Unidentified creamy coffee coloured mushroom found in January

[ianmichaels]

Hi,
I’m trying to identify this type of Mushroom which recently appeared in on grassy verges in parts of London near park beech trees, I thought this was a bit unusual in this cold weather. About 9 cms diameter when picked a day ago in cold weather they were light creamy, both top and gills, now they’ve darkened to a coffee colour. It smells lightly mushroomy.
It is extremely like this photograph which was diagnosed as field blewit (Lepista personata).
Large coffee coloured in grass

Like this it has a very sturdy stem and the gills are coffee coloured however it doesn’t have the pink marks on the stipe just a pale creamy colour. Is it possible the field blewit can come in a simple creamy colour.

It also looks similar to this which was diagnosed as wood blewit (Lepista nuda).
https://mycotopia.net/forums/wild-mu...d-blewits.html
however he mentions when the stipe is cut it is very fruity however as mentioned this smells mushroomy.

Cheers.

[Brisfung]

Ian
From the description and the comparison photo it could be Lepista saeva, the Field Blewit: this species has been exceptionally abundant in the Bristol area, especially in urban park and hedgerow sites, since mid November (I found 2 fresh specimens at Crox Bottom, in South Bristol, only yesterday, despite the frosts).
Justin

[mollisia]

Hello,

identifying mushrooms by foto is usually not that easy. But identifying mushrooms WITHOUT foto is something nearly impossible. The comparism with other that look alike is a good aid when you have an additional foto, just to see whether the colours are true etc. But otherwise it is not very helpful.
You say e.g. the gills were coffee coloured. What means "coffee coloured"? Coloured like coffee beans or coffee in a cup? That would be nearly black, so you should have an Agaricus or an I-dont-know-what. Fungi with blackish gills and the size and shape of Field Blewitt do not exist in Europe, as far as I know. Or did you mean coffee with milk? If so, the colour varies considerably according to the amount of milk you have in the coffee .... But be it as it is, whether with or without milk, "coffee coloured" is definitely a kind of (achromatic) brown. And this colour would`not fit to Field Blewitt, which has much lighter coloured gills, with a tint towards bluish-violetish and becoming slightly flesh-colourd (with a pinkish hue) - but nothing like coffee coloured. So you might have as well a Hebeloma species (there is a Hebeloma hiemale: "hiemalis" means " in winter") or may be even a Cortinarius. Or may be indeed a Field Blewitt with unusual gill colour, or, or, or ....

best regards,
Andreas

[ianmichaels]

The following are the images but were taken a day after picking and have darkened to a coffee colour.

[mollisia]

Hello,

with the first two looks upon your foto and the other from underside (see below), I thought this should be the miller (Clitopilus prunulus). But the gills attachment tells, that you probably have right with those being Field Blewitts, completely dried out now. At least I would opt for the genus Lepista. In my opinion it could also well be Lepista luscina.

best regards,
Andreas

[ianmichaels]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hello,

identifying mushrooms by foto is usually not that easy. But identifying mushrooms WITHOUT foto is something nearly impossible. The comparism with other that look alike is a good aid when you have an additional foto, just to see whether the colours are true etc. But otherwise it is not very helpful.
You say e.g. the gills were coffee coloured. What means "coffee coloured"? Coloured like coffee beans or coffee in a cup? That would be nearly black, so you should have an Agaricus or an I-dont-know-what. Fungi with blackish gills and the size and shape of Field Blewitt do not exist in Europe, as far as I know. Or did you mean coffee with milk? If so, the colour varies considerably according to the amount of milk you have in the coffee .... But be it as it is, whether with or without milk, "coffee coloured" is definitely a kind of (achromatic) brown. And this colour would`not fit to Field Blewitt, which has much lighter coloured gills, with a tint towards bluish-violetish and becoming slightly flesh-colourd (with a pinkish hue) - but nothing like coffee coloured. So you might have as well a Hebeloma species (there is a Hebeloma hiemale: "hiemalis" means " in winter") or may be even a Cortinarius. Or may be indeed a Field Blewitt with unusual gill colour, or, or, or ....

best regards,
Andreas

Yea agreed sorry about that, but the board wouldn't accept my photos and I had to lower the resolution.
First time posting.

[ianmichaels]

Originally Posted by Brisfung

Ian
From the description and the comparison photo it could be Lepista saeva, the Field Blewit: this species has been exceptionally abundant in the Bristol area, especially in urban park and hedgerow sites, since mid November (I found 2 fresh specimens at Crox Bottom, in South Bristol, only yesterday, despite the frosts).
Justin

Thanks for that.
Don't know if you saw my photos below. but yea they seem to look very like the Lepista saeva except they don't have the strange bluey marks on the stipe.
Is it possible to have Lepista saeva without the exotic colouring?

[ianmichaels]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hello,

with the first two looks upon your foto and the other from underside (see below), I thought this should be the miller (Clitopilus prunulus). But the gills attachment tells, that you probably have right with those being Field Blewitts, completely dried out now. At least I would opt for the genus Lepista. In my opinion it could also well be Lepista luscina.

best regards,
Andreas

Lepista luscina

Rogers Mushrooms | Mushroom Pictures & Mushroom Reference

Thanks very much, that’s interesting the Lepista seems to be rare and Lepista luscina even rarer still, looks about right, seems to be a similar version of the field blewit but with out the different colours. However I’ve looked luscina up in But Rogersmushrooms.com and it gives it a few characteristics which I don’t understand.
Rogers Mushrooms - Lepista luscina Mushroom

It smells non mushroomy (this smells mushroomy??).
Smells of meal (what’s that??).
It mentions spots although not as marked on the other photos they’re seem to be few on one mushroom. Think they only appeared after it dried.
It does looks like the following Luscina except the top was shiny.
http://www.hannoverpilze.de/fotos/La...scinaKlein.JPG
some others:
Fungus Gallery :: Lepista :: NIKB2983
Lepista luscina
Again the top was very smooth and shiny and there are no or very few spots on mine

It also could be Lepista irina but that has a slight hump in the centre.
Lepista irina
http://www.cegep-sept-iles.qc.ca:808...ista_irina.jpg
It does appear to be of the genus Lepista anyway, although its hard to determine which one as they are so rare, they’re aren’t entries for most of these sub types.
some good picts of lepista here:
Fungus Gallery :: Lepista

Best Regards
Ian

[fairplay]

Just to be boring: In Germany, Lepista luscina may be the accepted name, but it appears that in Britain, the name is a nomen dubium, ie, not a valid name, and that it should be Lepista panaeolus instead.

Neil.

[mollisia]

Hello Ian,

"The Lepista" doesn't exist: Lepista is a genus of several species. Some of these species are common, like L. nuda (Wood Blewitt), L. sordida, some are uncommon like L. saeva, L. irina, L. panaeolus/luscina and some are rare like L. martiorum, L. densifolia, L. caespitosum, L. ricekii etc.etc.

What concerns L. luscina, so this taxon is not seen as an independent species by all mycologist. Especially the dutch think that L. panaeolus and L. luscina are synoynmous. If you have the extrem typicals for both, they are quite different: L. panaeolus grey, with droplets ("marks") on the cap, stout fruitbodies vs. L. luscina creamy to whitish, no marks on the cap, usually somewhat more slender. But as it is said, that intermediates occure, they are lumped together by many. As I know the L. panaeolus quite well, from calcareous pastures and heath-land on lime, always growing in rows and circles, I hesitate to synonymize the whitish, slender L. luscina (which looks on first and second glance very much like Clitocybe phyllophila!)
Yours could well be such an intermediate: colours and missing marks as L. luscina, stout fruitbodies like in L. panaeolus. As I don't give too much on the shape of the fruitbodies, I would tentatively name that one L. luscina -IF the microscopical details don't contradict!

L. luscina I ahve only met inside of forest or at their border, in thickets, in bushes, but never in open grassland.
Here a foto of what I call L. luscina, from an area with calcareous sand dunes (only site in Germany with that ecologycomparable to Hungarian Puszta)



best regards,
Andreas

edit: Neil just mentiones what I say in my thread too: L. luscina is not seen as independent by all mycologist, and I will remember from now on that it's not only the dutch, but also the british (and the scandinavian too, I suppose, and possible half of the germans too ...)