PNW mushrooms

dbur · Post by **dbur** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:05 am

My son has recently become a mushroom fan. He has identified about 4 edible species in my trees. best is the white truffles, but they are not very photogenic. Some others are fairly interesting. Here is one.
5DIII, EF100 f/2.8L, natural light, normal post processing.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:23 am

That does look like a delicious mushroom. Though I won't eat it unless I'm sure... or in the mood

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:52 am

To me it looks like Amanita muscaria which is very toxic, although typically red colored there are also yellow and brown varieties.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:49 am

Pau wrote:To me it looks like Amanita muscaria which is very toxic, although typically red colored there are also yellow and brown varieties.

Thought so! Those speckles (lack of a technical term) are a dead give-away. My initial thought was "Wait why isn't it red? Deceiving me?".

I've only seen red ones myself, truly beautiful mushrooms. I just saw some yellow ones on google, wow they look majestic and tasty. I'd eat one... in farming themed video games.

I added the word brown after the name you provided, this popped up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_regalis

Putting yellow gives the same name, linking to a wikipedia page that also features the yellow variant.

viktor j nilsson · Post by **viktor j nilsson** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:52 am

In Sweden, I would have called it Amanita regalis. But that seems restricted to Alaska in America, so it's likely another related species.

Edit:
Here's a key:
http://www.svims.ca/council/Amanit.htm

Saul · Post by **Saul** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:10 am

Pau wrote:To me it looks like Amanita muscaria which is very toxic, although typically red colored there are also yellow and brown varieties.

Amanita phalloides is very toxic.
Amanita muscaria is not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria
Properly prepared is used for food (especially in nothern EU) for centuries. You, most probably, should eat them few buckets in order to be sick

...

Dbur's mushroom looks like Amanita rubescens

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:38 am

Saul wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria
Properly prepared is used for food (especially in nothern EU) for centuries...

Yes, I did consult the Wiki... and what I read just confirms what I wrote: "very toxic"-- not something like "often mortal".
Many toxic species (some very important like cassava) become edible when detoxified with the adequate treatment ... just because they are toxic

Saul · Post by **Saul** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:33 am

Pau wrote:
Saul wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria
Properly prepared is used for food (especially in nothern EU) for centuries...
Yes, I did consult the Wiki... and what I read just confirms what I wrote: "very toxic"-- not something like "often mortal".
Many toxic species (some very important like cassava) become edible when detoxified with the adequate treatment ... just because they are toxic

I'm still alive ...

rolsen · Post by **rolsen** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:42 am

Amanita muscaria, aka fly agaric, is a poisonous mushroom. It has been used as a drug and as a part of some shamanistic seremonies etc. Apparently it gives some nice hallucinations..

Don't eat it.

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:12 am

Saul wrote:...
I'm still alive ...

Are you sure?

joeD · Post by **joeD** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:23 am

Looks like A.Pantherina to me ,but i don't really know if it grows in USA

Saul · Post by **Saul** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:27 am

Pau wrote:
Saul wrote:...
I'm still alive ...
Are you sure?

Ha ha, unless I'm micro/macro maniac zombie already !
If honestly, using as a medicine, it help me to get rid of pills, which I had to use because of my medical problems. Do not offer make salads from them ...

Especially when there are a lot of really poisonous relatives, which look very similar. Sometimes even professional mushroom pickers are making mistakes - all mushrooms are eatable, but some of them - one time only ....

dbur · Post by **dbur** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:44 am

My son tells me from his mushroom studies that these were used by some nomadic Russian tribes to have group hallucinations whenever they met together. Apparently the hallucinations from this one are not particularly pleasant. They also fed it to their reindeer and then drank the reindeer urine. Must be true if it's on the internet.

dbur · Post by **dbur** » Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:05 pm

I am the son who finds the mushrooms. We do not have A. regalis in yamhill/tillamook region of Oregon as far as I know. The woods are mixed - primarily conifer dominated by doug fir (but many other species as well) with some maple/oaks interspersed. Another suggestion has been A. rubescens which is extremely rare here - but either way there is no red blushing on bruising the flesh. I also am leaning on A. pantherina which fruits here in the spring and not A. muscaria which is a summer/fall mushroom. I've run through a number of PNW amanita keys but there is no way to be sure. I started a spore print but when I came back (12 hr) the mushroom was decomposed and there were 100's of fly larvae. I might try another but I have no intention of consuming said mushrooms so I may pass. I am considering destroying them all because I do not want competition with the also mycorrhizal white truffles.

micro_pix · Post by **micro_pix** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:04 pm

This is Amanita pantherina commonly known as the Panther Cap but it isn’t that common, it’s found in parts of the USA and Europe. Like Amanita muscaria (The Fly Agaric), it contains the psychoactive toxins ibotenic acid and muscimol as well as muscazone and muscarine so is known as poisonous. The toxins are destroyed by lots of heat so some brave people boil them to destruction and eat soggy mess that’s left, others (even braver) eat small amounts raw and “see things”.

Destroying the sporocarps of this fungi will not have any affect whatsoever on the truffles in the area.