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Half-pound Monster - Curious for ID help?


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I'm honestly at a loss when it comes to most gilled mushrooms.  I'm a beginne,r and the easier boletes, shelf mushrooms, and of course morels, verpas, and gyromitras I feel I know fairly well.  But I'm gun shy of the gilled landfish.  I picked this monster amongst a bunch of matte jack boletes and realized as I was plucking it that I felt gills, not tubes!  Picked high elevation amongst mostly coniferous forest.  

 

Cap is totally smooth; no hair, scales, etc.  Completely dry.  Very sturdy mushroom.  

Gills are chocolate brown and very deep.

Stips is tough, thick, and fibrous, but seems to lack any scales or texture.  No evidence of ring or veil.

Any help with possible ID leads would be greatly appreciated :)

 

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I think there are a species of Agaricus. But the one thing that bothers me about this ID proposal is that it looks a little bit like the brown gills meet/touch the stalk. All species of Agaricus have "free gills"; that is, the gills do not meet the stalk. I wonder if the thin brown lines near the stalk may be the result of the spore deposit? 

Agaricus amicosus is a hefty Rocky Mountain species that grows under conifers. Mushrooms of this species have a ring on the stalk, but the ring may drop away in age. 

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I'm not sure at what point the gills are considered free. This mushroom is border-line to me.  The gills arc inward just before the stipe.  You can see it the best in the second photo. In Arora's pocket guide I have sitting next to me at the moment, it seems that he illustrates this type of gill as being attached.  

 

No visible ring, but this is a very mature mushroom.  Gills are a touch dry and I see no noticeable spores on them. 

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I think these gills are probably free, and that the mushroom is an Agaricus. Probably the mushroom is past maturity and the annular region separating the ends of the gills from the stalk has contracted so that it's now more difficult to tell if the gills are free. Also, probably had a ring --or at least a partial veil-- when younger.

These are all good reasons to conclude that we CANNOT confidently ID this mushroom. But, now you have an idea to fall back upon if you find another one... hopefully a younger specimen. 

One thing to note about an Agaricus mushroom is whether there is staining on flesh of the sectioned mushroom, or on the stalk base.

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3 hours ago, Dave W said:

I think these gills are probably free, and that the mushroom is an Agaricus. Probably the mushroom is past maturity and the annular region separating the ends of the gills from the stalk has contracted so that it's now more difficult to tell if the gills are free. Also, probably had a ring --or at least a partial veil-- when younger.

These are all good reasons to conclude that we CANNOT confidently ID this mushroom. But, now you have an idea to fall back upon if you find another one... hopefully a younger specimen. 

One thing to note about an Agaricus mushroom is whether there is staining on flesh of the sectioned mushroom, or on the stalk base.

 

I have noticed no staining or bruising on this mushroom.   How fresh does a mushroom have to be to stain?

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34 minutes ago, Dave W said:

The younger the better for staining reactions. Not all Agaricus stain. 

 

Good to know.  Looking up Agaricus amicosus doesn't seem to line up quite right.   But then, maybe the age of this mushroom is just throwing me off!  Having only found one, I'm not sure how hard I will try to identify it.  Perhaps more will crop up and I can revisit the mystery :)

I spotted another new crop of boletes this morning, perhaps a few mystery mushrooms will end up in the basket when I'm done grooming the mountainside!

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Agaricus is a large often difficult genus to navigate. It'd be interesting to see any other examples of this that you find. In the meantime, enjoy picking the boletes ☺️. I was in Montana during summer 2009, when there was near record-setting rainfall. The Boletus edulis hunting was beyond belief. If that was all I wanted to do, I think I could have harvested 100 Lbs!

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2 hours ago, Dave W said:

Agaricus is a large often difficult genus to navigate. It'd be interesting to see any other examples of this that you find. In the meantime, enjoy picking the boletes ☺️. I was in Montana during summer 2009, when there was near record-setting rainfall. The Boletus edulis hunting was beyond belief. If that was all I wanted to do, I think I could have harvested 100 Lbs!

Will do!

We've had a non-stop rain spring and are now a week or two into dry summer and the mushrooms are booming on our mountain.  Everywhere you look there's fungus, it's head-spinning.  Pancake-sized jacks are cropping up along trails and the roadside by the dozens.  More in the forest!  I easily picked 10lbs in just a few minutes yesterday, and that again the day before.  I've already squirreled away a few small-plate sized boletes today and will be going out again shortly with TWO baskets instead of one :P  I'm just drying slices for now, I will explore this forum more for some new ideas on putting up shrooms :)

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These are definitely not a species of Agaricus. Note the gills are attached to the stalk. 

Spore print color may help here. Here are a few possibilities for the genus: Hypholoma, Psathyrella, Leratiomyces. This does not really narrow it down very much. I suspect it would be necessary to examine spores at 400x to get much further. This is a type of mushroom I don't see here in eastern NA (I think). It would not surprise me if none of the suggested genera are correct. But... a spore print color may help. Collect the print on both white and black non-porous surfaces. 

What is the habitat? On the ground? On wood? Types of trees? I think these are not the same species as the half-pound monster. Different shaped stipes and cap surfaces look different. 

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I see!  I appreciate the input.  Then in my forest combing I have yet to see another like the big one I posted about.  I wasn't sure what the growth rate on this mushroom is, how big it can get, and what morphs on it as it grows, so with the similarities I see in the body and growing area I thought it might be a good guess :)  I saw several but just plucked these two for examination.

 

We are in 5000-6000 elevation.  These shrooms were found on slopes in mostly shaded areas with light ground cover.  We have fairly dense tree growth of larches, spruces, firs, pines, aspen, mountain ash, alder, elder, and mountain maple.  Those are the bulk of the trees and large shrubs.  And in a 50' circle you can find all of them in some areas, it's very diverse.  These two smaller mushrooms were not found on wood, they were in substrate.  Loamy, loose, mostly ancient woody debris and decomposed needles.  Mostly surrounded by arnica, huckleberry, and uva ursi.

The large one was found at least 400-500ft higher than these on a much drier sunny slope, still loamy but with more rotten gravel in the mix.  The area was dense with foliage (majority arnica and lupin) and the mushroom was mostly shaded. 

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Oh, and on spore prints; this is definitely something I need to learn how to do.  I've yet to do one though.  I will do some experimenting.  There did appear to be a identical chocolate-brown dust/debris on the gills of all three mushroom, not sure if that's spore I'm seeing.

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Spore color has a lot to do with gill color, but it's not always straightforward. For example, black gills may match dark purple-brown print, or vise-versa. Some brown-pored mushrooms have white print. 

The half-pound giant... I think it's an Agaricus. Probably occurs sparingly. Finding other stuff that looks similar... that's a way to learn subtle character differences. Get a few field guides. Not sure what's out there that's specific to the Rockies. Arora's "Mushrooms Demystified" is probably one good choice. The trees you mention... sounds like Rocky Mountain Mushroom heaven to me.

At 5000-6000 asl, you're likely to have a short season... maybe late June through September. Fungal diversity is much better in the east. The palette of trees is more diverse. So you will likely never equal the number of different fungal species available in one eastern season. But, there are likely to be some interesting surprises in your coniferous woods. Do you have any poplar? 

Do you know about Fire Morels? In a place where there has been a forest fire, WITHIN ONE YEAR OF TIME there may be prodigious quantities of morel mushrooms. Very common in MT and ID. I have twice visited ID to hunt Fire Morels. At elevations above 5000', the season can persist for months. In MT it may be necessary to purchase a permit. In ID you can get a "personal use" permit for free. Not all burn site produce, and in some cases the terrain makes a site unapproachable.

Spore print: find perfectly flat pure back and pure white non-porous surfaces. Lay the mushroom fertile-surface-down straddling each surface. Allow to be at rest overnight. If the mushroom is left in a drafty/breezy area, then cover with a cup. You want a nice thick print so that then color is not misleading. It may take longer than 20 hours. Remove/discard the mushroom if it starts to rot. Alternative... collect print on a glass microscope slide. Then you may place the slide atop either black or white background. Works, but I don't get as good a read on color like this. 

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