Miriam Johnson

I'm just going to point out that you aren't going to find Cortinarius caperatus in any store...most (maybe all) Cortinarius species are mycorrhizal and as such extremely difficult to cultivate. If you learn how to ID them, they're not exceedingly rare, but around here they only pop up in the fall. I find them in mixed woods.

Kevin Hoover wrote:The only “rule” I’ve heard of that our mushroom club observes (I think it was first stated by a very knowledgeable Bolete specialist in another club) concerns only Bolete mushrooms, those that grow on a stem and have pores instead of gills. And this rule may only be based on what we find in the eastern US.

Don’t eat any Bolete that tastes bitter,  bruised blue, or has red pores.

I realize observation of this rule will cause you to bypass some very good edible mushrooms, but it’s probably a good idea for a beginner.  Boletes can be very hard to identify. And there are Boletes that will make you sick, and at least one that is deadly.

Basically, don’t eat anything unless you can identify it.  My rule of thumb on eating a mushroom that is new to me, is that I will not eat it until someone I trust seconds my ID.

I would say that the bolete rule is largely true! I can think of a couple edible exceptions, namely I've eaten Hortiboletus campestris on a few occasions and it bruises blue. However, most red-pored boletes will indeed make you feel pretty bad. Bolete deaths are exceptionally rare.  Both Rubroboletus satanas and Boletus huronensis are known to cause VERY VERY SEVERE GI distress though, so perhaps if you were already in rough shape/dehydrated going into eating them they could conceivably kill you, but it would be more from electrolyte imbalances after purging so much.  And there's one Australian report of a woman dying of muscarine poisoning from a Rubinoboletus sp apparently?

All Rubinoboletus and Rubroboletus fit the "don't eat red-pored boletes" rule  though, so Boletus huronensis is the one to look out for, at least in NA. It's found near Lake Huron in hemlock woods (hence the name), and bears a passing resemblance to Boletus edulis if you aren't careful. The stipe reticulation (or rather, the lack thereof) gives it away. It's also very rare.

If you wanna see some mycologists debating its genetics, this is fun https://mushroomobserver.org/observer/show_observation/331948

As for bitter mushrooms: Tylopilus sp almost invariably taste terrible but as far as I know aren't actually toxic beyond a tummyache. I've seen reports of people using them for cocktail bitters, oddly enough!

---

On a related note, you can determine the ediblity of anything in Russulaceae by taste. Tastes okay to "meh": edible. Tastes spicy or acrid: you will hurl.

Amy Gardener wrote:Miriam is absolutely right.
AND, if you want a rule, this one helped me when starting out with book knowledge but no experts my area.

Some young gilled mushrooms begin life in a sack that conceals their gills. (example, destroying angel and death cap)
Not all mushrooms with gills are deadly poisonous. (example, grocery store mushrooms)
ALL deadly poisonous mushrooms have gills. (example, destroying angel and death cap)
THEREFORE, if you don’t know for sure,

Never taste a gilled or a premature mushroom.

Realistically, it's more like never eat a gilled mushroom. Counterintuitively it's safe to nibble and spit pretty much any fungi, as all known toxic species must actually be eaten to present a problem.

Shame that isn't true for plants though.

Dan Boone wrote:

I am not arguing with this but it is the exact opposite of my approach.  I have learned a few of the most common edible mushrooms in my area -- well enough to be confident in my identifications.  

I don't give any other mushrooms a second glance.  Just not interested.  If they're not common and numerous and easy to find in good quantity (like oysters, which sometimes present thirty or forty pounds on a single old tree trunk around here) it's easier just to assume everything I see that I don't recognize is poisonous.  

Since the OP asked about growing mushrooms, her problem is a lot easier than the mushroom hunter's problem.  She's going to have just one or two or a few kinds of mushrooms that are supposed to be growing where she put them.  The first time she grows a crop, she could (if necessary) go to the nearest fancy food store and buy a plastic clamshell of the kind she is growing, and compare them side by side.  Once she's grown a successful crop, she'll be so familiar with that kind that she'll never have trouble telling if subsequent crops are the same thing.  The odds of a dangerous look-alike growing in her sterilized spawn are not high enough that I would choose to worry about that.

That method also works! The reason why I emphasize learning the significantly toxic ones first is because it also eliminates the beginners anxiety of "but what if there's a lookalike to this choice edible mushroom that could kill me?" If you're already familiar with what WILL kill you, that anxiety isn't really an issue.

But then again if you're primarily interested in like morels, lion's mane, chanterelles, chicken of the woods, maitake, etc...that's not much of a problem cause it's well known none of those have deadly lookalikes. And yes, I know there are seriously toxic Gyromitra species that some people say resemble morels, but honestly I don't see the resemblance at all other than "wrinkly fungi".

However, pretty much anything that you'd be deliberately cultivating is pretty distinct looking. I suppose you could find Panus rudis and somehow mistake it for a shiitake (both fibrillose, both grow on decaying hardwoods, but P. rudis is teeny tiny and would taste like chewing on a stick...).

This would work better if you'd separated it out into several posts!

Photos 4, 5, and 6 look a lot various Mycena spp I find in the southeastern USA.

The first looks like a Parasola sp, though I'd also compare with Leucocoprinus fragilissimus.

The last two photos appear to be a Psathyrella of some sort based on the stature and gill structure/color.

Photos 2, 3, and 9 may be something in or genetically close to the Gymnopus genus, but I'm not really confident there.

You could technically call them all "little brown mushrooms"...but I've never liked that term much. Anyway, even if I'm right (I'm sure I'm wrong on at least one of these), none of these are considered edible. As far as I know there aren't any toxic Psathyrella though.

They'd be rotted by now, but next time pick one and take a picture of the underside!

I am 90% confident that this is Trametes hirsuta and 100% confident on having the genus right.

Compare:

https://mushroomobserver.org/observer/observation_search?page=2&pattern=trametes+hirsuta

Also compare with Trametes gibbosa.

It is EXTREMELY difficult to identify by mycelium alone. However, you can actually use CRISPR kits to genetically sequence it and compare it to something on GenBank...then you could probably get an answer!

Some folks like Alan Rockefeller have been doing this intensively for several years at this point. In fact, much of the recent progress in the field of mycotaxonomy has been made this way!

...

The most I've ever done is mailed an Amanita amerirubescens specimen to Rod Tulloss for an Amanitaceae taxonomy project a few years ago. So I'm not really an expert on the process, just aware that it can be  done.

Pleurocybella porrigens does not grow in SE KY as far as I know.

Not 100% sure what type of tree that is based on what little I can see, but it definitely doesn't look like pine or cedar or any other conifers that I know of.

I have picked a TON of oysters over the years.

What you found is Pleurotus ostreatus. Super common in your area, also very much in season right now.

This is such a jam!

Also why is Larry Carlson artwork the image for this thread? I mean don't get me wrong his work is awesome but it seems a bit random haha

The only real way to do it is to find a list of toxic mushrooms present in your area and get good at identifying as many of them as possible.

It's time consuming, but if you REALLY want to get into mushroom hunting, it's a great place to start! Besides, it's more important to learn what NOT to eat at first.