small oyster ish

[diggleken]

I was convinced this would be easy, but am struggling - like a miniature pleurotus, on deciduous twigs, all white, very pretty.
Help please . . .. . !
cheers
Ken

[KeenTeen17]

crepidotus sp

[diggleken]

Hi KT,
yes crepidotus crossed my mind, maybe applanatus?
cheers
Ken

[Chris Yeates]

probably Crepidotus variabilis or Crepidotus cesatii - did you collect any specimens Ken?

Chris

[diggleken]

No Chris - I hate to, doesnt help with ID I know - I have lots of dried stuff from others for exhibits, but only from when they are past their best - I'm just a big softy! It was far too pretty to ruin in this case!
Ken

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by diggleken

No Chris - I hate to, doesnt help with ID I know - I have lots of dried stuff from others for exhibits, but only from when they are past their best - I'm just a big softy! It was far too pretty to ruin in this case!
Ken

Ken you are not ruining it - while I agree that picking every fruit body one finds of, say, Chanterelle for the pot is bad conservation, picking one of these Crepidotus (or whatever it is) and drying it carefully (while leaving the twig/branch it was on intact) is no worse than picking some blackberries from a bramble bush . . .

there is no way - apart perhaps from Crepidotus mollis - that you can be absolutely sure of a Crepidotus ID without looking at the microscopic features; if you are collecting in the Saddleworth (i.e. 'lost' Yorkshire) area I am prepared to have a look at well collected, photographed and dried material of anything (within reason) you find

when you find a fungus at this stage it has already spread hundreds of thousands of spores; I am reminded of a comment by Willis Bramley in A Fungus Flora of Yorkshire (1985) - "dead men tell no tales" . . . herbarium material is not the ruination of a fungus, it is in its way a permanent commemoration (and possibly the discovery of a new species, because a good collection - the 'type' collection - is the basis of every species in every book you look in!)

so don't be a softy - you are not shooting a bird, picking an orchid or chopping down a tree - honest

best

Chris

[diggleken]

Hi Chris,
yes I know and understand, but this is perhaps just me on my journey into mycology, being a litle careful!
Will try harder!!!!
Ken

[leifus]

if I had to say one or the other I would go with C.applanatus

but its definately either that or C.variablis