Hello, I am currently working on identifying the common wild edibles of the area I live in, southeast Tennessee, primarily up in the ridges but also along the river bottoms. I have noted a lot of different fungi. I would like to be able to identify them, can anyone recomend a good field guide for this with color photos..., not pencil drawings. Thanks Brian
It sounds like you'd rather work on ID'ing these yourself than have someone plunk a name on these? :-) For someone new to fungi ID'ing, I have a couple of overall suggestions to offer: When looking over a mushroom and/or taking notes to go with a photo, it is usually helpful to jot down: - Cap underside features: Such as pores, teeth or gills. How the gills attach to the stem, what colour they are. - Spore colour: You can sometimes tell the colour of the spores by looking for a dusting of spores on the stem, or on the topside of another mushroom cap below, or on the gills. You can also make a spore print. - Cap and stem features: Colour, size, surface textures, stem rings, volva at stem base, etc. - Habitat: Growing on trees, logs, buried wood, ground, leaf litter, other mushrooms, moss, etc. Your field guide will get into more detail on these things. Book suggestions: Mushrooms Demystified by Arora, Mushrooms of NE North America by Barron. Audubon Field Guide to NA Mushrooms is organized oddly and labels the photos with common names (sometimes invented) rather than latin, which can make ID'ing confusing. Is a good book in many ways though. The Mycological Union of East Tennessee or the Arkansas Mycological Society might have some regional recommendations?
Thank you very much! I will check with them and see, and I'll look for Mushrooms Demystified, I am mainly concentrating on the southeast.
Probably (genus) 1-2 old Bolbitus vitellinus 3 Russula sp. 4 Leccinum sp. 5 Coltricia sp. 6-7 Xerocomus sp. Nico
Thank you for your input..., sorry the pic quality is so poor on some of them I had just gotten the camera
couple other notes? (I've lived in tn and recognise some of these) See if they're 'milky caps'.......they'll bleed white 'milk' if cut......and to take a smell also. Down there I remember there being lots of Coral fungi, morels, Boletes, Old Man of the Woods, and many other edibles........good luck with you'r ID'ing!
You're now pretty much out of season for those down there I think. And trust me? They're IMPOSSIBLE to mistake! They just usually look like a weird 'brain' on a stem for the most part. :o) ...I used to find them near damp creek areas there...on the shady sides of forested hills........(I've YET to find any here in Ks however!) Good luck next early summer!
