Blue Killers

[BIZZ]

Hi all

are there any blue/green staining mushrooms in Australia that can be fatal if consumed ?

blue'ing had allready occured around the foot/base before picking and after(where bruised).

reason i ask is, i cant(dont know how to) post pictures on the net.

i also took a spore print, that turned out black

with a tinge of violet.

a friend thought the print looked black brown but i couldnt see any brown.

the cap has a dark brown protruding nipple.

the younger mushrooms look sort of like Psilocybe Aucklandii, but a bit lighter in colour

and the older ones look like Gymnopilus purpuratus, with no ring left around the stem where the viel(spelling?) was.

actually they also look like Psilocybe cyanescens.

So if anybody can answer my question, it would narrow it right down.

thanks in advance

cheers

Bizz

[mescalito]

Check the pic on previous post...I.D.?

These are Ps.Subaerugnosa :D

[Rev]

Watch out for the Bolete species - they stain blue but are not active in the classical sense.

The may be edible, they may kill you - nobody knows at present

[ramon]

First mushrooms I found turned out to be blue staining boletes.

Ate five of them before I knew any better with no problems

[ferret]

jeez.. howd they go down ramon? the bluestaining boletes ive seen have been pretty big...

[Tryptameanie]

Did they taste any good? Other boletes are great!

BTW, for those that don't know, boletes have sponge instead of gills, so there's no danger of confusing them with active species. As far as I know, all blue-staining gilled fungi are active and non-toxic. I'd eat any shroom that matched the description you gave.

[Anodyne]

I remember seeing a book recommending one of the blue-staining boletes as an edible species ("sliced up in salad"), but I've also heard people claiming that there are viciously toxic ones out there. Are there any blue-staining Boletus (introduced from other countries)? The only blue-stainers I've found have been under eucalypts and brush-box, so I assume they're native (Austroboletus, or whatever they are, I've never actually tried to ID them). Does anyone know anything about the supposedly-toxic ones (eg. habitat, country of origin ,genus, apperance, degree/kind of toxicity, etc)?

[shroomy]

email me the picture dude and ill post it for you

[ramon]

They were about the size of a fist.

Ate two and when nothing seemed to be happening about one hour later ate another three.

Few years ago so can't remember all that much about the taste other then the definately was no unpleasantness about it.

[Torsten]

ooops

[ 09. May 2003, 00:18: Message edited by: Torsten ]

[BIZZ]

thanks heaps for your quick replys.

honestly , cheers

you blokes are legands

Torsten,

they look nothing like the pics you put up.

and i take it they are boletes, with the sponge insted of the gills as Tryptameanie pointed out.

shroomy,

thanks mate, id appreciate it.

ill send em through now.

[spiders]

Truly without a photo it could be a number of mushrooms. The spore print could be a very dark print of a psilocybe - which normally are dark purple/brown.

Bluestaining and a small brown mushroom growing on wood mulch is a good sign.

[mescalito]

Besides a 'slippery jack'(I've heard they're good eating)-stick to gilled gear,in my crash course of fungi ID'ing,the agarics etc. seem more safe to ID

[Torsten]

sorry bizz. they were the only ones uploaded to the server today, so i thought they were yours. turns out they were reville's.

I've helped shroomy to get the up for you in the other thread.

if you want to upload pics, just use the upload utility, make sure the filename has no spaces, and then paste the URL in the forums.

[Tryptameanie]

Slippery Jacks(Boletus luteus=suleus luteus) are fabulous, the best eating mushroom I've ever had, better than shitake. They have a lovely fruity smell with a hint of pine resin(they grow under pines). Other boletus are good too, the best is said to be boletus edulis(Cep to the French, porcini to the Italians). Other good non-gilled fungi are puffballs(while still white), auricularia(not that tasty, but incredibly groovy-looking),morchella(I don't think they have gills), and truffles. Not to mention penicillium, acidophilus and brewers/bakers yeasts!

[ 09. May 2003, 18:32: Message edited by: Tryptameanie ]

[mescalito]

Yeah the brewers yeast is great(with a little processing and bottling) :D