Pretty colour unknown fungus

lynnek · #1 (**permalink**) 10-12-2011, 04:49 PM

Any idea what this is?

Chris Yeates · #2 (**permalink**) 10-12-2011, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynnek

Any idea what this is?

yes I have, thank you

(check out Help us to help you identify fungi )

I think just posting an image - often with nothing more than the title - is a teeency bit cheeky Lynne . . . . . .

diggleken · #3 (**permalink**) 10-12-2011, 08:47 PM

it really does help to have sufficient detail

.............have you more shots, habitat, trees etc.
Leccinum, one of the Birch Boletes I think, though there are larch/pinus about.
Cheers
Ken

fairplay · #4 (**permalink**) 10-12-2011, 11:52 PM

It's usually me that makes the abrupt remark Lynne, but it is easy to see why Chris made his comment.

It's like this: First of all, experience tells us it is a Leccinum species, which has tubes instead of gills (even though we cannot see them in your photo), but next we have to look carefully at those dark 'speckles' on the stem and decide if they are reddish/brown, dark reddish/brown, dark grey/black, 'dark', same colour as cap, brown/blackish-grey, or dark brown - these are all descriptions of different types of Leccinum from just one book, i.e. Collins complete guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools.

Then we have to look very carefully at your photo to be sure what colour the cap is, and then we have to look to see what clues there may be in the photo, which could be a clay or sandy type soil, whether it seems dry or water logged, and most important (because Leccinum species are mycorrhizal with trees) see if we can tell if in a deciduous wood or conifer wood or a more difficult mixed woodland setting.

I can see 2 leaved pine needles which tells me Scots Pine or Corsican Pine is nearby, but I can also see deciduous tree leaves and I need to know which tree they belong to. Unfortunately it is not easy to see enough detail to be sure which tree.

I cannot decide what colour those 'speckles' on the stem are, so I shall pass on this one.

Neil.

lynnek · #5 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 08:06 AM

I was just looking through some old photos and hoped the colour might be distinctive. Photo taken on St Catherines Hill in Dorset in September. This is an area with all sorts of pine and deciduous trees.
Thanks anyway but please just don't answer at all if all you can do is be sarcastic! Didn't start my Sunday off vey well.
I do appreciate the advice and will try in future to look for more pointers!

hamadryad · #6 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 09:00 AM

I suspect leccinum versipelle, but it is just that suspicion.

flaxton · #7 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 09:09 AM

I think we would all go with that with the information we have.

Mal

lynnek · #8 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 09:15 AM

Thanks. Looks good to me when "googling" pictures.

fairplay · #9 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 09:41 AM

Lynne,
Please tell me you didn't think my comment was in any way sarcastic, all I was trying to do is explain why Chris would have been frustrated at yet another recent post where just a photo is sent with a 'hope for the best'.

I was just trying to give you a 'feel' for the process we have to undertake which at times can be quite a tedious affair.

Imaging a stranger coming up to you saying "Hi Lynne, how are you" ?
You may reply "Where do I know you from" ? Then he/she goes on to explain how you met at the so and so party the other month and was wearing fancy dress whatever. You put 2 and 2 together - that's usually how it works with fungi.

Neil.

EDIT: I have just caught up with your other post 'Some kind of Jelly Fungus'? and see Ditiola (Peter) has already tried explaining why more detail is sometimes needed.

watsthat · #10 (**permalink**) 11-12-2011, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynnek

Thanks. Looks good to me when "googling" pictures.

Good morning Lynne; I`m a recent newcomer and was at first trying to match up on line pictures with my finds. However; I have since learned that there is much much more to it than that. I have noticed a theme with posts from beginners in this field with comments like "looks good to me" and I wonder if some people just want to give their finds a name and put them to bed. Of course books and on line pictures are a useful source of back up information and quite often you can say "my find is probably xxxxxxx" but just bear in mind the numbers and complexities of the fungal world that make 100% identification difficult.

Cheers

Pete