Finding and Identifying Mushrooms

Sheila Dunn

Asheville Mushroom Club

Why Study Mycology?• Define mycoremediation and

give a few examples of how fungi can save the world

What is a Mushroom?

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

• Classified in the Fungi Kingdom

How Mushrooms are Categorized

• Most mushrooms are Basidiomycetes. Specialized cells called basidia produce spores (basidiospores)

• Some mushrooms (e.g., morels and cup fungi) are Ascomycetes; they produce spores differently, within tube-like cells called asci

How Spores Are Released

•How are they spread?

Mycelium

• Spores form hyphae, which in turn form long chains called “mycelium”

• When conditions are "just so"- mycelium generate new hyphae which, within several weeks, will develop into a mushroom

• What are these conditions?

http://www.alanmuskat.com/MUSHROOM%20CHAPTER/raplink.htm

What We’ll Do Today

• How to find mushrooms• Mushroom identification• Mushrooms to find in WNC

– Spring– Summer– Fall– Winter

Where to Get Mushrooms

• Grow them (inoculate logs or other substrates)

• Go on a foray

Where and When to Look• Don’t’ foray along busy

roadsides or in polluted areas (for edible mushrooms)

• Watch out: national forests might prohibit

• In WNC, March through November

• 1-3 days after rain

Foraying• Basket and knife• Waxed paper

bags or little paper bags. Why not plastic?

• Collect the entire mushroom, including any underground parts

What We’ll Do

• How to find mushrooms• Mushroom identification• Mushrooms to find in WNC

– Spring– Summer– Fall– Winter

Edible Wild Mushrooms• Over 10,000

mushroom species in the US

• About 250 are edible• Some mushrooms

are difficult to identify correctly, requiring years of experience, many reference books and sometimes microscopic analysis

Some mushrooms haven't even

been named yet!

Where to Begin???

Types of Mushrooms: Not Just Cap and Stalk

• What does a typical mushroom look like?

• Some mushrooms look like balls; marine coral; cups or saucers; shelf-like growths on trees, logs or stumps; sponges; bushes; or even cauliflower.

Shapes

Other Shapes: Puffballs

Other Shapes: Shelf Fungi

Other Mushroom Shapes

Preliminary Mushroom ID

• Where found (ground, tree)• Season found• Shape• If cap and stem:

– Gills, pores, teeth– Stem

• Spore print…color

Beginners ID• Note the season • Note where the

mushroom was growing: on a tree? on moss? in leaf litter?

• Note the size, color

• Look under the cap for gills, pores, teeth

Identification Keys and Books

• http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/

• www.ashevillemushroomclub.org

• ID Books– Bill Roody– David Aurora

Identification Keys

• Most start with shape– Cap and stem

• Today, we’ll focus on preliminary identification of mushrooms with caps and stems

Cap and Stem Mushrooms

• Note young and mature forms

• Note veil

Step 1. Look Under The Cap

• Gills- Agaricales, such as Amanita• Pores – Boletales, such as Boletes,

Suillis, etc.• Crevices - Chanterelles• Teeth - Hydnum• These all distribute spores for

reproduction

Types of Gills

Widely Spaced

Giving off milky liquid

Closely Spaced

Crowded

How Gills are Attached to the Stem

Gilled Mushroom Example: Russula

• Stems breaks like chalk

• Turtles and squirrels love ‘em!

Look Under the Cap: Pores

Mushrooms with Pores: Boletes

Some Boletes Stain When Touched

Identifying Boletes• Pore color• Bluing when bruised• Stem

– Reticulated– Dotted

Look Under the Cap: Crevices, Not Gills, Not Pores, Not Teeth

Lobster MushroomChanterelle

Look Under the Cap: Teeth

Example: Hydnum

Getting a Spore Print

Spore Prints: Color Helps Identify

Spore Print Color? Guess……

Look at the Stalk for Veils

• Look for a ring of tissue (technically called an annulus) on the upper stalk.

• Is there a cup-like sac (a volva) around the very base of the stalk? – Feature of the Death Cap (Amanita

phalloides) and Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa) mushrooms.)

Rings on Stem

Annulus: Evidence of a partial veil

Patches or Warts on Cap• Check for a

universal veil: Shreds, patches or warty material on the stalk, cap, or hanging from the cap margin.

More Evidence of a Veil: Volva

• Tissue around entire button

• Ruptured by the growing mushroom

• May leave warts/patches on cap

• E.g., amanita

What We’ll Do

• How to find mushrooms• Mushroom identification• Mushrooms to find in WNC

– Spring– Summer– Fall– Winter

Morels: Early Spring

Spring edible

Stropharia rugoso-annulataWine cap

Spring, Edible Summer

Best Edibles: Summer

• Chanterelles• Lactarius• Boletes• Lobster (late)• Sulfur Shelf (late)

Chicken of the WoodsChanterelle

ChanterellesOften confused with Jack O’ Lantern

Summer Fall edible

Beware of Jack O’ Lantern!

Chanterelle- no true gills

Jack O’ Lantern- true gillsGlows in the darkGrows in clusters on tree base

Summer edible

volemus

indigo

corrugis

hygrophoroides

Lactarius

Beware: Non-Edible Lactarius!

• Lactarius piperatus• Lactarius

deliciosus• Both are peppery

hot• What do all

lactarius have in common?

Lobster Mushroom

Summer Fall edible

Hypomyces lactifluorum

Chicken of Woods Laetiporus sulphureus

Summer Fall edible

Best Fall Mushrooms

• Hen of the woods• Oyster mushrooms• Puffballs• Common grocery store mushroom• Hydnum• Herecium

Grifola frondosa / maitakeHen of the Woods; Great Edible

Fall Edible Medicinal

Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus

Summer Fall Winter edible

Puffballs

Summer Fall edible

Lycoperdon perlatum

Calvatia gigantea

Agaricus campestris:Grocery Store

MushroomMeadow mushroom

Fall Edible

Hydnum umbilicatum

Hedgehog mushroom

Summer Fall Edible

Hericium

Summer Fall edible

Erinaceus / lion's mane

coralloides

Medicinal

Time Permitting

• Other cool shelf mushrooms in WNC

• Mushroom poisoning

Trametes versicolor(Turkey tail)

Year round Medicinal

Fistulina hepatica / beefsteak polypore

Summer Fall Edible

Mushroom Poisoning

• 2% of all mushrooms• Most not fatal• 4 types of toxins:1. Protoplasmic

(Amatoxins)– cell destruction followed by organ failure

2. Neurotoxins (Psilocybin)– sweating, coma, convulsions, hallucination

Amanita virosaDestroying Angel

Psilocybe

Poisonous Mushrooms: Amanita

Amanita phalloides

Amanita virosa: Destroying Angel

Amanitas: Do Not Eat!!

Questions?

Thank You!