Mushrooms or summink nasty!!!

[smilingcat]

fungus? yes

toad stool? no toad stool is a comon name to Amanita genus of fungi. had to go look it up in my books... Amanita Muscaria (toad stool)is a red mushroom with white flecks on top. I gave up on Los Angeles chapter of Mycological society. I live in a desert or semi-arid country. Mushroom? where??

mushroom? yes its a mushroom.

Best not to eat without proper identification.

The stuff underneath the ground is mycilium (sp). A root for a plant. Touching the mushroom will not cause poisoning. It will not poison your plant nor will it make it poisonous. If you are bothered by it, wear a disposable glove (latex or some form of plastic), collect it in a bag and throw it away.

[ClockworkOrange]

Tuckervill We'd all be sick if those caused illness, because those are everywhere.

That was my concern, Aspergillus is everywhere and yet the Aspergillus itself has the ability to grow inside your lungs, so you end up allergic to yourself.

Aspergillus is a fungus which occurs everywhere throughout the world, that feeds on dead animal or plant material, and in this role it is vitally important to the environment to recyle all kinds of biological materials. It is spread via microscopically small spores that are extremely light and float easily in the air.

Normally when Aspergillus spores are inhaled by people, their immune system recognises the spores as foreign and they are destroyed. Unfortunately my immune system is dumb and reacts!

Cheers for all the replies, you must have thought what a idiot, no I had no intention of eating them. I just freaked a bit when I first saw them, the only word I could think of was 'spores'...........and I panicked.


Thank you again for your time in answering a rather silly old woman!


Clock.................slowly ticking on, very slowly!

[jdubble]

I freaked out last year when a bunch of mushrooms showed up in my garden bed suddenly and told a friend who lives on a farm. Her eyes got big and she said that was good, that it meant I had good nutrient-rich soil and compost. So I let them be.

[Reesha]

I consulted my Mushroom Guide (albeit a North American one) and the closest thing I could find was genus Mycena. According to the pictures in the field guide, it looks like a blue mycena which can be blue gray to brownish gray with those distinctive white stripies!

[Reesha]

Also according to wikipedia... the species are bioluminescent too!

Glowing mushrooms!

[smilingcat]

just a word of caution. sometimes, pictures can be quite deceiving.

Agraicus bisporus (AKA horse mushroom is a very large specie of white button mushroom) very good eats.

Agaricus xanthodermus (SP) is mildly toxic. They look identical to A.bisporus. A simple distinction between the two is that xanthodermus will bruise to a pale yellow when scratched with your finger nail.

DO NOT TRUST OLD WIVES TALE ABOUT TESTING FOR EDIBLE VERSUS POISONOUS MUSHROOM. All of them are incorrect.

One of the old wives tale: if an animal has taken a bite of the mushroom its safe to eat. Answer is NO. Some animals can tolerate the toxin while we humans can not. One specie of rat is able to eat some mildly poisonous mushroom with very little side effect. By the time enough toxins accumulate in the mouse body to be fatal, the mouse will have died of old age.

The other look alikes are Amanita Velosa(sp) (aka death angel) pure white cap with pure white stalk similar ot A.bisporus. Difference is that velosa is whiter in color and the color of the gills is pure white on velosa while bisporus has a brownish gill. Another distinction is vulva sac on the base. velosa has a vulva sac at the base. looks like the mushroom grew out of a very small round bag while bisporus does not have the vulva sac.

Sometimes identification require a check on spore print and a microscope to look at the shape of the spores themselves.

two to three ounces (50g) of A.velosa will kill an adult male in about three to five days. Amanita toxin destroys your liver and there is no antidote. Death is due to complete liver failure. Victims all claim that the taste of velosa is extremely wonderful and good.

how do I know this? cause I hung around the LA Mycological Society many years ago.

jack-o-lanterm mushroom is also bio-luminescent. It can grow to be very large. Deadly poisonous as well. If you are not familiar with mushrooms, an old jack-o-lantern can be mis identified as a chantrelle. Similar color similar shape but very different gill pattern and where it grows.

smilingcat

[Reesha]

I just think bioluminescence is cool. Didn't know it was an old wives tale for edibility.

I knew about the Jack-O-Lantern because I had a friend who would so often hunt for chanterelles. Some of the stuff he'd sauté with butter was pretty weird looking, I'll admit! He was an amateur-- stubborn too, and we always watched him in case he needed to go to the hospital!

I would rather hunt for a Destroying Angel just to see it in all it's delicate and destructive power! Moohoohwahahaha!

I just met my boyfriends parents last week and they are avid and enthusiastic morel hunters. I thought it was endearing.