Sorry its been a week since my last post! Unfortunately, I don’t have access to my nice macro camera at the moment, so we had to resort to phone pics of this specimen that we found yesterday (8/7) under a conifer in my backyard - 3 in one small grouping (see the pin?!) and another close by. I believe them to be Inocybes, possibly the “Corn Silk Inocybe” or a close variation like I. fastigiata. In Mushrooms Demystified, it only listed 9 out of the 400 different types in North America alone, so they could be any variation of an Inocybe. Most are very, very similar to one another though and often have sweet or mild odors and a lack of bruising.  

As you can see, these mushrooms are pretty small with silky, fibrillose conical caps that are brown in the center and lighten towards the caps’ edges. The free gills range from white (infant) to charcoal purple/brown with white edges (mature). Inocybes are known for these features specifically. 

Above is a good picture of the central stem without a volva, which shows a lack of veil/annulus. Like stated previously, Inocybes are known for their white fringed gills, which you can kind of see above. Below is a better picture where you can see them more clearly. These mushies are known to leave a brownish spore print. 

These little mushies (Inocybes) have been described not only as LBMs (Little Brown Mushrooms), but also BUMs (Boring Ubiquitous Mushrooms) because they rarely come in other colors (except occasionally lilac). The only reason that they are of relevance to the mycological hiker or mycophile is because they are thought to be more poisonous than Amantias, which contain the toxic compound muscarine. They possibly contain more of that compound than their deadly friends, which usually results in death around 12 hours after ingestion via kidney failure.

Some people believe that muscarine is hallucinogenic, but not in the same sense that Psilocybes (“magic mushrooms” that contain the compounds psilocybin and psilocin) are. Muscarine apparently brings upon a “trip” in small doses with quite unpleasant side effects (vomiting, pain). I have read that shaman used to drink the urine of people who had eaten a mushroom with muscarine in order to have the experience of the trip without the unpleasant side effects. It is not noted often for its recreational use, however, because most people who are into stuff that stick with mushrooms that produce psilocybin as it is supposedly a more pleasant trip (if you like that sort of thing). Plus, people don’t really want to risk the whole death side effect thing too… 

Reminder - do not eat wild mushrooms without being positive of what type it is. It can be quite dangerous or unpleasant (as explained above). 

PS. Why is it that I can only find poisonous mushies in my area?! Sigh. 

laughingsquid:

Mushroom Death Suit Consumes Body After Human Wearing It Dies

This is pretty cool! A scientist is trying to create a suit to help bodies decompose naturally using flesh eating fungus. Mycology at its finest. 

It is quite unfortunate that I am having either a super bad sinus infection or crazy allergies because when I picked this mushroom from the moss it was growing out of on our hike, I could not smell it. I was then informed by my boyfriend that I was holding a specimen that smelled like FECES and DEATH. Needless to say, no one wanted me to bring it home, despite its distinctive look; thus, we took two pictures of it while we were out on our phone and then tossed it.

I believe it was quite an old specimen, as it seemed to be decayed due to the lack of any substantial boletus flesh underneath the cap. So we obviously cannot make a positive ID, but because of its shaggy scales on the cap, we believe it to be part of the Strobilomyces genus. 

Although these pictures are not fantastic nor was the specimen, it is unlike any other that I have encountered thus far! 

So I couldn’t quite figure out what this was. I found it on 7/20 while I was hiking, as usual, in a national park in GA. It is obviously a bolete of some sort with decurrent beige pores that bruised brown and a flat cap. It’s spore print was an undiscernable type of brown. I think I let it sit too long and it got too dark. I took a little nibble of it and it was terrible, kind of peppery and acidic. I think its of the Suillus genus. Since I couldn’t ID it 100%, I am uploading some good macro mushie porn for you.. And when I say, “mushie porn,” I do not mean BBW. 

This pic below is my fave!

It was also, for some reason, hollow! There were no bugs in it at all though.

Feel free to respond to this post as to what you possibly believe it to be!

This link is to a single lecture, rather than a class series about the “weird world of mushrooms” by a guest speaker at Cornell. Again, I have yet to listen to it, but I plan on it! 

After reading an article on Hello Giggles about expanding one’s knowledge post graduation via iTunesU, it reminded me of what I am doing - expanding my knowledge of mycology! So I decided to see if iTunesU had a lecture series on mycology AND THEY DO! Check out the link above. No idea if it’s fabulous or not, but I’ll def be checking it out. Here’s the course description of MLT 230 - Parasitology & Mycology taught by Ruth Negley: “A study of the medically important protozoa, helminth worms, fungi, & yeast. Emphasized are names, human infection, diagnostic information used to identify these microorganisms, and treatment.”

simonebotany:

If someone more enlightened in mycology basics could explain to me the hypothesized evoluationary function(s) of toxicity and hallucinogenic properties of certain mushrooms, I would much appreciate. 

Also, I would like to know whether the little slugs and bugs that frequently make their homes inside caps and stalks of mushrooms are affected by the toxicity and hallucinogenic properties.

As for the evolutionary functions, I am kind of unsure. I know that their hallucinogenic properties helped them spread because they were picked for that very reason - shamanism. When the mushrooms were picked and transported because of this unique property, they were able to spread their spores. Also I read there are the Johnny Appleseeds of the world that like to spread the wonders of hallucinogens. There is one picture in this book that I thought was quite amusing. There’s a woman with several giant spore prints on a hat. If you walk through crowds, the spores will transport themselves to so many different areas via each person they attach to. 

As for the bugs - I read in Mushrooms Demystified by David Aurora that not all bugs react to toxins in the way that humans do. They process them differently or not at all. There’s a myth that if there are bugs in it then it’s safe to eat. NOT TRUE! They don’t necessarily metabolize the toxins in the same way or could just be using the mushroom as a home, rather than as a food source. 

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask me questions on my tumblr (amateurmycophile). I may be an amateur, but I do a lot of reading! 

We went on another short hike in the national park today (7/20). Found a few specimens that I wanted to look over even though I have so many to study from this weekend. I just couldn’t help myself! I haven’t been able to totally figure out what all of these are but my best guesses are that I’ve got from left to right: Suillus, Boletus (?), and definitely a small Death Cap… the last three are either - Agaricus (?) or Russula (?). The question marks indicate that I’m not really sure, but that I’m researching. I’m pretty sure though that the first one is Suillus and the third is an Amanita. I’ll hopefully be posting about these along with some from my last pick! Follow me (amateurmycophile) to read my posts about my adventure as a noobie mycologist! 

This was my first brightly colored mushroom!! Quite exciting. It was found along the trail on our hike on 7/16 in a national park near a river. You can see how small they are in relation to my finger and to the rest of the mushrooms in the previous picture. I believe that they are a variety of Amanita muscaria. The usual warts, have actually washed off, but you’ll be able to see them on the bottom of the stem. *That’s what makes Amanitas easily confuse-able with edibles that do not have the veil.* Those plus the annulus are Amanita traits of a universal veil in its early stages. 

These little guys barely left a spore print, but what I did see from them was white. All of those lead me to believe  that they are A. muscaria. So cute, but so deadly!

We went on a hike yesterday and came across ALL these mushrooms! I’ll try to write about some of them this week. :) EXCITING!