The mushroom season that was...

[Marcel]

Now that all the fun(gi) has gone for a while, I thought I'd throw in a small selection of my photos. It was a pretty warm and dry one in Sydney (except for a few floods here and there), so it wasn't a stand-out year.

I haven't put much effort into identifying these. It's late, and I'm tired...

These are from Sydney bushland:

Trametes versicolor.

Trametes versicolor close-up.

Ramaria sp..

Not sure about this guy; it was a very dry and old specimen.

Suillus granulatus found under a pine in Sydney's Northern Beaches, less than 3km from Narrabeen beach! A few weeks later I found half a dozen Amanita muscaria under the same tree! Never seen these guys so close to the coast.

Some sort of Ganoderma sp, perhaps?

Cortinarius sp.

Cortinarius sp. (I love these guys.)

Cortinarius sp.

These are from the Byron hinterland:

Auricularia auricula-judae

Hypholoma sp. From a distance I thought these to be Leratiomyces ceres, but as I got closer I realised they're a lot like subs, but redder in the pileus and without bruising. Turns out they were a Hypholoma. Spores came up very dark purple.

Lots of these clavarioid fungi

Lovely pores in this polypore.

And then these had me stumped. First I saw this, on the periphery of a cattle field:

Season isn't quite right, but it sure looks like it!

Looks a lot like a cube, no?

But on closer inspection, it ain't.

I though it was perhaps a Agaricus arvensis (Horse mushroom).

But then I found some younger specimens and they all had a distinct reddish tinge. I printed them and the spores were a dark purple, which lead me to conclude that they're actually Stropharia rugosoannulata, albeit a rather pale and colourless batch of them. What do you people reckon?

For those that missed some other photos from the beginning of the season, click here.

Hope youse enjoy.

[tripsis]

Nice. One last hit of mushroom porn before the season is truly over, eh?

Those Auricularia are actually A. cornea (syn. A polytricha).

The ones above the Auricularia photo are Schizophyllum commune, purportedly the world's most common mushroom.

The Ganoderma is probably G. australe.

The little yellow jelly fungi are Dacryopinax spathularia. They're edible!

The Cortinarius is C. rotundisporus.

Not sure about the last one. I'd say it is a Stropharia, but I have no first hand experience with S. rugosoannulata, so couldn't really sat one way or the other.

I should really be studying...

[Marcel]

I knew you'd be the first to respond, Tripsis

[tripsis]

Dependably wasting time and procrastinating on this forum.

[Marcel]

We all are. That's what makes us better than other folk.

[tripsis]

[∂an]

Nice photos.

And then these had me stumped. First I saw this, on the periphery of a cattle field:

Season isn't quite right, but it sure looks like it!

Looks a lot like a cube, no?

But on closer inspection, it ain't.

I though it was perhaps a Agaricus arvensis (Horse mushroom).

 

It's not unheard of. Cubes found in July:

[Gúzmann]

Hmm, interesting. Your Trametes versicolor isn't too colourful.

I had some growing in my yard and this is what it looked like:

I'm in the process of extracting PSK, a long arduous procedure that has so far yielded mixed results.

[Gúzmann]

I've only started to hunt mushrooms recently. I don't carry around a guide, instead, I remember what interesting mushrooms look like and identify them at home. It exercises your memory quite a bit. I keep them all apart in case one is poisonous, so it doesn't ruin all the others.

I usually look for mushrooms with medicinal properties, a summary of which can be found here

One problem is that mushroom season coincides with deer hunting season where I live, so there is a narrow window of opportunity.