Australian fungi

[trucha]

First two images I encountered enar Minyon Falls.

I have no clue about the ID or if they were edible but would have taken a nibble if not for teh sake of disturbing my friends.

Looks probably edible to me but I know almost nothing about Australian mushrooms

I would have cooked it before actually eating it though.

This one I know from home. Its a golden chanterelle or something really close to what we have here. (my memory might be off but I think the binomial is something like Cantharellus cibarius). I would have eaten this if the friend with me did not object to the idea of harvesting edible and delectable mushrooms in a National Park.

Seemed like a waste as nothing but humans will eat these but I respected his wishes.

Edited August 17, 2007 by trout

[shruman]

No Idea bout ur shrooms, but aint minyon falls just PARADISE!, Glorius walk down there & u gotta go early if u wanna catch any sun on ur swim, tonnes of wildlife I almost trod on the biggest carpet python Ive ever seen bout 100 m before the falls & a shitload of mycology.

Sorry to highjack ur thread but it was to good not to talk about, have some realy good memories from there, ahhh nature dont u just love it!.

[gecko]

The first two pics, I have never seen this species, and have no clue as to what it may be

The bright yellow (Spongey?) underneath ... looks like a bolete maybe.

Cantharellus... looks like it to me.

I've looked up around there a couple of times for them but never spotted them.

I didn't quite work out what the season was for them.

Now unfortunately I don't live close by there.

They do look tempting!

[gecko]

...I almost trod on the biggest carpet python Ive ever seen bout 100 m before the falls & a shitload of mycology.

While checking out fungi up around there last year I saw

probably the biggest, healthiest python I've seen in years.

We stayed for about 15-20 min and just watched it cross the path and

cruise around not too worried about us being there.

Still didn't find Chantrelles.

[trucha]

Me too. It was an amazing python but there seems to be a few of them around.

This was in January. Adequate rains are crucial for good fruiting. Their fruiting period can stretch for many months if the temps and water are right. I could have gathered easily 5 kg.

I wish I knew Australian trees and shrubs better since they are mycorrhizal and species associations combined with degree of canopy are the easiest way to find them.

They also last for weeks since the spores are very slowly released. Nice chanterelle flavor with apricot undertones in the ones here in northern CA.

That Bolete looking thing felt really meaty. There are only a couple of problematic ones around here and the rest can be eaten almost with impunity even is unidentified but no idea about hte picture there.

I did not find many people there who were into foraging for edibles at all, surprisingly.

[apothecary]

I did not find many people there who were into foraging for edibles at all, surprisingly.

The eastern european edibles hunters can all be found in the pine forests of Oberon (about 6 hours south) in winter

[trucha]

I hope that I got some locals interested with my excitment when I was there.

Its too nice of a food source to leave all of them to become compost.

I did encounter some people who were familiar with the large edible agaric types in pastures but no one foraging in dense forest. The Park aspect is probably a large part of that?

Lots of Eucalyptus were around the chanterelles but I don't really know what else.

Any idea what they are looking for in the pines? Around here pine spikes and the really chunky bolete types love that environment. Along with many more fungi of course.

[MORG]

The Park aspect is probably a large part of that?

I'd say it's got more to do with the paucity of published information on the edibility of native fungal flora. Every field guide you look at tells you how little is known about what is edible and what's not and that you should never eat a mushroom you're unsure about.

[gecko]

Any idea what they are looking for in the pines? Around here pine spikes and the really chunky bolete types love that environment. Along with many more fungi of course.

The main edible microrrhizal species growing under pines in Aust. are all introduced.

They are:-

Suillus luteus -Slippery jacks

S.granulatus - "

Tricholoma terreum - ?Mousey , or Dirty Tricholoma

Lactarius deliciosus -Saffron Milkcap

L. sanguifluus .....maybe? I've not seen this one , but have heard rumours of them growing in Aust.

There are no really good meaty, exotic edible boletes growing in Aust as far as I know (yet! ).

Boletus edulis was first sighted and documented in New Zealand (Christchurch) in 1993, so it may just be

a matter of time before it is seen here in Aust.

[watertrade]

(yet! ).

[trucha]

In retrospect I should have tried that one I pictured. For all edibles discovered someone has to be the first.

It felt really solid. Not really that many truly problematic ones either except for a bad taste in a few and some acridness in some of the Suillus species. A few Suillis (like the doug-fir one) I really like which is nice since they tend to fruit before most other things are up around here. THey are usually a little bit tangy so work best in a red sauce (imho)

What few toxic Boletes are known tend to bruise red or red and blue and mainly cause a lot of vomiting not death or liver destruction.