Identification: can anyone identify these mushrooms.

i live in cape town south africa and i collerted two kinds of shrooms. i think the one is a pine-ring,in also not sure of the scintific name....... im not sure (please help) the other is also a pine loving mushroom
any surgestions. iv ordered a book but ill only get it in about 2 months.... jake

 

The first mushroom (the one with the Swiss Army knife) is probably a species of Lactarius. The second one might be a Lactarius too. (Did either of them produce a latex-like fluid when the gills were cut? It could be clear or colored.) More information (such as latex color) would be needed to identify it to species.

 

The left one is Lactarius deliciosus (with carrot-coloured milk) and the other is Gymnopilus penetrans. The former is a mycorrhiza companion of Pinus species, and the Gymnopilus grows on wood of conifers. These identifications are slightly uncertain (closely related species might be concerned).

You seem to have collected them in a Pinus plantation as pines are not native in your country. Likewise, both fungus species are introduced and not native to the Republic of South Africa.

Harri Harmaja
http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/about_myself.htm

 

the suspected pine-rings have a hollow shaft in the center of thair stems, with a distinct orgnge ring when cut.

 

Lactarius deliciosus also?

 

Yes. It's L. deliciosus.

 

The last one probably L. deliciosus ... unless the flesh turns red instread of orange when cut, in which case it is L. rubrilactius (which is also a good edible).

I am not convinced that the first picture in this thread is L. deliciosus.

 

It is the same mushroom in both photos. The flesh turns green when cut.

 

excellent! I was referring to the top picture by Psyfly -- it looks suspect to me because the cap is paler and there are no green hues on the stem, gills, or cap (which raises a red flag in my head).

 

Oh, my bad...Also first photo differs from my photo in that gills in the first photo are more finely spaced. Are there any other tests I can do to?

 

There is the final test; eat it and see if anything bad happens. Just kidding, of course.

L. Deliciosus is a pretty easy mushroom to identify, and there is nothing that i have been able to think of that looks like it and is not edible.

 

Ha ha!

So, I found quite of few of these. I noticed a small difference in habitat preference in L. deliciosus (from B. edulis and C. cibarius). I find the latter 2 in an altitude range of 9000-11000 ft (2740-3350m), but I don't find L. deliciosus until I get up to 10000 ft (3040m).

Most of the specimens I found are now past their prime (actually most species are now starting to go bad). The Lactarius deliciosus entry in "Mushrooms of Colorado and the Southern Rocky Mountains" reads:
"Although a popular edible in other countries, Colorado's varieties of this species are not always delicious. However, they are most flavorful when young and very fresh".
So I guess I'll wait till next year for this one.