Reply To: FE520 Week 5 Discussion

[Alana McGee]

If you are going to collect mushrooms and you will be taking a mushroom to an expert for id, put a little duff in your wax baggie with the mushroom, as this will help with id. Also, make sure you collect the ENTIRE mushroom, including all of the base. Do not cut it off as seen in the chanterelle picture. I would guess the person who collected these mushrooms knew what they had and was field cleaning them. That’s fine when you know what you are collecting. The base of the mushroom is very useful for ID.

Here are 2 poisonous mushrooms that are sometimes confused for chanterelles:

Gomphus floccosus aka Wooly Chanterelle

photo from Mushroom Observer

http://mushroomobserver.org/image/show_image?id=246842&obs=104391&q=2JGpi

Wooly Chanterelle

Omphalotus olivascens aka Jack-o-lantern. These can make you sick enough for a trip to the hospital. Check out Debbie Viess and David Rust’s website for a good description of these mushrooms. But if you find them at the right time of spore production, they glow at night!

Jack-o-Lanterns