Any idea what this is?

I've been growing mushrooms on and off indoors for a couple of years.I am not a forager and have no clue what kind of mushroom this is.It was about 80 degrees here yesterday, we had a nice thunderstorm last night and this morning we found this on our walk. We do have some oyster mushrooms growing on a dying willow tree. I assume it was from spores from my hobby mushrooms. The mushrooms we have had spore here from is King Oyster(King Trumpet), multiple oyster mushrooms,a variety of different kinds of shiitake and wine caps.This mushroom smells just like a healthy woodland mushroom.Would love to take a spore print and cultivate it but if it's poisonous I'll skip it.
Any clues what it is? I am in Central Illinois.

Kitty Bolles wrote:I've been growing mushrooms on and off indoors for a couple of years.I am not a forager and have no clue what kind of mushroom this is.It was about 80 degrees here yesterday, we had a nice thunderstorm last night and this morning we found this on our walk. We do have some oyster mushrooms growing on a dying willow tree. I assume it was from spores from my hobby mushrooms. The mushrooms we have had spore here from is King Oyster(King Trumpet), multiple oyster mushrooms,a variety of different kinds of shiitake and wine caps.This mushroom smells just like a healthy woodland mushroom.Would love to take a spore print and cultivate it but if it's poisonous I'll skip it.
Any clues what it is? I am in Central Illinois.

I would suggest getting a good mushroom field guide to have on hand. I generally assume that all mushrooms are not edible until I can prove otherwise:) There are a whole lot of white to brownish cap mushrooms....some deadly some edible and I have avoided trying to figure them out.
Next time, maybe, don't pick it just let it develope and observe. You'll have plenty of time for more to show up if they are indeed edible. It is always good to have a pcture of it's habitat also
I hope someone else can be more helpful:)
and welcome to permies!

Thanks for the reply Judith.Normally I wouldn't even pick it but my P.I.C saw it on his walk and thought it looked interesting. I never forage so it wouldn't have even crossed my mind or his to pick it except for the fact that we have been finding mushrooms all over our place this summer and they have been from what spawn we'd tossed out. I'm of the "trust God" mentality and I am just goofy enough to try this one but I just cut it up in little tiny bits and dropped it in a sterilized jar of wild bird seed spawn just to see if I can make more.I have smelled a couple not edible ones and they definitely smelled "off". This one smelled just like a morel or an oyster. We will see what comes of it.
Thanks again,
Kitty

Kitty,
It is very dangerous to just try it. I also trust in God in life. When you are talking about eating mushrooms, it might kill you. The picture has very poor resolution. There are traditional ways of identifying mushrooms. You absolutely should take a spore print. I think the best approach to identifying mushrooms is to start with, "I want to learn about identifying mushrooms, and this is one of the steps." Don't be eager to eat this mushroom. There are many other things to think about, like what substrate it is growing on, does it bruise certain colors, in what pattern did the mushroom grow on the ground, etc. This is a very distinct study that takes years to get really good at. The best method is to start with some mushrooms that are easy to identify. It sounds like you already can identify oysters. That can be your starting base. There are lists of 4 foolproof mushrooms that you can find to start with, but check those characteristics very carefully. Then slowly branch out. Join a local club. Get an ID book. Check the info on the internet. It is absolutely ok to be climbing up the ladder of mushroom identification knowledge but not be ready to eat that one. Even if you don't die, you might be throwing up for three days and permanently damage your liver, so you can't eat your favorite foods ever again. I know people in my local club who've been doing this for 30 years and still can't ID some mushrooms, so they just don't eat them.
Thanks,
JOhn S
PDX OR

I certainly would try to eat any mushroom I couldn't identify!

There is a saying that goes something like 'There are old mushroomers, and there are bold mushroomers. But there are no old, bold mushroomers.' Some of the most deadly mushrooms look and smell perfectly nice. To identify it properly you'd need to know a lot more about your local fungi and take note of where it was growing, the type of gills, the colour of the spore print, and all kinds of other things.

Tasting it and seeing if it kills you is not the way to stay alive!

Too funny! I'm not going to try it. I can see where the confusion was. I am so paranoid as I said before that I do not even forage. I just grow them. I do have a field guide and I was just hoping one of you could tell me what you think it may be and I'd do my own comparisons. There are non-poisonous mushrooms that are growing during the fall season under the conditions I'd described. Thank you all for being so concerned about my health.

We have an answer to our mystery. What we have found is a Brown Meadow Mushroom. They do not have a scientific name as of yet. They are of the same family as button mushrooms. Apparently they are quite prolific in my area this time of year. I had a friend that took me for a mushroom walk today. The heat,rain and then cooler temps is what sets them off. Truly there are scary stories about poisonous look alikes but these are very easy to identify once you know what you are looking for. They smell amazing. The poison varieties firstly smell just plain "off". I can't describe it but he showed me the difference. It's obvious even to a newby like myself. And to prove they were safe he ate them raw here in front of me. He's still alive and well and I'm fixing the spoils of our hunt for dinner tonight.
Thank you all for your concern to my wellbeing when I first posed the question.

Sincerely,
Kitty

Kitty Bolles wrote:there are scary stories about poisonous look alikes but these are very easy to identify once you know what you are looking for.

So glad you found someone who knows you local fungi to help you. It's that bit about 'once you know what you are looking for' that is so important, and it varies from place to place according to what grows locally.

Enjoy your mushrooms!

I just never risk eating fungi from the wild, which is such a shame in our damp autumn months