Something Funny

Funny

“The History of Medicine”

“I have an earache…”

  • 2000 BC: “Here eat this root.”
  • AD 1000: “That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.”
  • AD 1850: “That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.”
  • AD 1940: “That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.”
  • AD 1985: “That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.”
  • AD 2000: “That antibiotic is unnatural. Here, eat this root.”

(New Scientist, 6 September 1997)

Note, in the above progression, the root was the longest tried and true solution and then was merely decried as heathen. Nothing about its ineffectiveness 🙂

Peace,
-Steve

October 25 – The Undentified

Agaricus arvensis, Mushrooms, Unidentified Mushrooms

Alright, now to go over the mushrooms that I am not 100% certain of:

Agaricus arvensis?Agaricus arvensis?Agaricus arvensis?
Agaricus arvensis?Agaricus arvensis?

I am at 95% confidence that the above are Agaricus arvensis or the “Horse Mushroom.” However, 95% is not good enough for me to put it in my mouth, chew and swallow. I’ve picked these before and have posted previous specimens here. In fact, in those previous pictures, I believe that there was a tipoff as to its identity. If you look at the 6th one in the set, in the upper left-hand corner of the image you can see the distinctive “cogwheeling” that is present in A. arvensis‘ ring. The cogwheeling isn’t as distinct in these pictures (although I do believe it’s there), so I still hesitate.

Growing in: Lawn.

Cap: 6-7″ in diameter. Convex to flat. Younger buttons pale yellow-buff to white, older specimens white with buff to tan area towards the center. Very fine compressed shag. Flesh, for the most part not bruising to any color except a very very light brown where the cap connects to the stem.

Gills: Free from the stem and crowded. Very pale in the button stage progressing to gray (with very slight hints of pink, but completely desaturated) and finally dark chocolate brown upon maturity.

Stem: Up to an inch thick similar to any other Agaricus stem with a small bulb at the base (more prominent in buttons). Big floppy ring with some cogwheeling.

Spores: Spore print is chocolate brown. Spores smooth and elliptical. Unfortunately my microscope’s calibration is off at the moment so I cannot distinguish exact size.

Unidentified.Unidentified.

Unfortunately, these photos do not show the true vivid colors of these mushrooms. They were brilliant red-orange. I’ll add in more info about them here later.

We also came across some funky, slimy yellow mushrooms, but decided against harvesting any samples, as our basket was (at the time) chock-full of edible goodness.

October 25 – Calvatia

Calvatia cyathiformis, Mushrooms, Puffballs

Calvatia cyanthiformis and some LycoperdonCalvatia cyanthiformis againCracked open Calvatia cyanthiformis.

Certainly Calvatia most likely C. cyanthiformis, but all samples were far too fresh to get any spores. Luckily it won’t matter to me as all Calvatia are tasty and good to eat. One of them we found cracked open, exposing its white flesh (probably a deer stepped on it) but it exhibited something fascinating by trying to heal itself closer to its base.

October 25 – Agaricus campestris

Agaricus campestris, Mushrooms

Agaricus campestrisAgaricus campestris buttons.Some of the “blood” dripped onto one of the caps of A. campestris.Agaricus campestris cap.Gills of Agaricus campestris.Youger cap of Agaricus campestris.

Oodles of Agaricus campestris (brown-capped variety) now all in the dehydrator.

It was also so moist outside that some of them had drops of “blood” on their gills (that’s something I’ve only read about it in field guides about them before) which were also a beautiful bright-pink to chocolate. As such, you’ll notice some pink “blood stains” on the caps where I stacked the mushrooms on top of eachother.

October 25 Catch

Agaricus campestris, Marasmius oreades, Mushrooms, Puffballs, Unidentified Mushrooms

I was surprised to bring in so many mushrooms at this time in the season. The weather has been whacky, so I’ll blame that. Below are some pictures of the two baskets that my wife and I brought in. I only wish that there was better light to take the photographs in as most of them came out grainy.

October 25th Catch

I’ll be going through each type of mushroom we came across in separate entries.

-Steve

After Some Much-Needed Rain

Agaricus campestris, Marasmius oreades, Mushrooms, Puffballs

We haven’t had rain in too long, so when I had a whopper of a headache on Wednesday night, I was a little excited. Sinus headaches for me have always been followed by changes in the weather, but more specifically, rain, so sure enough on Thursday it started to drizzle, and on Friday it turned into a full-blown downpour. The next day afterwards, my wife and I went out mushrooming and pulled in a good-sized catch. Not as large as we had hoped, but a relatively large for how late in the season it’s getting.

Agaricus campestris and two Lycoperdon pulcherrimum or echinatum.

Yesterday, we brought in the above: 15 Agaricus campestris and two Lycoperdon (either L. pulcherrimum or L. echinatum, I can never really tell not that it really matters to me). I popped these into the fridge overnight to outline that change of gill color that I had mentioned before. Within a few hours after they are picked, the characteristic bright-pink of the gills fades to a pallid gray:

The pink gills fade to gray.

Pink gills of an Agaricus campestris to Pink gills faded to gray of an Agaricus campestris

This is completely normal, but a really good reason to keep a mushroom journal with photos. In the past, I’ve thrown out entire clutches of campestris because I was not aware of this quirk and feared misidentification (as if I’m not 100% confident that a mushroom is edible, I toss it: “When in doubt, throw it out!”).

Another thing that I loved about this batch of campestris was that most of them were of the brown-capped variety:

The brown cap variety of Agaricus campestris.

Just like Agaricus bisporus, the mushrooms you get in the supermarket, have “white” (button) and “brown” (portobello, crimini) varieties, so to A. campestris. I love their color.

The next day (today) we went out again only to find slim pickings, albeit with a bit more variety:

Oct 21st 07 Catch. Agaricus campestris, Marasmius oreades, and a few puffballs.

One mature Agaricus campestris, two Marasmius oreades, one Lycoperdon, and one Calvatia (probably C. cyanthiformis).

I’ll post more soon.

Peace,
-Steve

Three Mile Walk

Ganoderma lucidum, Hericium erinaceus, Laetiporus cincinnatus, Laetiporus sulphureus, Mushrooms, Unidentified Mushrooms

My wife and I took an awesome walk today all the way from Highland Park, through Johnson Park, across the Rt 18 bridge and into New Brunswick for a late brunch at the Au Bon Pain (quite a treat for our family, as we tend not to eat out) and then caught the bus back. During the walk through Johnson Park, however, we came across three amazing sites for two different kinds of whacky mushroom.

Budding ReishiMore prominent Reishi

First Nayla noticed simply popping up from out of the ground (which we later found was actually from decaying roots) a large patch of Ganoderma lucidum more commonly known as Reishi or Ling Zhi, which are very prominent in traditional Chinese medicine.

Chicken of the WoodsMore Chicken of the Woods

Next we came across a huge old stump with a cluster of Laetiporus sulphureus, or Chicken of the Woods. If we had only thought to bring something to store anything we would have found in, we could have made three meals out of this cluster. But it might have been for the best, as it looked as if someone had grazed it (be they woodland creatures or small children). I’m going to have to remember to drop by there again and grab some to make some spawn to inoculate a cord of wood that my parents-in-law don’t know what to do with.

Reishi up a tree.More Reishi up a tree.Even more Reishi up a tree.The Biggest Reishi I’ve Ever Seen

Lastly, we came across another set of Reishi… Only these had taken over an entire tree (which was very well dead). About a hundred caps came out of it like a spiral staircase, with one at the very very top (about 20 feet up) that was, and I kid you not, about the size of a soccer ball. Once again, if I had some way to store it, I would have found a way to climb the tree. 🙂

Actually looking closer at the picture I snapped of the one at the very top, it might not be a Reishi at all. The pores look a bit dangley and toothy and I could not see whether or not the top was “lacquered,” so this crowning piece might be a young Hericium erinaceus or Lion’s Mane. I may never know.

Peace,
-Steve

Mushroom Database Beta Up

Mushroom Database, Mushrooms, News

Looks like very few shrooms actually popped up today, despite the rain. 🙁 No matter.

Today I’m publically posting the Beta to the Mushroom Database and I’m now starting to enlist volunteers to help populate it!

It can be found at: http://steve.rogueleaf.com/mushroom

It currently only has two mushrooms in it (Agaricus campestris and Marasmius oreades), but it’s a start. 🙂

Peace,
-Steve