Help needed to ID fungi

[pleb]

Any help appreciated in identifying these fungi. I want to put the photos in my blog and WAB help will be acknowledged.







They were growing in sheltered woodlands near Plymouth.

Regards,
phil

[Iona F]

Hi,

It's always a lot easier to identify things, with pictures of the gills and stipe aswell, and a spore print's always useful. Don't regard this as any sort of definitive ID, particularly on the middle one... That said, it looks to me like you have:

1. Clitocybe nebularis

2. Either Clitocybe gibba or Lepista flaccida. (I am on my own personal mission to learn to macroscopically identify these two, and not too confident, but I'll plump for L. flaccida until my microscope arrives )

3. Rhodocollybia butyracea.

Sure someone will be along soon to confirm or correct!

[fairplay]

Can I do the honours ?

Neil.

[pleb]

Thanks for the help with ID's which is very useful.

My strength is wild flowers and ferns and my knowledge of fungi is poor but I am seeing lots of fungi around at the moment and I like taking photos so maybe I will learn something!. Thanks also for the advice re recording details of gills and stipe. Out of curiosity, do you need a high power microscope for examining spores? I have a low power binocular microscope, x20 and x40, (or x80 if I change the eyepieces) which I have been using for looking at lichens.

Phil

[Iona F]

Originally Posted by fairplay

Can I do the honours ?

Neil.

Depends, are you confirming or correcting?

[Iona F]

Originally Posted by pleb

Thanks for the help with ID's which is very useful.

My strength is wild flowers and ferns and my knowledge of fungi is poor but I am seeing lots of fungi around at the moment and I like taking photos so maybe I will learn something!. Thanks also for the advice re recording details of gills and stipe. Out of curiosity, do you need a high power microscope for examining spores? I have a low power binocular microscope, x20 and x40, (or x80 if I change the eyepieces) which I have been using for looking at lichens.

Phil

I'm just at the point of getting a microscope, and have been lucky enough to play with the ones at the Angela Marmont centre at the Natural History Museum. My understanding of it so far is that you can look at some interesting aspects of fungi at a lower level of magnification, but to really get to grips with the fine details you need a 1000x oil immersion lens. Worth it enough for me to be saving up to suppliment my families contributions for my 30th...

in my experience there are a lot of fungi that are fairly easy to ID from macroscopic features, and then others that will do your head in for days before you finally get there... and then others that you just can't do without the scope!

Essentially I think anyone finding their feet in mycology is opening themselves up to a lifetime of frustration mixed with joy!

Happy hunting

[Ditiola]

Hi

Generally you only need to magnify just enough to see the detail you need to see as when you magnify more you loose depth of field.

For much of mycology 400x is fine, but to see the fine detail such as the ornamentation on spores a 1000x (oil immersion) lens is needed. Also when measuring spores etc. the larger the magnification the more accurate the measurement.

To measure with a microscope you will need a measuring graticule in one of the eyepiece’s this is then calibrated using a stage micrometer (a microscope with microscopical scale (microns) engraved onto it.

Within reason try to get one as good as you can afford. My first microscope was very cheep one and I struggled to see what I needed to see and it nearly put me off microscope work until I borrowed a better one and suddenly everything became much easier. So I saved up for a better one and have not regretted it.

Peter

[pleb]

Thanks for all that useful advice.

If I could pick your brains for one last point. What if I only wanted to accurately identify to genus level? Could I get by without high magnification and is there a book you could recommend. At present I only have an old copy of 'Mushrooms' by Roger Phillips.

phil

[fairplay]

Originally Posted by Iona F

Depends, are you confirming or correcting?

Confirming everything you said Iona ! And despite a few tips recently on how to distinguish between Lepista flaccida and Clioctbe gibba (formerly C. infunibuliformis and believed now to be called Infundiclitocybe gibba ) I STILL struggle to separate the two in the field.

Neil.

[pleb]

Pictures are now on my blog. Thanks to all of you who commented.

phil