Agaricus possibly

[CloudedYellow]

This beauty was spotted on the side of a flooded gravel pit under sycamore with willow nearby. I could not photograph it in-situ without going for a swim.





The pileus is nearly 15cm across and the stipe nearly 3cm at its widest tapering a little. It has a pleasant mushroomy smell and does not bruise.

The ring peels upwards - is that termed an ascendant ring?

I thought Agaricus but the gills are ever so slightly decurrent which does not fit with this genus.

Any pointers please?

Thanks

[Leif]

I thought about Agrocybe cylindracea, but that grows on wood, and your stem does look to be soil bound.

[flaxton]

Leif
It does also grow in soil near B/L trees

Mal

[NickCantle]

May I ask what B/L trees are?

[Stewy]

Broad Leaved I suspect Nick.

[Leif]

Originally Posted by flaxton

Leif
It does also grow in soil near B/L trees

Mal

Aha! Then it could be A. cylindracea.

[NickCantle]

Cheers Stewy mate

By the way Richard, if it turns out to be Agrocybe cylindracea, that's an absolute stunner of a find

Nick

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Broad Leaved I suspect Nick.

Yes, though as an aside, do Holly and Rhododendron qualify as broadleaved but not deciduous? In which case broadleaf trees are not the same as deciduous. (I'm rambling ...)

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by Leif

Yes, though as an aside, do Holly and Rhododendron qualify as broadleaved but not deciduous? In which case broadleaf trees are not the same as deciduous. (I'm rambling ...)

Evergreen oak !

Cheers J.P.

[CloudedYellow]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Cheers Stewy mate

By the way Richard, if it turns out to be Agrocybe cylindracea, that's an absolute stunner of a find

Nick

I wonder... it is too late for me to check out this possibility tonight but I can say it does not smell of old wine casks as sugested by Phillips! Looking at his picture though I did note some small agarics about a metre away that look very like the small ones.

I will let you know how I get on!

Richard

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by Leif

I thought about Agrocybe cylindracea, but that grows on wood, and your stem does look to be soil bound.

Yes Leif - correct again, Agrocybe cylindracea as you have suggested (probably growing from buried wood !) - it doesn't grow 'on soil' !

Nick

[fairplay]

I've absolutely no doubt this is Agrocybe cylindracea/cylindrica but the impression is, is that it was growing on it's own.

I have seen A. cylindracea only in large tufts and certainly never one this big !
The photo in Phillips does not show clearly the typical wrinkling of the cap surface which is shown well in this photo.

Also, I have only seen it on Willow and Popular and have eaten it many times, in fact I much prefer it to St George's (which I had yesterday)

In the cellars under ones Chateaux, one keeps only the finest vintage Port, so one cannot vouch as to this fungi smelling of old wine casks, one can't.

Scoff it down ya mate and enjoy !

Neil.

PS. There isn't any poisonous look-a-likes so your quite safe, reasonably.

[CloudedYellow]

Thank you all again.

It probably was growing on wood. I say probably because it was quite difficult to access as it was on a bank in amongst old willow and bramble with a sycamore tree at the top of the bank. I did take a photo from about 30m away and you can just see the edge of a second smaller one (8-9cm across). It is just above the willow trunk lying at 45degrees. I left that one in-situ.



As I said previously there is a collection of small unknowns nearby which looked very similar to the young one shown in the Phillips image. I left those as I couldn't get to them.

I will get the microscope to look at spores and cheilos later today.

Thanks again

Richard

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by Leif

Yes, though as an aside, do Holly and Rhododendron qualify as broadleaved but not deciduous? In which case broadleaf trees are not the same as deciduous. (I'm rambling ...)

Yes, they can be Leif - you get broadleaved evergreens such as Holly, Rhododendron, Box, etc, (as also is Quercus ilex mentioned in the next post) as well as broadleaved deciduous.

So broadleaved is one separate term refereing to the leaf shape (as opposed to the 'needles' of conifers) whilst deciduous / evergreen refer to another separate charcteristic refering to lseasonal leaf retainment or otherwise.

Nick

[Leif]

Originally Posted by mykonik

Yes, they can be Leif - you get broadleaved evergreens such as Holly, Rhododendron, Box, etc, (as also is Quercus ilex mentioned in the next post) as well as broadleaved deciduous.

So broadleaved is one separate term refereing to the leaf shape (as opposed to the 'needles' of conifers) whilst deciduous / evergreen refer to another separate charcteristic refering to lseasonal leaf retainment or otherwise.

Nick

Thanks.