Monthly Archives: August 2007

The Praeclaresquamosus From Yesterday

August 31, 2007Agaricus placomyces, Agaricus praeclaresquamosus, MushroomsSteve

When I was over at my grandparents’ house with my wife, daughter, and sister for dinner (which is a weekly tradition) there was this gorgeous mushroom growing in the front lawn covered with midges. I unfortunately did not have my camera with me, but it was one of the most beautiful specimens of Toxic Scaly Agaricus or Agaricus praeclaresquamosus (wow.. that’s a mouthful) that I’ve ever seen.

Truly a look-but-don’t-eat sorta mushroom. Beautiful sooty-black scales, pink gills, a large intact ring with scales on the underside, and a base that stained bright daisy-yellow when cut. The midge flies crawling over it were due to its somewhat unpleasant smell, but then again it’s an easy way for the mushroom to spread spores.

The next time one blossoms there, I’ll be sure to take some pictures. 🙂

UPDATE: After doing s bit more reading, it turns out that this mushroom was probably Agaricus placomyces. The two are practically identical, but A. placomyces grows in the east (I’m on the East Coast) where A. praeclaresquamosus grows west of the Great Plains. Next time I’m able to grab a sample, I’ll be sure to take it home and confirm under a microscope (as well as take copious pictures).

Found a Reishi!

August 30, 2007Ganoderma lucidum, MushroomsSteve

Who would have thought? My wife showed me a really ugly mushroom growing on the decayed remains of stump roots about a month back, but I paid it no mind. Today, however, I came across some pictures on the internet that made me doublethink, go back to the patch she found it at, and grab some more.

Now I’m 95% certain that I have in my possession a Ganoderma lucidum, the Reishi mushroom. The Reishi is used all over the place in traditional Chinese medicine. I’ll post more about this in an article on it in my Fungi section soon.

August 26 ’07 – Lot 13

August 27, 2007Calvatia cyathiformis, Mushrooms, PuffballsSteve

A beautiful lot of puffballs with brown mottling on their surface. I’m 99.9% sure that they’re Calvatia cyanthiformis, but they were all too fresh to get any spores out of them.

…and at this point I’ll never know. They were delicious. 🙂

August 26 ’07 – Lot 12

August 27, 2007Mushrooms, Puffballs, Vascellum curtisii (Lycoperdon curtisii)Steve

A beautiful assortment of Lycoperdon. I’ll be buggered if I can figure out which species, though. Because the spines are not circular and the points of them tend to stick together in clusters of three or four they’re probably either Lycoperdon pulcherrimum or young Lycoperdon echinatum.

UPDATE: They are Vascellum curtisii (aka. Lycoperdon curtisii).