fellow..growing on wood chip under birch with many others all about the same size ..cap 5cm across stem 4cms..sight mealy smell..






many thanx

Julie

[watsthat]

At this time of the year you would have to consider calocybe gambosa but the cap colour looks too dark, however it may be within the colour range for that species

Unconfidently

Pete

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by watsthat

At this time of the year you would have to consider calocybe gambosa but the cap colour looks too dark, however it may be within the colour range for that species

Unconfidently

Pete

funny you should mention that , it was my first thoughts or should i say hopes..but as you have pointed out the cap is too dark..i will keep an eye on the place which is close by to see what other colours appear..

Julie

[CloudedYellow]

I do not know but I have tried to apply Ken's advice to get to a genus.

So: free gills + stipe widening at the base but I do not think that is a volva. That would indicate a pluteotoid stature. On wood so could be a Pleuteus sp. but the gills are not pink??

Am I on the right track Ken?

Richard

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by CloudedYellow

So: free gills + stipe widening at the base but I do not think that is a volva. That would indicate a pluteotoid stature. On wood so could be a Pleuteus sp. but the gills are not pink??

That would be absolutely right... if the gills are free. A pluteotoid (or pluteoid as it is sometimes written) stature would then have narrowed down the possible genera considerably and the spore colour would be the clincher. Pink spores would lead to Pluteus. You might be able to catch a hint of the spore colour on the gills of a mature specimen, but sometimes a spore print is essential.

The difficulty comes in trying to do this from a photo. You can't pick the mushroom up and examine it closely. Although the gills do look free in the photo, you can't actually see the point where the gills would meet the stem or the cap sufficiently clearly in this image. It is quite possible that the gills do connect with the stem but that they dip down abruptly (in an upturned specimen) just before doing so. They could well be notched gills.

Notched gills and a fleshy stem would give a tricholomatoid stature. If the spores were pink this would suggest Entoloma but judging from the gills which are still pale, the spore print could also be white or pale.

Options would then include Calocybe (as in St George's), Lyophyllum, Melanoleuca and Tricholoma.

The jizz (including the overall colour) is not right for Calocybe gambosa. My best guess, assuming notched gills and a white spore print, would be that this is a Melanoleuca.

But pluteotoid stature would certainly have been a possibility from the limited information available in the photo, so stature type can be a big help provided you have all the necessary information to hand.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

PS I should have said that because Entoloma and Tricholoma are not saprotrophic groups - both genera are mycorrhizal - you would find them growing in soil with tree roots in close proximity to their mycorrhizal host trees.

Obviously you can't rule them out on habitat alone because the mycelium might not actually be feeding on the wood chips. But when you see wood chips attached to the base of the stem because they are entangled by the mycelium, it can be a guide that the fungus is a saprotrophic wood decomposer.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

And having said it probably isn't an Entoloma I'm now going to contradict myself completely.

One thought that has just occurred to me, given that I have just noticed in the description that it had a mealy smell, is that it could be one of the many forms of Entoloma clypeatum which is characteristically a spring "fruiting" species, has a brown hygrophanous cap, and has a mealy smell.

It grows in association with species in the Rosaceae, such as Hawthorn, so it is often found in the types of places where people use wood chips as a mulch, such as in gardens and under hedges.

The stem is usually paler than in the photos, but it is a very variable species. So the colour of the spore print would have been very valuable information. If the spores were pink I would have said Entoloma clypeatum is a strong candidate.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

If the spores were pink I would have said Entoloma clypeatum is a strong candidate...

... assuming of course that the gills were attached, rather than free. There just isn't enough information in the photo.

So all our WAB mushroom collectors need to brush up on their identification techniques and provide this type of crucial information.

And get out those hand lenses for checking, amongst other things, to see if the mature spores are visible on the gills or as a deposit on the stem or elsewhere. Spore colour is so important that we are hampered without it in trying to identify from photos, so we could be way off the mark. Better still, why not take a specimen back and take a spore print.

Ken

[CloudedYellow]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

It is quite possible that the gills do connect with the stem but that they dip down abruptly (in an upturned specimen) just before doing so. They could well be notched gills.

Notched gills and a fleshy stem would give a tricholomatoid stature. If the spores were pink this would suggest Entoloma but judging from the gills which are still pale, the spore print could also be white or pale.
Ken

Thanks Ken,

I thought notched gills referred to a serrated gill edge but I am obviously mistaken!

Is an ascending attachment another way of describing notched gills??

Richard

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by CloudedYellow

I thought notched gills referred to a serrated gill edge but I am obviously mistaken!

No, I think it is me not being sufficiently specific with the terminology. I suppose I should say a "notched gill attachment" to be clear.

Originally Posted by CloudedYellow

Is an ascending attachment another way of describing notched gills??

Ascending does not describe the gill attachment but rather the fact that the gills arch upwards from the edge of the cap towards the point of attachment.

I picture a notched attachment as one where it looks like someone has taken a bite out of the gill just before the stem, but not quite deep enough to make it free from the stem.

As it's difficult to describe gill attachments in writing, I've just done a quick web search and here's a link to a webpage with some information on gill attachments.

gill attachment

Picture number 8 would be a notched gill attachment. I prefer to use notched rather than emarginate - who would have a clue what emarginate means - because imagining a gill with a notch cut out close to the stem works better for me. However, you will be aware that there are a variety of terms in use in the literature, so you just have to get used to the different ways of expressing things.

Ken