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I don't know if this is the best site for you if you live in Australia. Seems like this is more for North America to me. People are very knowledgeable or here though so can probably help you out.

Private property I couldn't legally do any of that. I observed from the roadway.

Spore print is definitely a little different leaving it over night. You can really see the pronounced brown and pink now.

Are there any machines you can buy to figure stuff out without having to send it in? I hope the technology gets cheaper so I can just start running mushrooms through a spectrometer or whatever at home.

If you enjoy learning about mushrooms then check out the new and old Paul Stamets episodes on the Joe Rogan Experience. I really enjoyed all of them as I am a mycophile. The new one was super interesting actually because he is working with the government to make a natural COVID vaccine (enhancer) from mushrooms. He also talked about how you can collect a hundred of the same species and they all can having varying amounts of compounds in them. Possibly even different compounds. I think this is called phenotypes or kinda like subspecies. I need to re-watch it but I think he said there could be an Amanita Muscaria with psilocybin in it. Check it out!

I have been studying mushrooms for about ten years now on and off. People pick them from parks and the side of the road regularly. Picking mushrooms near roadways is a terrible idea. You have brake dust from cars which contains lead, exhaust fumes and other harmful pollutants. A lot of public parks are built on top of old trash dumps. Just be careful where you are harvesting your mushrooms. People spray pesticides, herbicides and all types of crap everywhere. Try and go somewhere where all this isn't prevalent. Allan Rockefeller says not to worry to much about heavy metals and other things unless you are harvesting from the same area over and over again. You can get cumulative dose toxicity this way as the toxins build up in your system over time. Not trying to scare anyone just be smart about it.

I see a lot of articles online telling people it is safe to consume Portobello mushrooms raw. They contain hydrazine a toxin used in making rocket fuel. It is heat sensitive and abolished when cooked. Sure there might be a couple kinds of store bought mushrooms you could eat raw but I don't think it's a good idea at all. You lose out on the medicinal compounds and they are hard to digest because of the chitin in the cell walls. There is also some concern about bacteria and parasites. What do you all think about this? Do you eat raw mushrooms from the store and which ones do you like if you do?

Those are really pretty. Nice find! Can you make a dye out of them?

Looks like Chaga to me. Nice find!

After spore printing, reading, watching and comparing to lookalikes I would say you are spot on! So they are edible actually. Right next to a busy road or I might give them a nibble. The one I picked yesterday was turning pinkish underneath. Spore print looks pinkish brown to me as well.

Thank You! I think they are all the same just some were fresh and some were older sun scorched/dried out so the color faded.

Really! I thought polypores were pretty safe. Glad you told me this. It is a common myth that no polypores are dangerous. The fruit bodies of H. rutilans are neurotoxic if ingested. The toxin was identified as polyporic acid, a terphenyl compound first identified from a mycelial culture of the fungus in 1877. That doesn't sound fun at all. https://namyco.org/publications/mcilvainea-journal-of-american-amateur-mycology/polyporic-acid-in-fungi-a-brief-note/ I could see a new hunter mistaking H. Croceus for Chicken of The Woods. Based off this picture at least. Having trouble finding definitive evidence of polyporic acid in H. Croceus but that link is the best I could find on it.

Pretty easy to identify Dryads Saddle. There isn't much out this time of year and nothing really looks quite like them that I know of. I have tried medium sized ones and didn't like them much. Recently after learning of their health benefits I have been experimenting with them. They are so plentiful and are supposed to be good for you so I wanted to figure out a tasty way to consume them. I have been harvesting them when they are tiny nubs and they are pretty good. I kinda wanna try pickling them or figure out some way of making them more palatable. Some people just cut the new growth around the outer edges. Just make sure it's not huge and old and moldy or discolored.

They are one of my favorite mushrooms. Totally up to you about eating it or not. If you did decide to though just cook well and eat a small amount and wait until the next day before consuming more. I have only found a few in many years of hunting. Never get out at the right time and haven't found a good patch yet.

If you wanna check if it is a morel or not just cut it in half should be hollow in the middle. Look at pictures of them cut in half online. The false morel looks more brain like and isn't hollow like a true morel. Pretty easy to identify once you see enough of them and cut them.