Macgregor, ACT
Identification history
| zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) | 12 Aug 2020 | Heino1 | ||
| Leucopaxillus sp. | 11 Aug 2020 | Caric |
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User's notes
In Macgregor in leaf mold under a Photinia hedge on 27 June 2020 (the date the first photo was taken). Heino said identification was uncertain but suggested it was possibly a species of Leucopaxillus. These mushrooms were enormous, solid, with knobbly caps about 15cm diameter and velvety stems. They had vanished the next day (someone had pulled them up). I discovered them 2 weeks later (11 July, date of the last 2 photos) buried in leaves in a different part of the hedge, remarkably intact. A pleasant mushroomy smell.
4 comments
Caric
wrote:
12 Aug 2020
I have a (slightly dodgy) microscope, but it may be sufficient - what do I look for? I reburied the mushrooms under leaf mold again and it's just possible some of it may remain.
I've been copying your earlier comments in the author notes to save you time - hope that was okay and I can easily update or delete them. I've discovered the resolution of the pdfs I sent you were not nearly as good as the original photos, so some details I expected you to be able to see - like the pores under the Trametes - were impossible to see on the pdf.
I've been copying your earlier comments in the author notes to save you time - hope that was okay and I can easily update or delete them. I've discovered the resolution of the pdfs I sent you were not nearly as good as the original photos, so some details I expected you to be able to see - like the pores under the Trametes - were impossible to see on the pdf.
Heino1
wrote:
12 Aug 2020
Sorry, I should have added that it's a 10-second job with the appropriate chemical (a particular iodine solution known as Melzer's reagent) and compound microscope with 1000x magnification. You need the high magnification because Leucopaxillus spores are less than 10 micrometres long. Leucopaxillus gives a white spore print but the spores turn blue in Melzer's. They are said to be amyloid. Also, Leucopaxillus spores are covered with minute warts. If the spores are either not amyloid or not ornamented, that rules out Leucopaxillus. However, if the fungus has both those features it is necessary to check for one more feature. Hyphae are the 'filaments' that make up the mushroom and each filament is composed of long cells, naturally with a wall separating neighbouring cells. In Leucopaxillus there is an 'arch' (technically known as a clamp connection) over the wall. Once you've prepared your microscope slide it doesn't take long to check for those features. If present, then they along with what your naked eye has seen, point you to Leucopaxillus. No problem with pasting in those comments.
Caric
wrote:
12 Aug 2020
Many thanks for this. I will obviously have to learn some microscope skills for identifying fungi. If there is ever a workshop held I'd be interested! My microscope is a second hand university one (I think) that I got at an online auction a few years ago. You can look through one eye but the 2 don't overlap. I'd have to check the magnification but it might be sufficient for one-eyed identification!
Heino1
wrote:
12 Aug 2020
It's a 10-second job to recognize the genus Leucopaxillus under the microscope but the mushrooms are unfortunately often nondescript to the naked eye and hence there are candidate look-alike genera. So, while Leucopaxillus is a possibility, it's a suggestion without great confidence, so for now I'll put this sighting into the unidentified agarics group. I'll do the same with some of the Umbagong Fungi Project sightings that you've loaded.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.025158-35.210950
- Places Macgregor, ACT
Sighting information
- 2 Abundance
- 11 Jul 2020 04:44 PM Recorded on
- Caric Recorded by
-
Collections
Fungi Caps on stems; gills below caps [mushrooms or mushroom-like]
Species information
- zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) Scientific name
- Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1407.5m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
