a realy basic aid to fungi identification??

the naturelover · #1 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 01:14 PM

Afternoon all. As you are all aware i am pretty bad at identifying fungi. I am forever making basic crass mistakes. some of you have pointed out the obvious ones to me for which i am grateful. Although i have loads of books and of course the web they all assume some sort of basic identification skills. normally to get you to a species. Then they are fine. good pictures or graphics and great descriptions for sites and specific characteristics for that fungus.
However my question is does anyone know of a VERY BASIC flowchart to id?? the sort of thing i am thinking of is does it have gills yes/no. if yes go to this section if no go to this section. does it have a ring yes/no. etc. In order to get you to a genre/species.
I know this would help me and possibly other novices greatly.
regards tn.

the naturelover · #2 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 01:46 PM

sorry meant genus not genre

treecreeper · #3 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 02:44 PM

If you can get hold of it, the original Roger Phillips book (Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe) has a one-page key based on spore colour and simple physical characteristics. It quickly gets you to genus or small group of genera. The key is not included in the new edition.

SheffieldLass · #4 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 07:06 PM

You can download this one for free. It should help direct you in the right direction for the agarics and boleti. It does go into microscopic details in places, but you can very quickly narrow things down to a small number of genera without going into that detail

Resources

It isn't perfect though .... for example some Tricholoma have slight cobweblike veils, but that isn't picked up. And Marasmius is missed off the white spored small fungi lists.

Melanie

Lancashire Lad · #5 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 07:21 PM

I found this recently, which might be what you require.
http://sotonnhs.org/docs/FUNGI%20KEY%20UPDATE.rtf
(I haven't actually tried keying anything out with it).
It is actually a download document, and you may get a message asking if you want to continue when you click on the link, which originally comes from here: -
http://sotonnhs.org/fungikey.asp

There is also a free interactive key (for gilled fungi only) on the Mycokey website. (A licence for the full version can be purchased if needed).
MycoKeys online Morphing Mushroom Identifier (MMI) quickstart

There is also this: -
http://www.field-studies-council.org...aspx?Code=OP80

Regards,
Mike.

Ron Nash · #6 (**permalink**) 06-10-2010, 09:47 PM

Lancashire Lad,

I'm with you on the struggle to identify fungi; the best book I've found for basic identification is 'Collins gem Mushrooms'. A good guide at the front; and easy to slip into the pocket; I got mine, post free, from Amazon.
The local, large, book retailers don't seem to have heard that it's the autumn fungi season!

Ron.

the naturelover · #7 (**permalink**) 07-10-2010, 09:01 PM

thankyou thankyou thankyou. these look to fit the bill perfectly. will let you know how i get on using them.
As an aside i decided to go it alone tonight. No posts to the forum. thought i would try waxcaps from the past 3 days. easy i thought. HOW WRONG CAN YOU BE. its a minefield. Then i decided to move some common puffballs into the folder but noticed didn't look the same then looking closely at what i had in my folder called common puffballs. there were quite a few that appeared different. he ho. Had a wonderful day out taking pickies in this beautiful weather. regards tn

jonbem · #8 (**permalink**) 07-10-2010, 09:41 PM

in a bit of an impish mode, can I suggest a small dictionary that includes the word "really"?

Or am I just at an age where as a small child they taught English with suitable punctuation? (???) and pennies and inches came in multiples of twelve?

NickCantle · #9 (**permalink**) 07-10-2010, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonbem

in a bit of an impish mode, can I suggest a small dictionary that includes the word "really"?

Or am I just at an age where as a small child they taught English with suitable punctuation? (???) and pennies and inches came in multiples of twelve?

Impish indeed, very picky. Behave Jon

jonbem · #10 (**permalink**) 07-10-2010, 10:08 PM

cheers Nick
'tis also true that due to ever nearing senility, a warped brain function and having fat fingers, my typing often leads to incrrectly posted words, which some may consider "disleckseeya"

My mind drifts back to Eric Morecambe & Andre Previn; "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order" - a classic!

Jon