IDing help needed

[nedkelly]

Hey guys,

Was four wheel driving in the mountains in South East New South Wales and i came across these beauties. The habitat was a gum forest which regularly gets rainfall and cold cold temperatures. I didn't notice any blueing after picking, does this mean they are not of the magic variety?

Any help is most appreciated.

Edited June 23, 2010 by nedkelly

[kindness]

nope not of psilocybe genus. I'm imagining you would be looking for either a psilocybe subaeruginosa or something like a Gymnopilus purpuratus i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnopilus_purpuratus

edit: Oh i forgot to say, "DON'T EAT ANY MUSHROOM THAT YOU ARE NOT 110 PERCENT SURE OF!!! YOU CAN DIE, YEP DIE FROM EATING THE WRONG ONES... DIE.. THAT IS BE DEAD..." don't want to be a downer or anything but do your research before you try to eat anything. there is plenty of info available online now. Not like having to look in libraries where all the pictures were removed as in the 90's or further back.

peace

Edited June 23, 2010 by meanies

[nedkelly]

Thanks for the quick reply mate, yeah i know not to eat them unless i'm 110% sure.

Here's a few more i found today, some of which had blue spots before i picked them, and all of them after i picked them. These ones were found in a National Park growing in leaf litter. For mycology study purposes i forgot to add..

Cheers

Edited June 23, 2010 by nedkelly

[kindness]

just as a spot of etiquette it is good practice to not really name where you have spotted mushrooms - oh yeah, and picking them is also not legal

they look like psilocybe subaeruginosa to me, take spore prints if you are considering eating them and make sure every one prints purplish black and not brown / rusty brown. deadlies and psilocybes can grow side by side.

I really want you to edit your post and not say you found them in the national park cause I'm worried that heaps of other people will see it... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[nedkelly]

Found them in A national park..

What colour spore prints are the deadly mushrooms??

[kindness]

noice work: info follows

retrieved from on 23/6/2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerina

Identification

The extreme toxicity of some Galerina species means that recognition of Galerina is of great importance to mushroom hunters who are seeking hallucinogenic Psilocybe. Species like Galerina marginata may bear a superficial resemblance to Psilocybe cyanescens and other Psilocybe species. Galerina can be distinguished from psilocybian Psilocybe by the following characteristics:

* Spore print color: blackish-brown to lilac-brown in Psilocybe, light brown to rusty brown in Galerina. Spore color can be seen by taking a spore print or by looking for evidence of spore drop on the stipe or on surrounding mushrooms.

* Staining reaction: Psilocybian Psilocybe fruiting bodies stain blue to varying degrees when bruised, while Galerina do not. The strength of this reaction varies with the amount of psilocin present in the tissues of the mushroom. Fruiting bodies with little psilocin will stain weakly if at all, while sporocarps with a high psilocin content will stain strongly blue. Only one rare Galerina has blue-staining tissue, though in some cases the flesh will blacken when handled, and this may be misinterpreted as a bluing reaction.[9]

Although these rules are specific to the separation of Galerina from certain Psilocybe, since mixed patches of Psilocybe and Galerina can occur, it is essential to be sure of the identity of each sporocarp collected.

Galerina also present some risk of confusion with several species of small edible mushrooms, notably Kuehneromyces mutabilis[citation needed] and candy caps (L. camphoratus and allies).[10][11]

[nedkelly]

Lucky i took spore prints of ALL mushrooms, i found two of them barely had prints at all and the one they did leave was a light brown so i'm guessing they were Galerinas.

The others had a dark browny/purply print so these ones must be subs.

I will taking spore prints of all the mushrooms i pick in the future to ensure i don't get the good and the bad mixed up.

Thanks for your help.

[ayjay101]

Be sure to break them off at the base of the stem, or cut them off with a knife. By yanking them out of the ground as you have appeared to do you also rip out the mycelium from the ground as well, damaging the organism and reducing the chance they'll grow back anytime soon.

Not that I'd recommend pickimg them anyway, as its illegal. Not to mention dangerous.

Perhaps inform yourself better before trudging into our national parks and ripping our clumps of mushrooms and earth like that and then posting it online in the hope of having some magic mushrooms. This is wrong on so many levels. A little bit of research goes a long way and is fun to equip yourself with.

Anyway be safe and please take (more) care.

EDIT: spelling

Lucky i took spore prints of ALL mushrooms, i found two of them barely had prints at all and the one they did leave was a light brown so i'm guessing they were Galerinas.

The others had a dark browny/purply print so these ones must be subs.

I will taking spore prints of all the mushrooms i pick in the future to ensure i don't get the good and the bad mixed up.

Thanks for your help.

 

Edited June 28, 2010 by ayjay101

[kindness]

Dunno about the first type of shrooms you took piccies of but the ones that appear to be psilocybe's can be 'replanted' elsewhere by using all the dirt, wood and white stuff that is still attached in your photo's. It would be a bit late now, but if you were to go hunting again remember that you can 'take a cutting' of a mushroom patch and thus expand where you find them... there are good examples of how to do that on this site here is the most recent.

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24687&view=&hl=growing%20subs&fromsearch=1

ayjay has hit it on the head though... it's important to do the research and is also of utmost importance to respect the environments which we visit and are really giving us gifts. Research / learning is what you are doing I guess.. everyone learns in different ways, some need to do the hands on stuff first and learn by trial and error - others like to do all the book stuff first and then use what they have learnt in the field.. just remember that with mushrooms your method of learning might be a deadly one

I love that bit on the doco about the magic mushrooms of Ballingup;

'there are old mushroom pickers, there are bold mushrooms pickers, but there are no old bold mushroom pickers'

peace

Edited June 28, 2010 by meanies

[mutant]

wow some of them really look like my 'strange/rare' finds

Although...

I am in mediterranean

edit: hmmmm I am not real expert in psilos, lol, I can spot some differences already. Mine have longer and probably thinner stems, also some of mine have an umbo , mine also have smaller caps...

edit2: hmmmm you can guess which are the galerinas [brownish spore print] in some of these photos! Interesting

Like you were told, be very careful with these shit! Galerinas can kill / permanently damage...

Edited June 29, 2010 by mutant

[ayjay101]

double post

Edited June 30, 2010 by ayjay101

[ayjay101]

edit: hmmmm I am not real expert in psilos, lol, I can spot some differences already. Mine have longer and probably thinner stems, also some of mine have an umbo , mine also have smaller caps...

 

From what I've noticed, subs from the bush tend to be more elegant looking - taller and thinner stems, flatter caps with umbro nipple (more UFO like!), caps slightly lighter in colour and slimier, stems usually appear 'dirtier'. The ones found in woodchips seem to be chunkier, more fibrous & thicker bright white stems, generally bruisiung quicker and darker, caps seems to be darker and more leathery.

Anyone else find this as well?

[Amazonian]

From what I've noticed, subs from the bush tend to be more elegant looking - taller and thinner stems, flatter caps with umbro nipple (more UFO like!), caps slightly lighter in colour and slimier, stems usually appear 'dirtier'. The ones found in woodchips seem to be chunkier, more fibrous & thicker bright white stems, generally bruisiung quicker and darker, caps seems to be darker and more leathery.

Anyone else find this as well?

 

Ditto. The suburban subs' I have found in the wood chips are also more chunky/meatier and a lot shorter in the stem compared to the taller more juicy forest dwellers. Although the blueing reaction I find variable with all the patches that I have visited. I am thinking maybe that the wood chips suck up some of the avaliable moisture in the ground and the subs' are competing with that.?!

Edited June 30, 2010 by Amazonian