Fungus for id

[FungiJohn]

I remember the comment made by Nick on this image



John

[moira567]

this is the most interesting of debates. I found more this morning some had white stems some pink. some were a darker pink than the first ones I found. Seems I need an expert to come and look but don't know how to find one. I live in Redhill, Surrey if anyone knows an expert forager in the area.

[Fungalpunk]

As Ken says this a 'get a feeling' species and after foraying in the New Forest last year and finding loads of rosea and pura growing within the same woodland it seemed there were obvious differences between the different sets of troops. I haven't seen anything resembling rosea up this end but have seen a plentiful supply of pura. By the way whilst foraying at Tatton I have found pura to be growing in grassy areas at least 75 feet away from beech trees. When they are washed out this can be quite a head-scratching moment. I have recently found Mycena diosma which had me pondering pura but after the cap had dried to give the two tone effect and receiving external confirmation could I be happy with the ID. The smell of fags should have got me closer to the species but there you go.

Fungalpunk Dave

[mollisia]

Originally Posted by ManwithNoname

Reports of cases of poisoning can be clouded with uncertainty over identification of the species actually consumed and, in some cases, a lack of clarity over which species actually caused the symptoms because several species have been eaten at once.

However, in Mushrooms: poisons and panaceas, there is a report of a case in France in the early 1990s where a couple suffered supected muscarine poisoning after eating about 500g of what was identified as Mycena pura var. rosea. Symptoms included sweating, salivation, bradycardia, hypotension, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. 500g would represent quite a lot of mushrooms of this species.

Again, you have to assume that someone reliably identified these as Mycena rosea otherwise it could just have easily have been Mycena pura which caused the symptoms. I guess in France there might be more chance of a reliable identification than in this country, because there are many more people trained to identify mushrooms. I wonder whether the couple had kept a few spare specimens for someone to check, just in case?

Because the two species are closely related and can be difficult to distinguish, personally I think eating either species would be a risky thing to do... unless you want a chance of experiencing muscarine poisoning first hand.

Hello,

I can reported a definitvely correct identified case of poisoning with Mycena rosea, occured here in our town three years ago. The man brought them to recieve advise after he had poisended himself. The symptomes were typical for Muscarin: Sweating, problems with the eyes (no distance control, hypercoloration). We asked him, why he did eat those fungi or what he thought they could be and he told as that he knew the "Russula-rule" (= all Russula species are edible if mild). And as those Mycena rosea were easily breaking into pieces, he thought that must be some sort of Russula and as they were mild he collected them ....
So, please always try to disrupt the stipe lengthwise to check if a fungus is a Russula or not. Don't try the gills, that might give wrong results! Older Tricholoma saponaceum also have easily breaking gill, b.t.w..

best regards,
Andreas