Front garden fungi

[watsthat]

This one appeared on a neighbour`s front lawn last week, (in fact I almost obtained some specimens the week before but said neighbour cut his grass before I could get hold of one).

It appears (to me) to key out to agrocybe but then Philips and Jordan conspired to confuse me when I tried to go further by comparing pictures to my specimen.

However; taking into account size, apparent lack of ring and dark brown spore print, I`m putting my money on pediades although Philips molesta looks a better match pictorially.

Is anybody any good with this species or is microscopy necessary to go further?

Cheers

Pete

[Steve Wurzel]

Originally Posted by watsthat

I`m putting my money on pediades although Philips molesta looks a better match pictorially.

Agrocybe pediades looks good on Roger's Mushrooms

Rogers Mushrooms - Agrocybe pediades Mushroom but molesta isn't there so that's probably not helpful!!

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by watsthat

This one appeared on a neighbour`s front lawn last week, (in fact I almost obtained some specimens the week before but said neighbour cut his grass before I could get hold of one).

It appears (to me) to key out to agrocybe but then Philips and Jordan conspired to confuse me when I tried to go further by comparing pictures to my specimen.

However; taking into account size, apparent lack of ring and dark brown spore print, I`m putting my money on pediades although Philips molesta looks a better match pictorially.

Is anybody any good with this species or is microscopy necessary to go further?

Cheers

Pete

Hi Pete,

You were right with Agrocybe molesta - the pallid colours and the veil remnants around the cap margin are typical of it !

Common in grassland (including lawns) at this time of the year !

Nick

[watsthat]

First of all a big thankyou to Mykonik for his helpful comments. I found a comment of his on one of my unidentified pics in the archive, that guy gets around!
Update on the front lawn; agrocybe molesta is still going strong and recently joined by what I think is panaeolina foenisecii, (they where all over last week).
Today, on what was a quiet fungi day, I came across a colourful collection of small fungi growing in the same area on the Yorkshire Wolds. I think two are hygrocybes sp any comments?







Cheers

Pete

[Andy Overall]

Originally Posted by watsthat

First of all a big thankyou to Mykonik for his helpful comments. I found a comment of his on one of my unidentified pics in the archive, that guy gets around!
Update on the front lawn; agrocybe molesta is still going strong and recently joined by what I think is panaeolina foenisecii, (they where all over last week).
Today, on what was a quiet fungi day, I came across a colourful collection of small fungi growing in the same area on the Yorkshire Wolds. I think two are hygrocybes sp any comments?







Cheers

Pete

Hi Pete,

Most certainly 2 Hygrocybes but which species is difficult without micro examination and a few more details like a dry or sticky cap and stem. The other species reminds me of a bland Calocybe carnea I say bland, because it can be a really nice pinkish brown colour. Anyway thats my guess

Andy

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by Andy Overall

Hi Pete,

Most certainly 2 Hygrocybes but which species is difficult without micro examination and a few more details like a dry or sticky cap and stem. The other species reminds me of a bland Calocybe carnea I say bland, because it can be a really nice pinkish brown colour. Anyway thats my guess

Andy

I agree !

But microscopy of the spores on the last one would reveal whether it was Calocybe carnea or perhaps an Entoloma !

Nick

[Andy Overall]

Originally Posted by mykonik

I agree !

But microscopy of the spores on the last one would reveal whether it was Calocybe carnea or perhaps an Entoloma !

Nick

Absolutely Nick!

Andy

[Fungus Ken]

I can see why Calocybe carnea would spring to mind for the third specimen but I'm also inclined to agree with Andy's concern about the colour being somewhat pale on the cap.

In this species there is usually quite a contrast between the pink of the cap and the white of the gills (the species has a creamy-white spore print), whereas the gills on the specimen in the photo appear to have shades of pink. Always a bit dodgy to try to pick up on colours just from a photo but it does seem to suggest patches of pink spore deposit on the gills.

But the clincher for me would be the gills. Calocybe carnea tends to have quite tightly packed, shallow gills, unlike the specimen in the photo. I haven't been back to the books to check the numbers of entire lamellae you would expect in this species but I suspect there aren't nearly enough here. This isn't an entirely reliable character but when the numbers are widely different it certainly flags up a concern.

So I'd be expecting to see Entoloma spores, were I to put them under the microscope, and a pinkish spore deposit.

There isn't enough information in the photos to identify the two species of Hygrocybe, and as Andy points out you also need good descriptions of the other characters to work them out, but a photo of the gills to show the attachment is a must if you want help in narrowing down the options.

Ken

[watsthat]

Re hygrocybe sp Ken said...

"There isn't enough information in the photos to identify the two species of Hygrocybe, and as Andy points out you also need good descriptions of the other characters to work them out, but a photo of the gills to show the attachment is a must if you want help in narrowing down the options."

Here are a couple of pics showing the gill attachment. As you can see one is decurrent. I have a lot of difficulty trying to decide if an attachment is free, adnexed or adnate, so how would you describe the yellow hygrocybe attachment?






I was not aware or any stickiness of the specimens but I must pay closer attention to this feature in future!
What are members views on removing specimens from the site in order to obtain a spore print and what is the best type of container to put them in?

Thanks for the help

Pete

[Andy Overall]

Originally Posted by watsthat

Re hygrocybe sp Ken said...

"There isn't enough information in the photos to identify the two species of Hygrocybe, and as Andy points out you also need good descriptions of the other characters to work them out, but a photo of the gills to show the attachment is a must if you want help in narrowing down the options."

Here are a couple of pics showing the gill attachment. As you can see one is decurrent. I have a lot of difficulty trying to decide if an attachment is free, adnexed or adnate, so how would you describe the yellow hygrocybe attachment?






I was not aware or any stickiness of the specimens but I must pay closer attention to this feature in future!
What are members views on removing specimens from the site in order to obtain a spore print and what is the best type of container to put them in?

Thanks for the help

Pete

Hi Pete,

The yellow gill attachment is what is called adnexed, narrowly attached to the stem. This is best observed in profile, with the mushroom cut down the middle you can see clearly how the gills are attached to the stem.

I think the yellow Hygrocybe is most likely to be H. chlorophana but it can be tricky to separate some of these without microscopic work, the sticky or dry cap and stem certainly helps in the field as does the gill attachment. But sometimes this is not enough and the microscope has to be used along with a good monograph on the genus. The red one is more difficult and would need further investigation. I think it would OK to remove one or two specimens for scientific purposes, spore print etc. do leave some in situ though, if possible. To collect, margarine tubs are good or one of those fishing tackle boxes, nothing too huge though, for practical reasons.

Andy

[fairplay]

Pete,

On BMS forays, a lot of participants use screw or nuts and bolt plastic boxes with a handle and internal compartments which you can sometimes get from Poundland, B&Q etc.

I just cut a few slots in for any longer fungi and chuck out the cheap contents. Back home, I put the box in the fridge until I have time to work on them.

Do small ones first, esp. the Coprinus and Psathyrella spp as they go off very quickly, but with Marasmius spp, just soak in water and usually they will re-hydrate OK.

You can splash out and buy a folding or collapsable plastic tool box, but if you are going to fill one of those up, you'll never get away from the microscope.!!

Neil.

P.S. Don't forget the marj tubs though.

[Fungus Ken]

I agree Hygrocybe chlorophana seems a good bet for the yellow one.

As for the orange one, the gills look to be adnate in the photo and the cap itself looks quite shiny, which would suggest it isn't one of those species with a squamulose cap, such as H. miniata. But this is a character you really need to check out with the specimen to hand and a hand lens.

For an orange waxcap with a smooth cap and adnate gills, it would also have been useful to know if there was any smell from the mushroom. Hygrocybe reidii would be a possibility and this species would have a honey smell, although the smell can be quite faint.

Waxcaps are always harder to identify than you would think with their distinctive colours and appearance, so you need as many character as possible in order to key them out. If you want a definitive identification there is little option but to pick a couple of specimens so that you can be sure about the important characters, and you should note the characters right away because smells can disappear and initially dry stems can become slippery when rubbed with fingers, potentially leading you up blind alleys.

Ken