Based on conversations during a foray with the Arkansas Mycological Society, here are key questions to answer about any wild mushroom before deciding that it isn't actually a look-alike that could upset your stomach and/or liquefy your liver:
• Where is the mushroom? Is it growing on a tree, near a tree, far away from any tree? Did there used to be a tree nearby?
• Is it part of a colony of similar mushrooms? Is there a circle (a fairy ring)?
• What color(s) is (are) each of its parts?
• Is it young or old?
• Does it have a cap like an umbrella? Is it more like a ball? Does it look like a trumpet? Is the trumpet hollow? Does it look like raw biscuits? Does it look like raw chicken? Does it look like a brain? Does it look like ...
• Is the cap slimy, dry, powdery, eroded by insects, warty?
• If there's a cap, are there gills underneath or does it look like a sponge? Does it have false gills (raised strips that sort of look like gills)? Do they fork?
• How fat, tall, firm is the stalk? Is there tissue clinging to it?
• How does the mushroom meet the ground? Is there a bulbous place, a flattened bulbous place? Can you see a white network of tiny root-looking things coming out? What if you dug a little deeper?
• What happens when you break open the cap? Does it leak? Does it change color?
• What happens when you squeeze it?
• Does the mushroom change color when you put ammonium hydroxide, potassium or ferrous sulfate on it?
NEVER FORGET
• Lists of important pointers printed in the newspaper are not enough information for identifying mushrooms.
• Photos are not enough information, even really pretty photos.
-- Celia Storey
ActiveStyle on 09/19/2016