Mushroom Taxonomy with Michael Beug

[canid]

This a good one to show the confusion, and the reason every field guide you have ever read is out of date:

[RandyRhoads]

YOu should see this one I recently picked up. Mushrooming with Confidence.

http://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-Co.../dp/1620871955

I got it purely for the pretty pictures. Other than that I think it could get someone hurt or killed. IT provides simple checklist of 3-6 things and if it fits you can eat it with confidence. Pretty sure I could find several species that fit their checklist profile....

[Rick]

One of the many reasons I don't pick mushrooms.

[canid]

I'll check it out if I get a chance.

YOu should see this one I recently picked up. Mushrooming with Confidence.

http://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-Co.../dp/1620871955

I got it purely for the pretty pictures. Other than that I think it could get someone hurt or killed. IT provides simple checklist of 3-6 things and if it fits you can eat it with confidence. Pretty sure I could find several species that fit their checklist profile....

[canid]

One of the many reasons I don't pick mushrooms.

It shouldn't stop you from picking them. It ultimately effects almost nothing but what we call them, and how we think they are related to one another.

[RandyRhoads]

You going to be at the MSSF fungus fair this year Canid?

[canid]

I'd like to, but I can't say for sure.

Would you beleive to this day I've never joined a club? They totally deserve my $20/year.

[RandyRhoads]

You should! The Mycena news is cool. A neat little newspaper like deal with myco news, fun recipes and upcoming events.

[canid]

Maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list and see what santa thinks about that

[Rick]

It shouldn't stop you from picking them.

Didn't stop. Never started. I do pick morels but that's all I know so I don't mess with them.

[mountainmark]

Canid- I'll try to watch that if I can find the time. Thanks for posting it.

Rick- There are plenty of mushrooms out there that are harder to mis-identify then Morels. Maybe you should branch out a bit

[RandyRhoads]

[QUOTE=mountainmark;416391There are plenty of mushrooms out there that are harder to mis-identify then Morels.[/QUOTE]

Like what...? Amanita muscaria is the only thing I can think of that is immediately recognizable more than a morel...

[mountainmark]

Like what...? Amanita muscaria is the only thing I can think of that is immediately recognizable more than a morel...

I suppose it is a bit subjective Randy. The "look-Alikes" to the morel (Gyromitra and Helvella) are no more glaringly different than say, the difference between the Chanterelle and the toxic Jack-O-Lantern. Jack-O-Lantern grows on wood in tufts and has sharp edged gills as where the Chanterelle grows scattered on the ground and has blunt "false gills" and generally smells fruity. The Shaggy Mane is large and has a "shaggy" cap while the Alcohol inky is small and has a smooth cap. I could go on and on.

I think because the Morel is such a popular mushroom people have unreasonably elevated it to a "fool proof" mushroom. This could be dangerous. I'm not saying you would go out and mistake some poisonous Helvella for a Morel, but why not take the time to discover other possibilities out there?

I'll give you an abbreviated list some mushrooms that would be harder to misidentify but don't go thinking they are somehow without their own "look-alikes." Always know what you are eating and don't try to make it fit. Form a 100% positive ID please before eating.

Abortive Entoloma
Lobster mushroom
Chicken of the woods
Painted Suillus
Black trumpets
Hedgehog mushrooms
Comb Tooth (or any Hericium)
Delicious Lactarius (orange latex milky)

Again this is a partial list of some common (on the east coast anyway) mushrooms that I deem easier or just as easy to ID as the Morel. Like I said, it's subjective. Is cutting a mushroom in half to make sure it is hollow all the way through easier than breaking the gills to see if it bleeds orange?

[canid]

Coprinus commatus is one.

Phallus indusiatus, Laeriporus sulphureous, Tricholoma magnivelare (Ok, this does have other mushrooms mistaken for it, but only my people who couldn't tell a dog from a polar bear, and weren't even trying to pay attention), Polyozellus multiplex, Hypomyces lactifluorum, Panaeolopsis sp, Lactarius deliciosus and rubrilacteus, Lactarius indigo, Hygrocybe psittacina. I could go on for pages, though I suppose that only gives an idea of what a person who has taken the time to develop an eye for mushrom features would consider hard to mistake.

Of course, I agree with the sentiment. I can't for the life of my understand how people confuse for example Gyromitra species with morels. I understand beginners mistaking Verpa species a little better.

[canid]

What I can never understand is people like my Fiancee's mother, who could probably watch me eat a particular mushroom for weeks, and still not trust that it won't kill her.

That's not caution; that's a serious neurosis.

[mountainmark]

What I can never understand is people like my Fiancee's mother, who could probably watch me eat a particular mushroom for weeks, and still not trust that it won't kill her.

That's not caution; that's a serious neurosis.

Well.....That's future Mother in Laws for ya Mine warmed up a couple of years after we got hitched. Now I've got her gathering It did take years of seeing me not poison her daughter though.

There is a whole culture of scare mongers out there. It's hard not to believe it when so many people say so. Caution is good. Like when you are driving a car. Learn the rules of the road and follow them and you will be reasonably safe, except for the other drivers. Learn the rules of mushrooms and you only have yourself to worry about.

[canid]

Exactly.

And just in case anybody may have thought I was being mean, I have the best future MIL in the world; I just wish she would open her mind about wild edible mushrooms some day.