£ fungi for help with ID

[jaybie]

A bit of a mix here ..

#1 - found under oak cap about 6cm across (pos. Blusher but could it be A. excelsa? that is of course if it is Amanita)



#2 - found on side of the path at the edge of mixed woodland cap of largest about 15mm across (Galerina? pos. hypnorum)



#3 - found amongst birch with cap about 4cm across (Russula? pos. claroflava)



All help gratefully received, my uneducated guesses in brackets- hopefully I have got the genus right but I am not at all sure with #1

JohnB

[NickCantle]

Hiya mate,

The first is certainly Amanita, so you're right there. It looks like quite an intact specimen so it may be A. rubescens but A. excelsa could also be a possibility. Bruising colour is key here, and it doesn't look like there's much damage to the specimen to look at.

The second, with those pink gills, is more likely to be Entoloma I'd imagine. That sir is all I'm prepared to say on that matter

You could possibly be right on the last. The difference between R. ochroleuca and R. claroflava is sometimes hard to distinguish. Russula nibbling is a safe practice if performed correctly- nibble the edge of the gills to get an idea of taste. R. ochroleuca is a pretty bland tasting species, whereas R. claroflava is very tepid and hot to the taste, almost like capsicum. Just remember to spit out the nibbled bit! Another wonderful technique to separate the two is the smell- it's quite subjective however! Our Pauline (WAB's PMG) once showed me R. claroflava, broken up and told me to smell it. I didn't get anything at first but there was quite a distinctive and odd smell about it. It was stewed apples, just a faint smell, but it was there! I often have difficulty in separating the two because you can't rely on colour alone with the amount of rainfall in Autumn. Habitat varies too, but both can be found in a similar habitat occasionally.

Hope that helps,

Nick

[jaybie]

Hi Nick, thanks for the response it has given me a reminder of the things I need to be more thorough with. I will have to start taking a tick list to help my failing memory.

The Amanita has quite a bit of its gills eaten by some bug - would that cause a colour change or would I have to bruise the gills for that to happen?

I went for Galerina because of the moss it was growing in and bell shaped cap (Moss Bell - too obvious ) - does look similar to the E. conferendum in Phillips.

Interesting on the taste/smell for the Russula I will give that a try, hopefully I will be back at Budby in the near future or I might have to pester Pauline at Clumber for some training. Just a bit wary about sticking things in my mouth but if I'm not greedy should be OK

JohnB

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by jaybie

Interesting on the taste/smell for the Russula I will give that a try, hopefully I will be back at Budby in the near future or I might have to pester Pauline at Clumber for some training. Just a bit wary about sticking things in my mouth but if I'm not greedy should be OK

Will be good to see you at Clumber again

[Ken Burgess]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

The difference between R. ochroleuca and R. claroflava is sometimes hard to distinguish. Russula nibbling is a safe practice if performed correctly- nibble the edge of the gills to get an idea of taste. R. ochroleuca is a pretty bland tasting species, whereas R. claroflava is very tepid and hot to the taste, almost like capsicum.

Unfortunately taste of the flesh isn't actually going to be definitive in distinguishing between these two species. (In fact I've got out of the habit of tasting them so I can't really remember what they taste like.) Some key authors suggest that Russula claroflava tends to have a mild taste, while Russula ochroleuca can be from mild to somewhat acrid (although Phillips does say mild to slightly hot for R. claroflava). So there is considerable overlap.

The cap colour for Russula claroflava lacks the olivaceous tones of R. ochroleuca so it appears a brighter yellow, but this is quite difficult to appreciate when you don't have both species together.

For me, one of the key differences is that Russula claroflava has a deeper coloured spore print (ochre-yellow compared with cream for R. ochroleuca) and this is usually noticeable in mature specimens by gills that are a deeper colour in R. claroflava, being more ochre, while in R. ochroleuca the gills remain pale cream.

Also, mature specimens of R. claroflava will tend to bruise grey to blackish in places, which if present is quite distinctive.

The specimens here look like Russula ochroleuca to me.

Ken

[Ken Burgess]

Originally Posted by jaybie

Hi does look similar to the E. conferendum in Phillips.

That would be the most likely candidate. This species is easy to confirm by looking at the spores, which have a characteristic star-shaped appearance (hence the synonym Entoloma staurosporum).

Ken

[jaybie]

Thanks Ken for the information.

Next time I go I will collect the spore print and see if there is any difference between a couple of areas where these Russula appear.

Unfortunately I don't have a microscope so Entoloma sp. will do for now if that is the case.

JohnB

[NickCantle]

Oopsie