based on easily observed field
characteristics for the recognition of
our mushrooms
Following
the Beginners Page “Key to Non-Gilled Mushrooms for Beginners,” we can
now look
at our most conspicuous mushroom groups and their look-alikes. These
groups and
their look-alikes can be recognized in the field. No special equipment
is
needed, no microscopes or chemicals, no DNA sequencing ... just field
experience.
We
recognize two big divisions in the mushrooms that we collect: the
Ascomycetes
and the Basidiomycetes. The former include the cup fungi, morels,
earth
tongues, truffles, and fungi such as dead man’s fingers. Almost all
other fungi
we collect are Basidiomycetes. You might think a microscope is needed
to see
the difference but for most fungi that is not necessary. There are,
however, a
number of Basidiomycetes that resemble Ascomycetes until you look at
them
closely.
This
is an artificial but eminently practical arrangement of our mushrooms
that has
been used effectively for field recognition of mushrooms for hundreds
of years,
and, despite cutting edge technology, it is still being used and
promoted today
(see Fungi by Brian Spooner
and Peter Roberts. Collins, 2005). No attempt has
been made
here to be encyclopedic in coverage; the diversity of these mushroom
groups can
be seen in the Audubon Guide.
I have selected examples that best
represent
these groups and put the emphasis on what can also be seen and read
about in
the Audubon Guide. There are
thousands of similar mushrooms in our
woods; only
a very small number of these appear in mushroom field guides, and an
even
smaller number are illustrated here.
The
PHOTOS are by Art Bailie, Peter Katsaros, Gary Lincoff, and Sam
Ristich. The
LINE DRAWINGS are by Bunji Tagawa.
1 Cup Fungi
a. Peziza: resembling cups or
saucers, usually small, easily
overlooked, and
fragile; sometimes brightly colored. See Audubon Guide for diversity of
cup fungi
in our area; spring – fall.
b.
Morels: only 3 kinds are usually recognized
in our area: all have
hollow pitted
heads & stalks; spring.
c.
False Morels: some look more like brains than
morels; one looks like a
saddle
mushroom; spring - fall.
d.
Saddle Mushrooms:
saddle-shaped mushrooms on stalks; summer and fall. Helvella
e.
Earth Tongues: used
here to include the black earth tongues as well as
some
fleshy fungi with heads somewhat differentiated from their stalks;
spring –
fall. Leotia, Mitrula, Trichoglossum
2 Truffles: distinguishing feature
here is the cross-section of a cut truffle: it’s marbled inside; summer
&
fall.
a.
Dead Man’s Fingers: club-like but tough; if black, then white within;
summer
and fall. Xylaria
b.
Caterpillar Mushrooms: Cordyceps can be found on either over wintering
insects
or false truffles; stalked, with a top (or head) that is dotted with
spore
sacs; summer and fall. Cordyceps
c.
Cramp Balls (or Carbon Balls): small, round, dark, hard, on wood;
cross-section
reveals concentric zones; year-round. Daldinia
d.
Mushroom Molds: mold-like but variable in color; particular kinds occur
on
specific hosts, like Russula, Boletes, and Amanita rubescens; summer
and fall. Hypomyces
4 Jelly Fungi: these fungi often
resemble other kinds of mushrooms: the Wood Ear a cup fungus, the Jelly
Tooth a
tooth fungus, and the Tough Jelly Coral, a coral mushroom; spring –
fall. Auricularia, Calocera, Dacrymyces, Pseudohydnum, Tremella,
Tremellodendron et al.
6 Coral Fungi: variable in
appearance;
can be worm-like, branched like underwater coral, or club-like; often
yellowish
to orange; summer and fall. Clavaria, Clavicorona,
Clavulina, Clavulinopsis, Ramaria, Sparassis, Thelephora et al.
7 Tooth Fungi: these have
spine-like
teeth under the cap but the mushrooms can be either stalked (on the
ground0 or
stalkless (on trees); in the latter case looking either like icicles or
a
layered polypore; summer and fall. Bankera, Climacodon, Hericium,
Hydnellum, Hydnum et al.
8 Parchment Fungi: a very
common group
of fungi on wood with a more or less smooth surface under the
projecting cap:
no pores like polypores; summer and fall. Stereum, Xylobolus et al.
9 Polypores: various and numerous
and
perennial forms remaining over winter; nearly all (there are
conspicuous
exceptions) share a couple of common features: on wood, stalkless,
fleshy to
usually hard, and with a pore-like surface under the cap. Bjerkandera,
Bondarzewia, Coltricia, Daedalea, Daedaleopsis, Fistulina, Fomes,
Ganoderma, Inonotus, Irpex, Laetiporus, Meripilus, Oligoporus,
Oxyporus, Phaeolus, Phellinus, Piptoporus, Polyporus, Pycnoporus,
Trametes, Trichaptum et al.
10 Boletes: like polypores but with
cap and stalk, on the ground, and fleshy and easily decayed; summer and
fall. Austroboletus, Boletus, Gyrodon, Gyroporus, Leccinum, Phylloporus, Strobilomyces,
Suillus, Tylopilus, Xanthoconium, Xerocomus et al.
11 Gasteromycetes (Puffballs
&
their look-alikes)
a.
True Puffballs: thin-skinned with spores emerging from a hole opening
up in the
center of the puffball; on the ground or on wood; immature forms can be
confused with various species of Amanita, including the Destroying
Angel, but
a cross-section will show the puffball to have an undifferentiated
context,
whereas a cross-section of an unopened Amanita
“egg” will show the outline of a mushroom cap, gills,
and stem;
summer and fall. Lycoperdon
b.
Giant Puffballs: no central hole for spores to escape; instead these
fungi
flake apart and disintegrate; late summer and fall. Langermania
c.
Earthballs (or False Puffballs):
thick-warty-skinned, usually yellowish brown; cross-section
reveals an
off-white (immature) to blackish (spore color) interior; on the ground,
often
under oaks; summer and fall. Astraeus, Scleroderma
d.
Earthstars: puffball-like with an outer skin that splits into distinct
arm-like
pieces, revealing the puffball-like interior; the whole sometimes
resembling a
lunar lander; on the ground; summer and fall. Geastrum
e.
Stalked Puffballs: the one included here has a jelly-like covering
about its
stalk and a bright red puffball head; fall. Calostoma
f.
Bird’s Nest Fungi (or Splash Cups): very small, almost cup-fungus like
mushrooms on wood or on the ground, with tiny egg-like spore sacs
within the
deep cup-like “nests”; spores are flung out by water drops or other
disturbance; summer and fall. Crucibulum, Cyathus
g.
Stinkhorns: often colorful and either phallic-shaped or with multiple
arms;
with spores immersed in a greenish slime that attracts flies who
disperse the
spores; immature forms are within a membranous egg-like covering,
sometimes
resembling puffballs; mature phallic forms, when gluten is denuded by
flies,
can resemble a morel; summer and fall. Dictyophora, Mutinus, Phallus,
Pseudocolus
12 Crust Fungi
A group of fungi, usually white or brown, smooth to felt-like or bumpy,
adhering to wood like a band-aid, and difficult to remove without a
knife. Corticium,
Hydnochaete, Merulius, Phlebia et al.)
These can be
divided into 8 groups based on their most typical appearance in
the field. There are other ways to divide up the gilled mushrooms, but
this is
both convenient and serviceable, and requires little more for the
determination
of groups than patient observation in the field.
The following 8
groups are the traditional groups in
which all the hundreds of genera and thousands of species of gilled
mushrooms
can be sorted. These names below refer to white-spored groups. Pink to
salmon,
brown, purple-brown, and black-spored mushroom groups have a striking
similarity to one or another of these white-spored forms. Some of
these as
well as some white-spored groups sort into several of these “forms”.
Cap
and stem fleshy.
Gills
free (from stem) or nearly so.
Universal
veil present, leaving either a cup of tissue about the stem base or
patch like
or wart like remnants on the cap or stem base. Partial veil present or,
in two
groups of Amanita, absent, leaving a membranous annulus (ring of
tissue) on the
stem.
Look
alikes include: Volvariella bombycina.
Cap
and stem fleshy.
Gills
free from stem, and usually conspicuously so.
Partial
veil present, leaving a membranous ring of tissue on stem. [The
salmon-spored
Pluteus is similar but lacks a partial veil.]
Look
alikes include Agaricus and, also, the pink to salmon-spored Pluteus
(without a
partial veil).
Cap
and stem fleshy.
Gills
attached to stem, sometimes somewhat decurrent.
Partial
veil present, leaving a membranous ring of tissue on stem.
Look
alikes include Agrocybe,
Galerina, Gomphidius, Gymnopilus, Pholiota, Rozites,
Stropharia
Cap
fleshy, often thick; stem fleshy, often thick.
Gills
attached to stem, sometimes notched at stem.
Veils
absent.
Look alikes include the
blewit, Lepista, the corts, Cortinarius, and Entoloma, Hebeloma,
Russula, Tricholomopsis
Cap
fleshy and small to large; stem fleshy, often thick.
Gills
attached to and somewhat decurrent (descending) stem.
Veils
absent.
Look-alikes include Armillaria tabescens, Clitopilus, Hygrophorus (white to gray), Lactarius, Omphalotus, Paxillus
Cap
fleshy to tough; stem either absent, eccentric, or lateral.
Gills
decurrent if short stem or stub-like stem present.
Veils
absent.
Look-alikes
include Crepidotus, Gloeophyllum,
Lentinellus,
Lentinus, Lenzites, Panellus, Panus,
Paxillus, Phyllotopsis
Cap
fleshy, typically small; stem thin and either cartilaginous, wiry or
bendable.
Gills
attached to nearly free.
Veils
absent.
Look-alikes include
Agrocybe
pediades, Hypholoma,
Leptonia
(Entoloma), Psilocybe,
Tubaria
Cap
fleshy, small; stem thin and either fleshy or tough
Gills
attached to decurrent.
Veils
absent.