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Unknown Strobilomyces


Feral Boy

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My guess would be S. floccopus, based upon the large scales on the cap. But this one looks to be abnormally developed... maybe the result of some very hot dry weather? Vlad, that's a nice shot of the floccopus spores. How did you get the ornamentation to stand out? I'm still not convinced, however, that one can tell from this type of view whether the spores exhibit a pratial or complete reticulatum.

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Dave,

For us beginners things are simpler. When I focus on the spores under the microscope I bring the platform up until I get a clear outline of the spore which I think of as looking inside the spore as if it was sliced in half. To look at the surface of the spore I back the platform down slowly until I focus on the surface. On the S. confusus there was no reticulation visible. If my microscope was more powerful I might have seen the partial reticulation. Right now I have no idea what they mean by that. I plan to study this mushroom more this coming season. I want to see if the different staining of the two species is consistent so that it can be used to differentiate the species. Also I would like to use simple chemicals such as KOH and ammonia to see if they react differently. The hardest part will be to find S. confusus again. I get the impression that it is quite rare in my neck of the woods.

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I did a bit of reading on the internet about Strobilomyces. Mushroom Expert has pretty good information.

On this page he shows spores of Strobilomyces confusus with focus on the top surface. It shows some rough surface but not what I would call “partial reticulation”.

http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/hall/strobilo.html

On this page he talks about Strobilomyces floccopus.

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

Quote:

“If you really want to be sure of your identification, slice it open and watch the flesh turn pinkish red, then slowly blacken over the course of an hour or so.”

So it looks like my observation of different type of staining can be used to ID the two different specie. I still plan to test this coming season.

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Thanks Vlad, for the good information. In the past, I have not made much of an effort ot seperate these two species. My scope (400x) is not powerful enough to see the ornamentation. But when I compare your photo with the info you provided (Mushroom Expert), I see that your floccopus exhibits the complete reticulatum.

We get a lot of OMWs around here... both floccopus and confusus as far as I have been able to tell from rather casual observations. I find most of these types in oak woods.

Here's one from 2009.

post-20-0-51749500-1293811126_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-77496200-1293811152_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-67747600-1293811184_thumb.jpg

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I know S. floccopus and S. confusus are hard to tell apart. One of our

MOMS members has found that S. floccopus generally has fluffier scales,

when he checked the spores it's almost always what he thought it was.

It was AWFULLY dry this fall, so that's probably correct that this is

one or the other -- although I've also heard that there's at least one

other variety.

It's gone the way of other foray finds, so we won't ever find out now.

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This is a place where we amateurs can help. Try to find them, try to identify them and then let someone with 1000X microscope look at the spores and confirm the ID. At this time there is too much contradictory information. Mushroom Expert says that S. confusus is the one unkempt looking while your person says the opposite. Most authorities say S. confusus is the smaller mushroom while the one I found was the largest Old Man of the Woods I ever saw. I got to try the flesh stain test soon after I photograph it and pick it.

I find that this kind of knowledge is more fun to track down than eating the mushroom. I think that most people do not care which it is and this the main reason that there is no definite ID description.

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