Identification: Can anyone identify these mushrooms please. They have a light purple stem.

Hi Neallee,

To ID this, more info would be needed, and also some mushrooms are easier than others to ID by photo, and there are many mushrooms resembling this. Lastly there are mushrooms that are transglobal and some that are regional and I'm in the PNW of NA.

Having said that, if you wish to pursue this, do take a spore print (Basics: cut off stem, cap side down on white paper, leave for a few hours), also note any particular smell, and get a closer shot of where the gills attach to the stem. The characters that will help you are; the lawn habitat ( but note if there are conifers or hardwoods nearby), smooth & slimy cap, crowded gills, large darkening umbo on cap, short stem, and when you get it, the colour of the spores. In the photo the stem looks more orangey than light purple, so if it is purple, note down the colours of cap gills and stem.

Please feel welcome to post your observations here, as we may be able to help, but also I suggest contacting your local branch of the British Mycological Society as they will have knowledge of the regionally specific species.

I hope that helps!
cheers,
frog

 

Hello Frog
Thank you for your reply it has helped tremendously.
The mushrooms seem to be deteriorating a little but I have managed to get some results.
When the mushrooms first appear and are quite small, cap <50mm, they have the light purple stem and grey/brown cap.
When they mature they have a cap about 120mm dia which is dark brown in the middle and light brown at the edge. Orangey/brown stem.
Spore print is white/cream in colour.
Smell - mushroom nothing else.
Gills - crowded
Cap - smooth
Gill attachment decurrent maybe.
Appears Nov/Dec.
The lawn is on clay soil and the mushrooms are under the canopy of a very old (100+ yrs) apple tree, but conifers are also within 5m.
We also get giant puffballs close by in the autumn.
Thanks again for the advice and I will contact the local branch of the British Mycological Society.
Neale

 

also ... The BMS website has changes since I was last there, and I can't seem to locate the list of local groups. However elsewhere I did locate a list of UK groups:
Association of British Fungus Groups
British Lichen Society
British Mycological Society
British Society for Plant Pathology
Buckinghamshire Fungus Group
Devon Fungus Group
Dorset Fungus Group
East Yorkshire Fungus Group
Fungi To Be With
Fungus Group of Southeast Scotland
Grampian Fungus Group
Gwent Fungus Group
Hampshire Fungus Group
Huntingdon Fungus Group
Melbourn Mushroom Club
Mid-Yorkshire Fungus Group
Mushroom Growers' Association
Norfolk Fungus Study Group
North East Fungus Study Group
Northern Ireland Fungus Group
Northwest Fungus Group
Nottinghamshire Fungi Group
Pembrokeshire Fungus Recording Network
Warwickshire Fungus Survey