Ammonia solution

[SheffieldLass]

Thanks everybody. Today I tried my local hardware store and they do stock household ammonia though they'd had a run on it and were out ... another nearby stocked the Jeyes Kleen off Ammonia but there was no detail of concentration on the bottle, or indeed ingredients so I didn't get it ... turns out it is 9.5% and apparently just ammonia solution, no added other chemicals, so would have been ok. Homebase do 9.5%, which I've now bought ... theirs was labelled very clearly.

So I'm now about to check for some pleurochyrsocystidia and cheilochrysocystidia on some Hypholoma. The Panaeolina I'd checked microscopically before looking up details on the bioimages website is now disintegrating somewhere in the garden ... hadn't realised that they were on the Class A drug list, do not have in your possession, even though the don't actually contain psilocin ... shame, they are supposed to be interesting microscopically with ammonia ...

I hadn't realised that Hygrocybe psittacina is also on the don't have in your possession list .... And to think I wandered through the centre of Sheffield last year carrying in full view a really beautiful, huge specimen of Panaeolus semiovatus. I'll post a picture of it, you think you must be hallucinating when you see the size ...

Melanie

[NickCantle]

Where on earth does is say anything about Hygrocybe psittacina being illegal to carry?! I simply can't believe that!

Oh yes, I forgot to say that I'm looking forward to your Paneolus

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Where on earth does is say anything about Hygrocybe psittacina being illegal to carry?! I simply can't believe that!

I know, I was amazed to see it there ... its colours are a bit psychedelic though come to think of it, maybe it just looks a bit too hippyish ...

This is the list from the BMS. It makes quite a big hole in the grassland fungi families ...

http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/files...Guidelines.pdf

[NickCantle]

That's extremely humorous- I can just envisage the new hippy trend where they're all after masses of the two Rickenella species listed.

Maybe I've misinterpreted that document Mel, but surely the following items are perhaps a little over the top?;

A person will not be committing an offence of possession if he or she picks
magic mushrooms for disposal (i.e. destruction OR delivery to a person who
can lawfully take custody of them, e.g. licensed staff at the Royal Botanic
Garden, Kew ) as soon as is reasonably practicable and holds them in
accordance with that purpose.

...and

If you do not know what the fungus is and have no reason to suspect
that it is a controlled drug then it is lawful to collect it and hold it for
identification. If it proves to be a species known to contain psilocin or
esters of psilocin then it should either be destroyed or forwarded (as
soon as possible) to a person who is lawfully able to hold the material.
It is important to label material correctly.

Why must we destroy it?! What is going on with today's state of affairs

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

That's extremely humorous- I can just envisage the new hippy trend where they're all after masses of the two Rickenella species listed.

Maybe I've misinterpreted that document Mel, but surely the following items are perhaps a little over the top?;



...and



Why must we destroy it?! What is going on with today's state of affairs

Fungi seem to have a habit of destroying themselves rather too readily ... In fact the one I'd picked and pulled apart to identify had dried to an almost invisible size anyway by the time I'd finished ...

It's bad law, rushed through rather too quickly without applying much common sense.

Melanie

[eeyore]

its probably so people who do have them in their possesion for narcotic purposes cant claim that they "didnt know what it was gov , i was just like keepining it to look up an that , innit geezer"

Its doubtful that the police would bother a mycologist who clearly wasnt ingesting the produce - on the other hand if the catch you drying a load of aminita ( Ive probably got that wrong - the red ones with white spots) in your oven, you will have some explaining to do

[NickCantle]

If I ever got hassled by the Police whilst I was investigating some specimens, I'd promptly flash my ABFG membership card and put on my geek accent and start talking about spores.

They'd scarper, rest assured.

[SheffieldLass]

Panaeolus semiovatus, on horse dung. I left the biggest insitu, it would have been a shame to pick. The paper on which I photographed them was A4, gives an idea of size ...





Melanie

[NickCantle]

Ok, I see what you mean! They're mahooooooosive!