Unknown Mushrooms

[Stewy]

Whilst lovingly tending to my garlic at the weekend my girlfriend noticed these mushrooms growing in the veg patch!!! Any idea what they could be?





Ta

[FungiJus]

Had you considered Stropharia aeruginosa Stewy? These tend to lose their blue/green colour over time and end up like your photo.

[Stewy]

Hi Fungijus, Yeah that was my first thought, I wish I had spotted them when they were younger, in Phillips it says S.aeruginosa has no smell but to me these have a (if not very strong) quite pleasant mushroomy smell...............

[NickCantle]

A good example of the difference between Stropharia aeruginosa and Stropharia caerulea I think. No real prominent veil remnants, not much evidence of a white fibrillose ring and no white fibres atop the cap and stem.

I'm opting for S. caerulea but well prepared to be incorrect in my diagnosis!

Nick

[Chris Yeates]

hi

I think Nick's right; the British Fungus Flora vol. 5 stresses 'persistently pale gills' which can be clearly seen in your well-developed fruit-bodies; of course get the gill-margin under a microscope and it's a doddle. . .

it also cites 'cold frames' as a habitat and I've seen them in gardens as well (though the habitat itself doesn't rule out S. aeruginosa)

cheers

Chris

[Stewy]

Ta,

I think you are on the money Nick, might get me not so powerful scope out and have a mess about, what would I be looking for Chris?

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Ta,

I think you are on the money Nick, might get me not so powerful scope out and have a mess about, what would I be looking for Chris?

hi

stuff to follow:

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

hi

stuff to follow:

hi

you won't need too fancy a 'scope at all . . . here are the two illustrations from the relevant Swiss book please note everyone that they are copyright and I have deliberately scanned them at a low resolution

now for the distinction between the two Stropharias: you remove a gill and place as small a piece as possible of the gill edge on a drop of water on the slide put on the coverslip and give it the gentle tap; the relevant things in the drawings are those labelled 'C1' which is the books code for cheilocystidia, which basically means "specialised gill-edge cells" these are often of major importance for taxonomic and ID purposes

the gill-edge of S. aeruginosa has almost entirely simple cheilocystidia as you can see from the illustration - it does show one 'chryocystidium' the one with the squiggly bit in the middle: that squiggly bit is a highly refractive body as is often yellowish hence the name - 'chryso' means 'golden'; aeruginosa has very few if any of these on the gill-edge


S. caerulea has almost exclusively got these chrysocystidia along the gill-edge and their shape is generally more regular with a protruberance at the end - as you should be able to see in the illustration - get back to me if you have any problems

cheers

Chris

[Stewy]

God my neck hurts!!!

Many thanks for that excellent info Chris but I'm pretty sure that this thing can't pick up that sort of detail, I've tried and tried and I can see the gill edge but not in any clear detail though.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Stewy

God my neck hurts!!!

Many thanks for that excellent info Chris but I'm pretty sure that this thing can't pick up that sort of detail, I've tried and tried and I can see the gill edge but not in any clear detail though.

hi Stewy

remove a cap, dry it (gently) and pm me - I'll give you an address to send it to - I'm prepared to do that for someone who has gone through the effort themselves (even if it wasn't collected in Yorkshire!) this is not can not be a general ID service to all and sundry (but the odd one . . . we'll see!)

it's always difficult doing this sort of thing if it's a bit unfamiliar - you're never quite sure what you are looking at!

best

Chris