I am fairly confident these are Armillaria straminea (var. americana, according to "Mushrooms of Colorado and the Southern Rocky Mountains"), but I certainly welcome any confirmation/denial of this. The first 2 photographs are of a larger specimen, about 12 cm across. The 3rd photo are smaller, younger ones, 4 - 5 cm across. The book also says they are edible and Mushrooms Demystified notes that A. straminea is said to be a popular edible mushroom in Colorado. (I live in northern New Mexico on the Colorado plateau, so same thing). I took the larger one home to look at it more closely and left the younger ones. The larger one was definitely past its prime and even though it is classified as edible, I think not at that age. I am drying it though, just to see how it holds up to that process. The smaller ones, though out of focus, may be more edible. I guess my question is, before I attempt to eat these, has any one out there eaten them? Oh, MD also notes it is also called A. luteovirens.
Floccularia straminea var. americana (please, consider the orthography!). Cheers Harri Harmaja http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/vasculars.htm
Floccularia straminea So, just so I have this straight, F. straminea and A. straminea are the same organism, but F. is the current, correct orthography, yes? http://www.collectivesource.com/taxonomy/Armillaria.html "Mushrooms of Colorado and the Southern Rocky Mountains" mentions that it is also known as F. straminea. It was published in 1997, so it could be out of date. "Mushrooms Demystified" makes no mentions of F., only A., but it was published in 1979. Unforturnately for me, Armillaria is easier to remember because of its similarity (no accident) to amarilla, which is spanish for yellow.
Wow, your picture looks JUST like the A. straminea in Vera Evan's book. I'm in CO, and granted I havn't been here long, but i have never seen that species. Let me know how it tastes if you should try it. Compare to A. mellea if you've had that species before. I found pounds and pounds of that one here last fall. FYI, A. mellea is a very very common edible in Poland.
The A. melea you've found look like these? http://www.altavista.com/image/results?itag=ody&q=armillaria+mellea&kgs=1&kls=0 If so, I don't recall seeing these around and thus I haven't eaten them. The A./F. straminea are not common. In fact, on the 4 mushroom hikes I've been on this year (~28 miles), I've seen only the 3 shown here. Based only on these 3, they apparently like aspen and not much elevation (< 9000 ft), which is itself somewhat unusual because aspen tend to like higher elevations than that. I am little surprised that this species is edible. Given its bright color, you might think it was aposomatic. I see nothing about spore print color in Mushrooms of Colorado for this species. What are you expectations of this?
Yes, the link you provided is what I find to be A. mellea. There are several subtle color varieties all lumped together into A mellea. They are a devestating saprophyte, and I've found that deer just love them. A. mellea is actually one of my top 10 favorite mushrooms to eat. Armillaria species have white spore prints; The picture you showed was foreign to me (didn't know a yellow Armillaria existed at all), and I just wanted a spore print to make sure you didn't have a weird looking pholiota or something else (which i've since dismissed).
I collected another yesterday, did a spore print overnight. Only one half of the cap appears to have dropped any, but there are enough there I think. They look white to me. So we can conclude that this is indeed A. straminae?
Do you know if the mushroom part of the bioluminescent fungus, Honey Mushroom, bioluminesceses? Or is it just the below ground part of the plant? Do relatives of this plant bioluminesce? I live in Oregon. Medford. Do you know if they grow near this area?
are you sure you have the right mushroom? i havn't heard of the Honey Mushroom bioluminescing. Omphalotus species look similar to the honey mushroom but bioluminesce.
Mr It seems that I have heard that about Armillarea mellea somewhere before. I'm not sure what I read it in, but I do seem to remember something about a Great Lakes native nation that would use it as a trail marker for night-time reconnaisance or scouting. The reason it stuck back in the corner of my mind was the name. It would have translated as "fox fire". I think that is so very descriptive, and in almost a romantic sort of way. And yes, it seems it was chunks of infected wood that were used rather than pieces of the fungus, ( such as an Ompholatus species (Jack-O-Lanterns) might do.) But I should warn that this is a memory almost as faint as "fox-fire" itself must surely be, so take it as such.
Went to a mushroom festival this weekend in Crested Butte (Colorado) and we found this mushroom every day on the forays. The mushroom has a new genus name! The new and apparently commonly used name of this fungus is ... drum roll please ... Floccularia straminea.
Not to rain on your parade, but Harri Harmaja pointed this out a few posts up. I found one last week. I ate one slice as a test...no problems. It sautes nicely, nice firm flesh. Did you eat some?
I had one of these guys with dinner last night. It was pretty good, full bodied mushroom with a good firm texture. It was nothing like Armilleria mellea (I guess I should expect that since they arn't in the same genus anymore!).
Allelopath, I'd like to ask you a question about your Floccularia. Would you be willing to send an e-mail to me at mushroomexpert@yahoo.com?
Sorry, allelopath; I tried to PM you but apparently I don't have the required permissions. My question isn't one for a public board, but if you'd rather not send an e-mail, I understand.
Nope; not working. I think it has to do with my permissions, not yours. And we're cluttering up this board. Never mind.
