Agaricus key

[lipase]

Hi,

I'm currently pretty desperate to locate some keys. I don't know how easy this is to do for an amateur as opposed to someone who is a professional or even a student. I've downloaded all the keys from the britmycolsoc2.org resource section but I'm more specifically, at the moment, looking for an Agaricus key. Does anyone know how I can get hold of keys like this?

Is this a stupid question to ask? ie are they hard to get hold of and do they even exist?!

The reason I am looking for an Agaricus key is that I've found this mushroom under what I think is a red berried evergreen but broad-leaved shrub (I'm no good with plants yet), I don't know whether this should be viewed as deciduous as in the descriptions for A. langei and A. haemorrhoidarius or whether it counts as coniferous as in the descriptions for A. silvaticus.

Here's a photo if anyone has any insight !



Thanks,

Jack

[lipase]

Ok, thanks to a fellow WABer and a newly aquired key I have now managed to eliminate A. langei with an amount of certainty. A. langei, unlike the fruitbodies I picked, doesn't have a bulbous base to the stipe, doesn't have brown scales on the stipe below the ring, does flush red throughout the full fruitbody (as opposed to just the top of the stipe and cap).

According to 'The checklist of fungi of the British Isles' A. haemorrhoidarius doesn't exist as a seperate species from A. silvaticus which would explain why this key doesn't include 'A. haemorrhoidarius'.

Bulbous stipe base:


Brown scales on stipe below the ring:


Cog-like ring and a upwardly peeling ring (not necessarily distiguishing it from A. langei):


Thanks,

Jack

PS. More keys would really be appreciated and particularly hints on how to get hold of other keys! Now that I have an Agaricus key the next two on my list are a key to the Bolete fungi and after todays very frustrating find near our apple tree, a key to Armillaria species!

[Ditiola]

Hi
Are you using a microscope? I am assuming you are if you are keying out Agaricus species, as they are not easy to separate without a microscope.

If so why not save up for a copy of Fungi Nordica. This has keys to all the gilled fungi. It does cost around £80 but you also get a copy of Mycorec which on its own retails at £50. It is synoptic computer keys to fungi genera and comes complete with 3000 photographs. This makes Fungi Nordica about £20 a bargain for 950 pages of up-to-date keys for all the genera of Agarics

Peter

[fairplay]

Summerfield books now charge £95.

Neil.

[Ditiola]

Thanks Neil it’s gone up since I bought mine, and did you spot my simple maths error? 80 minus 50 is 30 (not 20). I should not post late at night!

Therefore at £95 If you take of £50 for Mycorec = £45 for the book part Perhaps not such a bargain as I thought but still an indispensible work for any serious mycologist.

Peter

[lipase]

Originally Posted by Ditiola

Hi
Are you using a microscope? I am assuming you are if you are keying out Agaricus species, as they are not easy to separate without a microscope.

If so why not save up for a copy of Fungi Nordica. This has keys to all the gilled fungi. It does cost around £80 but you also get a copy of Mycorec which on its own retails at £50. It is synoptic computer keys to fungi genera and comes complete with 3000 photographs. This makes Fungi Nordica about £20 a bargain for 950 pages of up-to-date keys for all the genera of Agarics

Peter

Hi Peter,

For now I have to rely on macroscopic identification because the microscope I have at the moment doesn't work at the right magnification to be accurate enough for measuring spores etc. I suppose I could still see the general shape of basidia etc on a lower magnification but it's not ideal.

Once I feel I have the money I'll probably invest in a microscope, but something like Funga Nordica might be something I could afford now as a one off purchase if it is useful to have without a microscope as well as with one?

Thanks a lot,
Jack

[Ditiola]

Jack
I have not tried to use the keys with macroscopical features alone. I think you may soon get frustrated with not being able to complete the keying process, and it’s a lot of money to spend to end up frustrated. Unless someone else has some experience of using it successfully without a microscope.

Peter

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by lipase

Hi Peter,

For now I have to rely on macroscopic identification because the microscope I have at the moment doesn't work at the right magnification to be accurate enough for measuring spores etc. I suppose I could still see the general shape of basidia etc on a lower magnification but it's not ideal.

Once I feel I have the money I'll probably invest in a microscope, but something like Funga Nordica might be something I could afford now as a one off purchase if it is useful to have without a microscope as well as with one?

Thanks a lot,
Jack

What is the maximum magnification of your microscope?

Melanie

[lipase]

The strongest lens is x100 and the eye pieces add another x10. This level doesn't seem to work though since the lens hits the coverslip before focussing. Perhaps there's a good reason for why it does this, the guy who lent it me says it's quite a good microscope or atleast it was when it was new.

The x40 lens works OK though giving x400 presumably with the eye pieces but basidiospores seem to appear quite small and impossible to measure accurately.

Jack

[flaxton]

Jack
The 100x lens is almost certainly oil immersion when you tried to use it did you use oil?

Mal