Mushroom Hunt: Russula sp.

From Charly, who notes: A large genus of mushrooms, some edible and good, some with nasty unpleasant or burning taste or even emetics. I do not collect them because I have never spent enough time with someone who is familiar with them enough to safely recognise the edible species. Also there are multiple species that are really similar to one another so precise identification really needs a mycologist. Addendum – only the first orange mushroom is Russula sp., the second one is very probably Amanita muscarina. I got them mixed up, I would have to pick up the mushroom to be sure sure (Russula does not have veil and does not have bulbous foot), and of course that cannot be done in picture, and I do not disturb mushrooms I do not collect. Spectacular photos all, click for full size!

© Charly, all rights reserved.

Mushroom Hunt: Larch Bolete.

From Charly, who notes: Edible and in my opinion good, but it has the disadvantage that it is a lot of work – the slimy cap skin has to be peeled of because it is sticky and all kinds of stuff are glued to it. It also contains a lot of water and therefore cannot be safely stored and has to be prepared immediately for consumption. It does not have maggots very often, but it is very beloved by slugs. Latin: Suillus grevillei. Click for full size!

© Charly, all rights reserved.

Mushroom Hunt: Brown Roll-Rim.

From Charly, who notes: A really nasty mushroom. Formerly it was considered to be edible, but now it is recognised as poisonous and dangerous, although to my knowledge no toxin was identified. There are two theories that I remember from the studies – either it is edible to most but induces severe and possibly lethal allergic reactions in some, or it contains an accumulative toxin, that is not metabolised or expelled from the body and thus one can safely eat the mushroom for years until a threshold is reached. Young specimens can from top view look like bolete, but they can be safely and easily recognized by their gills. Latin: Paxillus involutus. Click for full size!

Chris Ford: Affinity &emdash; Paxillusinvolutus1

Chris Ford: Affinity &emdash; Paxillusinvolutus2

Chris Ford: Affinity &emdash; Paxillusinvolutus3

© Charly, all rights reserved.

Mushroom Hunt: Orange Birch Bolete.

From Charly, who notes: Another one of my favourites, but unfortunately it is not very common around here. Not only is it very tasty, but it can relatively often be found in big size without maggots having infested it. This time we found only this one specimen, but we were not going into the right habitat, so I did not expect to find even that. Latin: Leccinum versipelle. Click for full size!

© Charly, all rights reserved.