Mushrooms

“All Fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.” Terry Pratchett

In a completely uninspired moment I thought to open Photos, close my eyes, scroll the library upwards and click on a photo. Then I would open my eyes and write something - foodie associated - with whatever I found.

Which is this, stunningly beautiful mushroom photographed recently somewhere near here. A study in beige and brown was my first thought - but how to elaborate? If I had the words I could rhapsodise endlessly about its beauty - the shiny little bits - are they hairs or scales - the subtle gradation of colour from a very dark brown to a shiny, pure white on the outer edges. But I'm no good at that. Is the beauty enticing me to eat, or telling me to beware?

And there next to it in my Photos app was this equally stunning red to cream via orange and white - and this one I know is the kind of beauty that is dangerous to know. Definitely do not eat. In fact unless you really know what is eatable do not eat any fungi you find in the wild at all. In France you could ask a pharmacist, but I doubt you could do that here.

So I decided to select a few mushrooms from my photo collection because they are always so photogenic, either because of their beauty, their alien weirdness or their repellent qualities, to try to discover what they actually are and to report back as it were.

So let's begin with my first sample for which I had another photograph - this one with some small seed-like black speckles over the top.

I don't know if you realise but if you drag a photograph into Google Images Google will oblige with a whole range of options of similar looking photographs which will lead you to sites that might tell you more. So off I went on my voyage of discovery.

And I learnt that this particular mushroom is from the parasol species and is called the graceful parasol - or to give its official name - macrolepiota clelandii.

What does the name mean? Well yes - easy to guess that the clelandii bit is named after a person and this is he - Sir John Burton Cleland an early twentieth century academic whose field was pathology and in which he rose to a professorship at Adelaide University. But he was also a keen botanist and mycologist - and as such discovered that this particular member of the lepiota family was not a European one as had been previously thought. This one is native to Australia. Macro means - well you know - large. Lepiota means scaly. The common name parasol comes from the shape of the mushroom when looked at side-on.

The website Wild Food Huntress which I checked a few time during my 'research' for this post describes this particular mushroom as:

"an edible mushroom that is said to taste like chicken (but doesn’t everything) this mushroom can be used in many dishes as you would a store bought mushroom however I think its best served crumbed like a schnitzel. ... The toxicity of this species is unknown ... This not a mushroom for beginners to try as it does resemble the toxic Lepiota sp and Chlorophyllum molybdites."

See the above picture - you can see why you would be confused. Other sites also said that people weren't sure about toxicity. So, beautiful though it is I would suggest not eating it.

Nor would I suggest eating my beautiful red toadstool - amanita muscaria - or the red fly agaric. Before I deal with this particular one - what's a mushroom and what's a toadstool we all ask - well it seems there isn't really a difference. They are both fungi - and as one expert says (Galloway Wild Foods):

"The inference is, I suppose, that mushrooms tend to be edible and toadstools tend to be poisonous"

But apparently not always true.

Be that as it may what we have here is one of the amanita genus - which includes the Death cap. This one is amanita muscaria with a name meaning - amanita from the Greek word ammani which is derived from Mount Ammanus where these toadstools(?) were found and muscaria is also Greek - for fly. Why fly? Well because since ancient times it has been used as an insecticide by drying it, crushing it and sprinkling it over milk. But do not eat, however beautiful it is.

And look at this. It almost looks as if these two are locked in a lover's embrace. Another study in cream and beige, but touches of grey and almost purple.

This one is called Omphalotus nidiformis - commonly known as the ghost mushroom, which I shall come to. The official name? Omphalotus - from the Greek meaning navel, and nidiformis meaning nest - both describing the shape. It's actually been moved from genus to genus - it was once thought to be related to the oyster mushroom and can be mistaken for them - which is dangerous because this one is poisonous. Well not to death I think but to vomiting and so on. Not nice. Do not eat.

The 'ghost' bit however, comes from this picture - it glows in the dark. Not actually like this I think. Clever photographers use long exposure techniques to make them look more dramatic. But they can glow in the dark. Yet another weird, alien kind of characteristic of the fungal world. Creepy or beautiful?

Gymnopilus junonius - the ones shown here - they were in my garden - were in the early stages of growth. They flatten out as they grow, are very bitter if you eat them -and can be hallucinogenic, which is one reasong given for one common name - Laughing Jim: "Ingesting the mushroom can alter perception and cause unmotivated silliness or laughter." or the other reason: "Jim" is a common-language play on Gym" And what does gym mean? Well naked - and pilus is cap. Junonius is 'pertaining to Juno' - Juno being the wife of Jupiter - because this is - somebody said -"Referring to Juno's legendary statuesque beauty, grand stature, and association with majesty, reflecting the large and striking appearance of this orange-gold mushroom." - because it's other common name is the spectacular rustgill. It grows to be quite large you see.

Which makes me wonder whether my last mushroom is really the same thing - or is it - as Google Images tells me The saffron milk cap that I wrote about the other day? And because I did I will say no more about this one, other than to say that it too is lovely. A sort of brown version of the ghosty one.

Which brings me to my last mushroom - to me the completely revolting looking Slippery Jack - which is prized by European immigrants for its taste, and which I have seen on the menus of fine diners. They are indeed slippery and slimy - and huge. They grow round the corner and up the hill under pine trees - their natural habitat. Suillus luteus is their botanical name meaning - suillus - of pigs and luteus meaning yellow. And there are also slippery jills and slippery cows. It's interesting is it not that it seems to be that ugly, or just plain - like a field mushroom - is tasty and beautiful is 'beware'. I'm sure you could read a whole lot of metaphorical stuff into that.

I've probably bored you to death. But hopefully you may have learnt a useful thing or two as well. Although I'm not quite sure I can take Google Images as a reputable source for identification. As one writer said, if you are interested in cooking wild fungi go out with an expert who really knows what's what. Or you might end up poisoning your beef wellington too.

Before I wrote this post I went for a wander through our bushy block in case there were some even more spectacular mushrooms to be found. But not a one. Which is a not very clever segue into my final quote:

"I've always thought fairies are like mushrooms, you trip over them when you're not thinking about them, but they're hard to spot when you're searching for them." Jo Walton

YEARS GONE BY

August 25

2025 - Un mélange

2024 - Nothing

2023 - Weight - why do I care?

2022 - Define cooking

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Tonic water

2018 - Nothing

2017 - Nothing

2016 - Decisions, decisions