Bellaru Posted February 22, 2015 Report Posted February 22, 2015 Temps finally picked up this weekend so we went for a family walk. Found these along the way. I was surprised seeing we've had freezing weather up until now. In one of the pictures you can see a fuzzy stem. Is the fuzz on the stem something you normally see on Oysters? I have yet to eat any Oysters so these will be my first. Some are upside down again, Sorry.
Dave W Posted February 23, 2015 Report Posted February 23, 2015 That fuzzy stem is really interesting. Otherwise these look a lot like Oysters. But there are other possibilities. Were the photos taken indoors? Natural light --shaded or filtered-- tends to better show natural colors in photos. Spore print color may be useful here. Take the print on two collection surfaces... one black and one white. S. Carolina is believable for Oysters at this time. They seem to respond to swings in temperature that may include sub-freezing periods.
Bellaru Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Posted February 23, 2015 The pictures were taken indoors under the stove light. They definitely make them look more yellow/brown then in person. I tried shining a white led light on them for the last three pics to get a better picture, didn't do much. I set up one for a spore print but not sure if it will come out. It was pouring rain when I picked them and they looked a little past prime, the edges are drying and toughening up. Do you think the spores dropped already? I was soaked and in a hurry earlier but on further inspection they all have a fuzzy/ somewhat fuzzy stems. A cross section shows the fuzz/ hair like growing out of the mushroom. Mycelium maybe?
Bellaru Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Posted February 23, 2015 Again sorry for terrible pictures. Iphone shots.
Dave W Posted February 23, 2015 Report Posted February 23, 2015 "Mycelium" is a plausible explanation for the fuzz. Pics are not terrible. Actually, they show a variety of traits which tend to contribute to the Peurotus hypothesis. It was mainly the observable color that I thought may be somewhat misleading. Bellaru, your explanation about the color in the photos being more yellow than in reality is exactly the type of thing I had suspected. Waterlogged specimens may fail to produce a useful spore print. But if you allow the mushrooms to dry out --not in the fridge-- then they may revive and sporulate. Also, maybe more will fruit in the same location, or nearby.
Bellaru Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks Dave. The spore print turned out. It was a cream, egg shell white. A lot of sources mention of Pleurotus being hair like on the stem base, especially when grown on horizontal logs. These where found on a downed tree. I know this an easy no brainier for a lot of folks. But I like to go over board, seeing I'm new to this. Thanks again.
Dave W Posted February 23, 2015 Report Posted February 23, 2015 I have a suggestion for explaining the "fuzz." I think it may be the result of a fungus parasitizing the mushrooms... a fungus growing on a fungus. A similar fuzziness is seen on the closeup of the gills. Also, in the photos of the closeup of the stem-fuzz, it looks like there is some blue-gray on the underside of the mushroom. Syzygites megalocarpus is a fuzzy fungus that attacks mushrooms of many varieties. It starts out yellowish and turns blue-gray. As for the mushrooms, when a parasitic fungus attacks a mushroom the mushroom species may become more difficult to pinpoint. The spore print appears to be somewhat yellowish as seen on the white background. But the parasite may have influenced the color. Some types of oyster have whitish spore prints, but yellow would be unusual. Probably oysters, but due to the presence of the parasite, difficult to say so with high confidence.
Bellaru Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Posted February 23, 2015 I noticed the fuzz in the gills as well and thought that was odd. When you put it all together and look more into the pictures as well as the mushrooms themselves , everything you say makes since. Been looking into the Syzygites megalocarpus but can't seem to find anything about it effecting the edibilty. I would think to throw cation to it in any case. What are your thoughts on its edibilty in the small amounts seen here? It would seem more obvious in some of the Google images but in a case like this it could be over looked and eaten by mistake.
Dave W Posted February 24, 2015 Report Posted February 24, 2015 I recommend NOT eating any mushroom that has been colonized by another fungus. The edible qualities of the parasite are likely not well-understood, and it's likely that the host mushrooms have begun to decay. If you find some nice fresh firm ones, then I think you want to view this as "back to square one" identification, including the spore print.
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