Sulphur tuft or Stopharia aurantiaca?

[kiltoncomp]

Sulphur tuft or Stopharia aurantiaca?

I had these in an earlier post as being possibly sulphur tuft, but was not at all sure of that being the case,
After further digging around in my books, I now think that they could possibly be Stropharia aurantiaca, mainly down to the colouring of both cap and gills and the very slimy/sticky cap,
Michael Jordans book has them as frequently found in woodchips and sawdust, which ties in nicely with these,





or are they just plain old Hypholoma fasiculare after all?

Brian.

[NickCantle]

Well with that viscid cap and veil, they're certainly not Hypholoma. I don't think they are Stropharia either- certainly puzzling, but very interesting.

[kiltoncomp]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Well with that viscid cap and veil, they're certainly not Hypholoma. I don't think they are Stropharia either- certainly puzzling, but very interesting.

Not in anyway a criticsm Nick, but what are your reasons for saying you dont think they are Stropharia?? is it some distinguishing feature or have i missed something?

i have had a look in the Gallery and there a quite a few on there listed as Stropharia aurantiaca that closely resemble these,
if they are not Stropharia, any suggestions on alternatives would be helpfull?

[SheffieldLass]

Looks a bit like a Cortinarius species to me ... some are slimy. The gills look as if they might be turning rusty brown from the spores.

Melanie

[NickCantle]

Have just looked Brian, and I think you're right with S. aurantiaca. It is described as viscid when moist and can be found growing in sawdust or bark mulch. I just didn't think it looked red enough- referenced by looking at Fungijohn's images of this species which are very bright. It does have velar remnants too

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Looks a bit like a Cortinarius species to me ... some are slimy. The gills look as if they might be turning rusty brown from the spores.

Melanie

thing is Cortinarius species are mycorrhizal and this is surely an opportunistic wood-chip jobbie . . . I think Stropharia aurantiaca is a good shout - note how the stems are discolouring the cap colour where they have been handled

Chris

[kiltoncomp]

Thanks to all for your comments,
Nick, I totally agree with your point about them not being red enough, when I first found them they were much brighter, but were also frozen solid,I scooped a portion of the woodchips containing a few of the fungi into a plastic container and took them home for a closer look, as they thawed , they lost a lot of their colour, but have since grown a little, but now seem to be on their way out,still having a russet/browny colouring,
They were almost as bright as the (hopefully,must go back for another look)Flammulina velutipes I found on that busy log! , at first I thought that these were some more Flammulina, and then thought they may be Hypholoma fasciculare due to the colour of the gills, but the cap colour and sticky cap seemed to rule this out as you said,
The wood chip pile was fairly recent, no more than a few weeks old by the condition of the woodchips(most were still white and not decaying at all) so as Chris pointed out, an opportunistic wood chip fungi!
I hope this makes things a little clearer as to why I queried your input in the first place

Brian

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

thing is Cortinarius species are mycorrhizal and this is surely an opportunistic wood-chip jobbie . . .

Chris

Good point ... I guess that's where being at the site helps, where you can tell if they are growing on the wood chippings or through them ....

Melanie

[kiltoncomp]

FungiJohn has posted a picture in the Gallery of Stropharia aurantiaca, found on a similar substrate to mine, although the chips on his pic look to be somewhat older than the ones i found the fungi on,(hope you dont mind be "borrowing" your pic ,fungijohn)



looks to be the same species as the ones i found,so its looking good for mine being Stropharia aurantiaca after all

Brian.

[NickCantle]

I thought of your specimens when I saw this image yesterday Brian- I think you can be sure that you've got S. aurantiaca