So I was out yesterday and came across this mushroom and was hoping for some help identifying it. The cap felt kinda slimy/sticky when I first picked it and has since dried itself. dark brown cap, pale pores to a yellow. spore print came out to be brown from what I can tell. here are pictures also I came across a patch of chaterelles, I'll say they're at a "button" stage, how long does it take for a mushroom to grow? I found alot of cut stems in the ground as well...will mushrooms grow back anytime soon or not until next year? thanks guys forgot, I think this is a suillus brevipes (short stalked suillus)
Mushrooms/fruiting bodies come in two types: indeterminate growth and determinate growth. A good example of determinate is the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus: When the mushroom starts out, it has all of its substance compacted, which "inflates" with water/etc to its pre-determined growth size. Others, eg. Chanterelles, keep on growing, indeterminately. They can get pretty big. The challenge from the pot-hunting point of view is to leave them long enough to get big (and big enough to release some reproductive spores, depending on your point of view on that, and on the theories around the relative importance of that), but not so long that someone else comes along and eats them (eg. another human, other animal, or a parasitic fungus) Looks like a Suillus to me too: Can you see the tiny glandular spots on the upper stem? cheers, frog
thanks for the reply. I dont see any glandular spots on the upper stem from what I can tell. Assuming this is the suillus, have you ever ate them and are they worth while? I saw lots of them the other day. As for the chanterelles. I'd hate to have someone else pick up on my find but I wouldnt want to pick them while they're too small to drop spores. I was planning to go back on my next day off, 4 days from now and see how they're coming along or if they're still there.
Mushroom hunting is great for helping us all enjoy the great unpredictability of nature eh :-) The glandular spots are very small, try using a magnifying glass, as I'm sure they're there. I've eaten Suillus incorporated into dishes that did not highlight them, and I thought they were fine with good flavour. Others tell me they really don't like the texture of Suillus, so perhaps it is a preparation challenge.
