A lone blewit...and then!!!

[RaffD]

Got off work today, due to rain, and decided trekking through the mud would be a great idea!...in the end I think it was worth it!

Above I believe i have found Lepista Irina. I remember the old folks collecting white mushrooms under trees when I was young...I believe these are the ones. Does anyone collect these regularly? Also...what else looks like this or could be confused for it?

I propose for the above two specimens Lactarius Deliciosus.

First time seeing this mushroom. I'm guessing Macrolepiota rachodes. It is listed edible in my guides but is rare...does anyone have experience with it? Is it worth going back to harvest? or Is it some sort of Amanita?

Had i not nearly taken a nose dive i would of missed these little things...Nectria cinnabarina was my guess, known locally as 'Coral Spot'

These I believe are either Hypsizygus tessulatus or Hypsizygus ulmarius. I had eaten from the same tree last year and did that based on the later guess. This year however the mushrooms are growing in larger groups making me think the former identification is accurate. Is differentiation microscopic or are there other attributes?

Third round for these Dryads' saddles. They are a great eye-catcher and bring me to logs or trees that often have other mushrooms on them.

spore prints being taken and the collected and cleaned, proposed, Lepista Irina.(Can we call these whiteits?)

Thanks for enduring my bombardment of questions and photos everyone

[Dave W]

Those white mushrooms may be Lepista irina, but another possibility is Clitocybe robusta.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/clitocybe_robusta.html

One way to tell the difference is the spore print. L. irina has a very pale fleshy-pink spore print, much like a Blewit. C. robusta has a yellow spore print. Also, C. robusta has an odor that is more unpleasant than fragrant. In my experience, the color of L. irina is a bit different than pure white... a bit off-white. C. robusta is chalky-white. The mushroom in the third photo looks different than the ones in the first two. The gill attachment looks different and the color is not pure white.

Years back, I was determined to find L. irina and I mistakenly brought home a collection of C. robusta... which I put into a chicken stir-fry. No damage done, just an otherwise perfectly good meal ruined. It turns out that L. irina is uncommon in my area, but C. robusta is quite common.

The orange/green milky with the orange latex that I find here in PA is currently called Lactarius deterrimus. According to something I just heard, the name will soon change (again). An old name is L. deliciosis, and some still refer to these by this name. RaffD, what is your location? I see you have listed this as Vaughn.

Chlorophyllum rhacodes (= Macrolepiota rhacodes) is edible for most people, but for those who are sensitive/allergic it may cause a pretty bad reaction. Also, there is the possibility of confusion with Chlorophyllum molybdites, the green-spored parasol. Shaggy parasol should have a white print. In my area C. molybdites is rare and C. rhacodes is quite common (when there's enough rainfall).

H. tessulatus looks like a sound ID to me.

I think spore print color is the main thing in determining L. irina. It's a good idea to collect a p;rint on white background, as both L. irina and C. robusta have very light prints that are difficult to differentiate from white when collected on a black background.

[RaffD]

Thanks Dave. Many of the mushrooms have this seemingly different gill attachment. The photos in the guide even show this variance, with one photo being clearly attached and the other looking slightly detached, All smell the same however and not 'non mushroomy'. As well, C. Robusta is not mentioned in the guides however C dealbata is. A poisonous possibility None of the specimens are flat or depressed. All specimens are not chalk or paper white. They are slightly off white. I will take another spore print on white as well and magnify. This solidifies my fear of anything that is white, and isn't a giant puffball, which grows on the ground. They are all much to close for comfort it seems. If I'm not 100 percent sure I will scrap the batch. How did you tell it was not the correct mushroom after it was cooked?

Unfortunately the guides are slightly stuck in the past out this way. Either way this species is edible yes? Even if this specimen is well past due. I have also edited my location - southern Ontario is where I am about 40 miles North of Toronto.

For the Shaggy Parosel is there anyway to test for sensitivity besides a small taste?

Spore print on H. tessulatus came out white as last years. ( read lunch )

I'll stick to my non-white ground mushrooms for the table haha.

Thanks again.

[DufferinShroomer]

Be careful with anything that you think is Lepista irina. It has quite few look alikes and in my humble opinion anyone who successfully identifies this species by looking at just one sample is more lucky than skilled. I have a white mushroom that grows in my barnyard which I thought might be irina. I wasnt able to get any sort of reliable confirmation so I figured what the heck I'll fry one up and taste it. I still dont know for certain what this is but I do know that you cant keep a cooked piece in your mouth for more than about 1 second. I cant recall ever tasting anything so foul before or since - no way could anyone eat it. There was an organized club foray the next day so I brought a 6 quart basket along to get some opinions. Everyone I asked (and there were some very knowledgeable people there) said I had a basket of irinas in spite of my protests. I was badly outnumbered so I let a few of them divide up the basket and take them home for supper. shrug. My opinion is that if you find a spot where the actual irina fruits then everything you find that looks like irina will be irina and if a spot doesnt fruit them then everything you find will be some look alike.As Dirty Harry would say... Do you feel lucky? Well do you?

You have 2 pics posted and below the 2 you said...

'I propose for the above two specimens Lactarius Deliciosus'.

Im not happy with that. The first mushroom - the smaller one- shows only the underside so it is really hard to make any sort of reasonable guess at an id. Having said that, in my limited experience by the time a deliciousus gets to that size it is already fully flattened out, shows a lot of green on the cap surface and looks pretty ugly. That first mushroom looks more compact and neat and I want to venture a guess that it wasnt showing green. If there isnt green then you should be thinking more along the lines of Lactarius thyinos. It is worthwhile to sort that out and remember where you found it. Deliciosus, in spite of its name isnt a very good edible. I guess it is ok if you want to eat everything that you find that is edible but unless I find a pristine specimen I dont bother with them. Thyinos on the other hand is quite delicious and is worth going back for more if you can find them. Thyinos is usually found in your area close to eastern white cedar trees and is generally the only tasty edible you will find around these trees.

The second photo looks like the cap has a color that is more blue than orange stained with green. Im thinking that this is more likely to be an expired Indigo iactarius than a deliciosus.. Right now the woods in southern Ontario seem to be full of expired indigos and this is about a month after they normally finish fruiting here. Indigo is a quite tasty edible and well worth collecting when they are young. Indigos are extremely prone to harboring tiny white insect larvae and often they are buggy before they get to fully flatten out their cap. There is an easy way to determine if one is buggy though. The larva appear to enter the mushroom through the stem and eat their way up into the cap. Pick one and cut the stem in half with a sharp knife. If in the cross section of the stem you see a bunch of tiny little holes leading upward to the cap you can safely toss the mushroom because it will be buggy.

Of the 2 pics of what you are calling Hypsizygus I would agree that the topmost pic is almost certainly that. Im reluctant to put a name to the other pic without seeing the underside of the mushroom. I can never remember which Hypsi is which but I think mushroomexpert.com has an explanation. I never concern myself much about it I just eat them. Hypsi will have that characteristic anise/liquorish aroma that is typical of the oyster family of mushrooms. I normally find them on red maple and sometimes a cluster can be pretty impressive in size. They can also grow high enough up in a tree that mere mortals cant reach them. I know a guy who packs what he calls a hypsi stick which is a metal telescoping (to 12 feet)rod with a curved knife taped to the end. I carry a 6 foot hiking staff with one end sharpened to a point and I can reach 12 feet up into a tree for hypsi and oysters.

I dont have an urge to wade in on the other pics.

Have you seen any honey mushrooms yet in Vaughan?

[Dave W]

Good point about the Lactarius, Dufferin. Orange latex milkies which show no green are likely to represent L. thyinos. My own opinion is that deliciosis (deterrimus) and thyinos are fairly similar as edibles. I think maybe thyinos has a little better flavor, but I generally use these types in meals that feature plenty of other flavors. When young and firm, these type milkies have a nice crunchy texture and tend to take on the flavor of whatever they are added to.

Those robust white mushrooms are almost certainly not Clitocybe dealbata. The "Sweating Mushroom" is a small white-spored mushroom with gills that range from subdecurrent to decurrent. I agree with Dufferin about the white Clitocybes being a tricky group to explore for edibles. I believe I am able to recognize L. irina. But whenever I make a collection, I still take a spore print. To see the subtle variations in spore color for these types, obtaining a thick print is advised. Other white to off-white Clitocybe-like mushrooms to learn are the Leucopaxillus species. These are --as far as I know-- all bitter/inedible and will cause digestive upset if eaten. Lastly, Tricholoma subresplendens is a white mushroom with white spores and no ring/veil. I have read this one is edible, but I haven't tried it.

Gill attachment for L. irina varies with the maturity of the mushroom.... notched when young, but as the mushroom expands the gills get stretched down the stalk which produces a (sub)decurrent appearance.

[RaffD]

Thanks Dufferin and Dave.

So if this is not Irina I will notice a horrid taste and smell correct? Spore print didn't come out well so I'm testing multiples now. How close is the spore print to that of a blewit? I have the blewit spore printing as well on white and black. should they be relatively the same colour? Ok then that does explain the variant gill appearance. is anything which looks like this DEADLY when consumed?

In terms of the milkies the cap of the smaller mushroom was greening and the large one is definitely not an indigo. orange ink when cut and crushed. both were in the same patch so i'm assuming they are the same species of milky. i also only collect very young specimens of all milkies for eating.

unfortunately no honey yet down here. I usually only see them around the end of the month.

[John Smalldridge]

Hey RaffD, I'd be careful about assuming all lactarius in a patch are the same. I often run across more than one species of lactarius in a patch. In fact I think it's a good idea to check each individual mushroom before consuming. I know you probably know this, but I want to make sure any beginners reading this post will not get the wrong idea.

[Dave W]

L. irina spore print is similar to a Blewit, but paler than at least some Blewits. Over the years, I have observed variability in Blewit prints... quite pale to rather fleshy, but never white.

Aside from the Sweating Mushroom types --C. deabata and a few related species, small whitish lawn dwellers-- the species C. dilatata, a western NA species is listed as poisonous. It's likely that some of these white Clitocybes and other similar types are not well-tested/documented for edibility.

[Dave W]

Here's another white fleshy Clitocybe species. This type tends to grow in clusters. The spore print is tannish/light-ochre. Maybe not what is seen here, but just another example of the difficulties associated with IDing the whitish Clitocybes and allies.

http://mushroomobserver.org/181454?q=2FIyu

[RaffD]

Update. Spore prints are all offwhite-buff but much lighter than Blewitt. Will test one mushroom tomorrow for taste when cooked and go from there. wish me luck haha.

These, evidently, will not be on my picking list. Wayyyyy to much effort for an edible and mistakes seem more dangerous than just an upset stomach.

[Dave W]

In my area, Blewits are much more common than L. irina, and the edible qualities are probably very similar.

By "off white" I assume you do not mean "pale yellow", the color of a C. robusta print. If they are C. robusta, then the flavor should be unpleasant.

[rob]

Several years back I came across the same issues, with irina. After two years of picking, keying i.d. features, spore prints, and tons of help from Dave and Calvert. I finaly am able to confidently i.d. them. Most of my collections were just north of you, in Newmarket. Odour is certainly a help, as they have the same pleasant smell as a blewit. One of the non scientific features, I've found, is robust stipes that tend to curl upwards after picking. Same as blewits, or as celery stalks placed in water.

My spore prints were a pinky/yellow (salmon) and generally fairly heavy. Had tons of pics but on an old computer.

As a " pickable" edible if you can be confident in your i.d. they can be one of the most common forest mushrooms in your area. Certainly there are look alikes. I always sort after getting home and often find white capped mushrooms that have stalks too skinny, gills that don't look right etc. As for edibility I don't find any difference from a blewit. I've fried them, used them in soups and stews, had them with blewits, bacon and deer liver (lepista and liver as Dave quoted), mixed with parmesan and tomatoe sauce on duck schnitzel etc. Always meaty with good flavour.

BTW your pics look right for irina.

[RaffD]

Thanks Rob. The odour I did notice was pleasant and similar to a blewit. Perhaps next time I'll follow the traits and try one. with so much Hericium around this time of year, a preferred edible of mine, I rarely pick from the ground unless I see indigo If you are ever south of nobleton in around the woodbridge / bolton/ maple area I'd be happy to go picking with you!

[RaffD]

Reviving this again sorry. I picked another bunch of mushrooms I believe to be L. Irina. Notoriously hard to spore print it seems, with only one of 11 mushrooms, over 3 days, giving a print worth looking at! It is indeed pink to buff. I've also noticed these are usually full of larva after a few days out. Is this something to worry about (after proper cooking)? White becoming tan with age. Forming patches on the ground, not really 'fairy rings' as the guide says. Third field id will be a taste test. Also, I've noticed that the stalk is bulbous on most specimens with only the minority being the same thickness from the base to the cap. Is this a known descriptor? Thanks in advance.

[Dave W]

Sounds like you've got L.irina, RaffD. The spore print color and fragrance similar to a blewit are good supportive characters. Stalk equal to clublike to somewhat bulbous sounds like the same variability I see with blewits.

It's difficult to arrive at a confident ID of any of the large whitish Clitocybe-like mushrooms by way of viewing photos. This is a species that I had found challenging to learn. Patience and willingness to toss a few tentatively IDed collections into the compost are part of the process.

Insect infested specimens should not be eaten. This is something I run across with blewits. Sometimes a specimen that looks perfect and feels firm turns out to be riddled with insect larvae.