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ID help and New to the Site


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Hello all and thanks in advance for the help and guidance from everyone.  I'm brand new to the site and look forward to learning from people with WAY more knowledge than me.  This is a new endeavor for me and for the all the obvious reasons,  one I want to enter into with the utmost caution, not ready to die just yet.

I found this today growing on the ground very near the base of a fallen Beech tree.  It is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland  in a very damp forest dominated by oaks and beech trees. (BTW that is my 7 yr old daughters hand  as a size reference.)  I've done some internet research and think I it might be a Berkeley's polypore.  I haven't cut any and didn't make any notes on smell but it was quite tender.

thanks and cheers

Bart

 

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Yup, Berkeley's Polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi). That's a really big one for this early in the season! 

Some field guides list Berkeley's Polypore as "edible when young". I fried up some very young material once, and thought it was pretty good. But there have also been reports of people getting sick after eating this mushroom. The one seen here is not a young specimen. When very young, B. berkeleyi doesn't look much like the one seen here. It starts out as a rather formless whitish blob before the semi-circular fronds develop. 

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great thanks Dave.  I appreciate the feedback and guidance on edibility.  I think I will just admire it as a cool specimen.

as I learn more about what I'm finding and ask for more advice, can you offer any guidance on what to include in pictures and descriptions to help with ID's ?  both on this forum and as I scour my field guides.

thanks again, Cheers!

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