Confirmations / ID Help Please

[Lancashire Lad]

Found these yesterday: -

No.1 - Possibly Burgundydrop Bonnet - Mycena haematopus?
Caps about 15mm across, stipes up to 70mm tall.


No.2 - (Main Group) - Clustered Bonnet - Mycena inclinata?
Clustered on a rotting log, largest caps about 30mm across, stipes about 60-70mm tall.


No.3 - A Psilocybe perhaps?
Growing in sheep grazed grassland, scattered singly or in small groups over a wide area, mostly very small, but a few larger caps dotted around.
Largest cap in second photo 30mm, stipe heights about 40-60mm max.


No.4 - Not sure at all on this.
A single specimen found in same area as those in No.3 above.
Cap about 15mm across, stipe heigh about 70mm.
Note distinctly bluish colouration with very black edges on gills.


Any confirmations or pointers towards ID muc appreciated.

Regards,
Mike.

[cybershot]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Found these yesterday: -

No.1 - Possibly Burgundydrop Bonnet - Mycena haematopus?
Caps about 15mm across, stipes up to 70mm tall.


Any confirmations or pointers towards ID muc appreciated.

Regards,
Mike.

A lovely image Mike and if after capturing it you had broken a stem the brown-red fluid exuded would have confirmed your ID. (Other pointers to look out for with this species are the overhanging skirt-like cap rim and the powdery covering on the stem)

[ManwithNoname]

Number 2 is indeed Mycena inclinata.

Number 3 is an Entoloma. Note the pink shading of the gills of the larger upturned specimen, from the ripening spores, and that the gills are attached to the stem (Pluteus has pink spores but gills that are free from the stem).

Number 4 is an Entoloma with (unusually) sufficient information in the photo to hazard an identification. The dark blue gill edge narrows things down considerably. The stem also looks fibrillose, rather than smooth (i.e. it lacks a polished appearance), and it has a bluish tone. The cap looks dark brown now, but with a hint of dark blue, particularly at the edges. So I'd go for Entoloma serrulatum.

[cybershot]

It's great to see these collections guys - I've just walked the length and breadth of Yateley Common Country Park between Blackbushe to Blackwater and spotted nothing save a few manky Piptoporus. Can't believe the lack of fungal activity - by the time I got home I'd have been grateful for an outbreak of athlete's foot! (Apologies to Nick for stealng his punch line )

David

[Lancashire Lad]

Thanks David & ManwithNoname, much appreciated.

EDIT - Just been browsing for the Entoloma. According to what I've got so far, Pimple Pinkgill - Entoloma hebes seems to be a spot on match.

Regards,
Mike.

[ManwithNoname]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

EDIT - Just been browsing for the Entoloma. According to what I've got so far, Pimple Pinkgill - Entoloma hebes seems to be a spot on match.

You must have better eyesight than me. I can't quite make out from the photo the hyphal structure of the cap cuticle, whether there are cystidia on the gill edge, what shape the cystidia are, or the shape and size of the spores.

Unfortunately, Entoloma is one of those genera that you can't easily do from a photograph, because many species can look macroscopically very similar... and the species can be quite tough to key out even with all the relevant microscopic information. (And you should treat photographs on websites with suspicion if it looks like they have been identified without microscopic details.)

On habitat alone I would have to raise a query with Entoloma hebes because that is a woodland species and you said you found your specimens in grassland. It wouldn't rule that species out but you would certainly need more evidence to put it on a list of possibilities.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by ManwithNoname

....You must have better eyesight than me.....

Hi ManwithNoname,

Apologies if it came across that way, but I didn’t intend my comment to come across as glib, or a definitive ID statement, but just to say that Entoloma hebes looked spot on as far as what I’d been able to find out, which was: -

# E.hebes (according to Phillips) is both a grassland as well as a woodland species.
# Along with a few others, E.hebes is described with a prominent umbo, as opposed to a slight umbo, where several others would be contenders.
# Of those that I'd looked at with prominent umbo’s, none, other than E.hebes, were described as being dark sepia, drying to pale ochre-tan. (There were a few pale tan coloured dry specimens about), with umbo darker brown.
# E.hebes - Gills whitish becoming pale pinkish-brown.
# E.hebes - Fine white down at base of stipe. (Not shown on my photo’s but the fungi had this).

I know these macroscopic features alone won’t be conclusive, but following on from your original ID steer, they certainly narrow the field down from the full gamut of Entolomas.
Unfortunately I don’t have the equipment or knowledge to carry out microscope based examination, but hopefully, am making the most realistic ID attempts that macroscopic clues will allow.

Regards,
Mike.

[ManwithNoname]

Ah for the days when Roger Phillips seemed to have all the answers. It seems such a long time ago. Going back even further, there was just Lange and Hora - Collins Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools. It was nice and easy when you could just pick from a few species. Probably doesn't mean much to most on the WAB fungi forums these days, but life seemed a lot simpler back then.

[flaxton]

You just mentioned my first two books MWNN. Both are looking a little worse for wear now.

Mal