Mushroom ID 101

Charlotte CaplanAsheville Mushroom Club

March 2018

What is a Mushroom?

• Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of certain fungi - the apple, not the tree.

• Classified in the Fungi kingdom

(Mycota)

What We’ll Do Today

• How mushrooms grow

• Basic classification of macrofungi

• Features used to identify mushrooms

• Some common families of mushrooms

• Common poisonous mushrooms

• Where to find more information

Why are Mushrooms like Icebergs?

• Because you only see a small part of what’s there

• Most of the fungus is an underground mycelium

• Made up of tiny strands of tissue – hyphae

• Looking like this:

Why are Fungi Important?

• They are nature’s recyclers – creating soil for plant growth

• Vital to all ecosystems: no fungi – no soil, no plants, no animals

• Most trees and plants rely on fungal mycelium around their roots or in their tissues

• Some mushrooms are edible or medicinal

• Some fungi can clean up pollution

• They are beautiful and endlessly varied

Fungi at work!

Only fungi can digest the tough lignins in wood and return the carbon and other elements to the soil.

Mature mushroom (fruiting body)

Spores (~1/100th mm)

Spore germination

Mycelium

Mushroom primordia

Gills

Ring

Part of mycelium

Fungal Life Cycle

Mushroom Categories

Fungi are classified first by way they grow and disperse their spores. Two main groups (phyla):

• Basidiomycetes produce spores at the tip of specialized cells (basidia), usually on the underside of the fruiting body, which drop by gravity

• Ascomycetes produce spores inside tube-like cells (asci) on the outer surface and are forcibly ejected up & out

There are other phyla, but they are mostly microscopic.

Basidiomycete Spore Production

• How are the spores spread?

Ascomycete Spore Production

Spore Dispersal Methods

l Windl Impact (by raindrops or animals)l Being eaten by

· Mammals

· Insects

· Other invertebrates

l Jet propulsion – yes!l Some combination of the above

Mushroom names

• Scientific (Latin): Genus + species

e.g. Strobilomyces strobilaceus

• Common name:

“Old Man of the Woods”

Identification - Where to Begin?

• Over 10,000 mushroom species in the US

• About 250 are edible

• Many are hard to identify, requiring years of experience, expensive reference books and a microscope

Some mushrooms haven't even been named yet!

Types of mushrooms – not just cap & stalk

Other Shapes: Puffballs

Lycoperdon molle - Soft Puffball Calvaita gigantea - Giant Puffball

“Shelf” Mushrooms

A B

C D

A. Hemlock Varnish Shelf

B. Chicken of the Woods

C. Hexagonal-pored Polypore

D. Turkey Tail

D

and more ..

Morchella esculentoides – Yellow Morel

Clavaria zollingeri – Purple Coral

Leotia viscosa - Green Jelly Babies

Mutinus caninus – Dog Stinkhorn

Identifying “Cap & Stem” Mushrooms

Step one: Look under the cap: what does the spore-bearing surface look like?

A) Gills

B) Pores

C) Teeth

D) Folds

E) Smooth

Gill Features

Widely spaced

Moderately spaced (this one also produces milky latex when cut)

Closely spaced

Crowded (this one also bruises green)

How Gills are Attached to the Stem

0

Look under the Cap – 2. Pores

Spores form on the inner surface of tightly packed vertical tubes under the cap (e.g. Boletus, Suillus, Polyporus)

Boletus frostiiFrost’s Bolete

Polyporus squamosusDryad’s Saddle

Look under the Cap – 3. Teeth

Spores form on the outside of spines that hang down under the cap (Hydnum, Sarcodon)

Hydnum repandum(The Hedgehog)

Look under the Cap – 4. Folds

The Chanterelle family have a folded or wrinkled spore-bearing surface – not true gills – or smooth

Cantharellus infundibuliformis

(Funnel-shaped Chanterelle)

Cantharellus lateritius(Smooth Chanterelle)

Martin Livezey

Then look at other features

l Rings & veilsl Spore colorl Texture & “feel”l Smell & tastel Habitatl Sizel Cap colorl Season

Step 2: Look for Rings and Veils

• Is there a ring of tissue on the upper stalk

(evidence of a “partial veil”)

• Are there ridges or or a cup-like sac (a volva) around the base of the stalk (evidence of a “universal veil”)?

• Are there patches or warts on the cap that can be rubbed off (more evidence of a universal veil)?

Rings & Veils

Some Genera with Rings on Stem

Agaricus

Suillus

Amanita

Lepiota

Another type of veil

The genus Cortinarius: all species have a cobweb-like partial veil, soon lost.

Cortinarius traganus

Veils can Vanish

Deadly galerina – Galerina marginata

Common Psathyrella – Psathyrella Candolleana

© Fred Stevens

Step 3 – Spore Color

• Very important for identification

• Often hard to tell in the field

• Gill color may provide a clue

• Learn to make a spore print

Use black paper for white spores

Morels

Boletes give spore prints too

Ascomycetes are messy

Carbon Balls

Step 4 - Texture

“Corky”

“Leathery”

“Fibrous”

“Firm”

“Brittle”

“Delicate”

Other Features

• Habitat – where it’s growing

• Substrate – what it’s growing on

• Smell & taste

• Cap & stem surfaces

• Color

• Season

Some Important Mushroom Families

• Amanita

• Russula

• Lactarius

• Boletes

• Polypores

Amanita Family

Volva – evidence of a “universal veil”

• Tissue around entire button

• Ruptured by the growing mushroom

• Leaves a sac or just a collar-like ring on base of stem

• May leave patches on cap

• All Amanitas have a volva – very few other mushrooms do.

Amanita bisporigera“Destroying Angel”

Amanita jacksonii“Eastern Caesar’s Mushroom”

More Common Amanitas

The Blusher - Amanita ameri-rubescens

Yellow Patches – A. Flavoconia

Coker’s Amanita – A. cokeri

Is this an Amanita?

Tawny Grisette – Amanita fulva

Lactarius: “Milk Caps”

• Features like Russulas

• Plus - exude milky latex when cut

• Latex often “hot” tasting

Lactarius peckii(Peck’s Milk Cap)

Glenn Esterson

Boletes: Mushrooms with pores

• Boletes are fleshy mushrooms with tubes & pores under the cap

• Tubes easily separated from cap

• Grow on the ground (not wood)

• One family – many genera

Common Boletes

Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus(Violet Bolete)

Suillus pictusPainted Bolete

Boletus bicolorTwo-colored Bolete Tylopilus felleus

(Bitter Bolete)

Other Bolete Features

Stem patterns:

- Network (reticulation

- Scales (scabers)

- Dots

Some change color when bruised

Gyroporus cyanescens

Polypores

Have at least two out of three features:

• Pores under cap

• Grow on wood

• Tough, corky or leathery texture

One family, many genera

Polyporus varius – Elegant Polypore

Ganoderma tsugae – Hemlock varnish shelf

Trametes versicolor – Turkey Tail

Bondarzewia berkeleyi – Berkeley’s Polypore

Some of the Commonest Poisonous Mushrooms

• Destroying Angel & other Amanitas

• Jack o’Lantern

• Yellow Stainer

• Green-spored Lepiota

• Earth Ball

• Cortinarius species

• Deadly Galerina

• False morel

Deadly Poisonous Mushrooms: Amanitas

Amanita phalloidesDeath Cap

Amanita virosa: Destroying Angel

More Amanitas: Do Not Eat!!

Amanita muscariaFly Agaric (two color variants)

Amanita cokeriCoker’s Amanita

Amanita rubescensThe Blusher

Beware of Jack O’ Lantern!Chanterelle (cantharellus sp.)l Folds, not gillsl Single or small clustersl On ground

Jack O’ Lantern (Omphalous illudens)l True gillsl On wood or buried rootsl Grows in big clusters

Edible

Poisonous

Agaricus XanthodermaThe Yellow Stainer

A. campestrisField Mushroom

A. xanthodermisThe Yellow StainerEdible Poisonous

Scleroderma citrinumCommon Earth Ball

Poisonous

Gemmed Puffball – Lycoperdon perlatum

Edible

Cortinarius

Cortinarius speciossimus

Cortinarius iodesSpotted Cort - not poisonous, not recommended

Deadly

Rusty spores

Web-like veil

Want to know more?

• Buy some field guides

• Join a club

• Use the web - carefully

Field Guides

• Lots to choose from

• Buy more than one

• Check the area covered

Just out:

A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas Bessette, Bessette & Hopping