Does anyone know anything about mushrooms?

sashh · 2023-12-12T04:00:10+00:00

I occasionally get inkcap mushrooms n my garden but these have appeared. Can anyone identify them?

YireosDodeAver · 12/12/2023 04:33

Things I know about mushrooms:

Never try to identify a mushroom from a photograph. There are many species that look very similar to each other with wildly different properties.

The bulk of the mushroom being is underground. The caps we eat are just like tips of tentacles that are reached up into the air to send out spores in a similar way to plants producing flowers to send out seeds and pollen. So if you pick mushrooms but don't disturb the ground you will get more mushrooms growing there regularly.

Original poster

sashh · 12/12/2023 04:50

Don't worry I'm not going to eat them.

I do know about the most being underneath, the inkcaps started in a 'fairy ring' in the centre of the garden and gradually the ring got wider and wider.

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Sauerkrautsandwich · 12/12/2023 05:00

Pretty sure that's false parasol.
Looks a lot like the widely eaten bigger parasol (you can make like fake schnitzel out of it) but this one is poisonous. Catches some people out.

SD1978 · 12/12/2023 05:03

Don't serve them to the in-laws......that's about the extent of my knowledge.

BehemothWatermelon · 12/12/2023 05:06

Potentially a pheasant back? needs a lot more pics, close up, and underneath.
All UK mushrooms are safe to handle so don't worry about that. Not all safe to eat of course.

3luckystars · 12/12/2023 05:10

YireosDodeAver · 12/12/2023 04:33

Things I know about mushrooms:

Never try to identify a mushroom from a photograph. There are many species that look very similar to each other with wildly different properties.

The bulk of the mushroom being is underground. The caps we eat are just like tips of tentacles that are reached up into the air to send out spores in a similar way to plants producing flowers to send out seeds and pollen. So if you pick mushrooms but don't disturb the ground you will get more mushrooms growing there regularly.

I have always had a distrust of mushrooms but that has sealed the deal.
Tentacles!!! 😮

Original poster

sashh · 12/12/2023 05:15

The nearest I could see on a guide was freckled dapperling. Which is also poisonous.

@Sauerkrautsandwich do I need to worry about it if it is poisonous?

There are no children in the house and I don't think the cat is interested.

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Sauerkrautsandwich · 12/12/2023 05:22

No. Totally no worry as long as you don't eat it. They are absolutely fine to be left alone. Or if you wnat to start reducing them, keep picking them young and disturb soil.
We always had inedible mushrooms in a garden as well and had cats and dogs. They left them alone.

Igneococcus · 12/12/2023 05:25

Assuming you're in the UK there shouldn't be much else than blewits around at the moment, which are edible,
If you find a young one you could have a look at the gills, blewit gills have a purplish hue to them.

Igneococcus · 12/12/2023 05:42

I'm not saying you should eat them just based on the colour of their gills, btw.

KenAdams · 12/12/2023 08:29

Need a closer pic of the cap and the underside first

Original poster

sashh · 12/12/2023 08:40

Well it's raining heavily, I'll try to get better pics when it is dryer.

BTW where / how do you learn to identify them?

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EdithStourton · 12/12/2023 08:46

sashh · 12/12/2023 08:40

Well it's raining heavily, I'll try to get better pics when it is dryer.

BTW where / how do you learn to identify them?

Books on mushrooms.
FB pages.

We need more photos...
But from what we can see, false parasol.

Sauerkrautsandwich · 12/12/2023 09:00

BTW where / how do you learn to identify them?

Encyclopedias, experienced elders, now internet even annual articles in newspapers. We used to have like 7 books at home because where I grew up everyone forages. And if we weren't sure, there was ex forester's wife living few houses down.

There are foraging groups all over uk now and they have some well knowledgeable people.

Original poster

sashh · 13/12/2023 06:01

If its dry I'll take more pictures, should I pick one to take the pics?

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Igneococcus · 13/12/2023 06:43

Yes, pick one and take a picture of the gills and the stem.

Original poster

sashh · 14/12/2023 06:34

OK photos of picked very ugly makes me think it is the start of a horror film mushroom.

Does anyone know anything about mushrooms?

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Sauerkrautsandwich · 14/12/2023 06:40

Yeah parasol. But I would say not the tasty one most likely

Original poster

sashh · 14/12/2023 06:59

Thank you, I've googled parasol and it looks very similar, only these have a dent right in the centre, I don't know if that's normal.

Having seen it up close now I would not eat it even if you told me it was the most delicious thing on the planet.

It really is the thing of nightmares.

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Exasperatednow · 14/12/2023 07:03

I dida mushroom foraging course in November. It was lots of fun especially as the course leader declared this one poisonous or another deadly poisonous. We also learnt how to test for the poisonous ones. We did find some edible ones as well!

EBearhug · 14/12/2023 07:20

There are some good online sites.
https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/

Your local wildlife trust might do a course.

Original poster

sashh · 14/12/2023 08:45

@Exasperatednow I'd love to do foraging but I don't think it is compatible with a wheelchair.

@EBearhug That's the site I was looking at too.

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Igneococcus · 14/12/2023 09:40

There are also some good Youtubers making videos about mushroom foraging. dp watches some guy called the Bead Hermit and another one called Marlo(w), worth checking them out.
We go foraging but we only eat shrooms we are absolutely certain about and that don't have a lookalike that is poisonous, like chanterelles, or chicken of the wood and hedgehog mushrooms (my favourite mushroom).
Our best hedgehog mushroom spot is along the long driveway up to a very fancy hotel, that would be totally doable in a wheelchair.