Earlier in November we enjoyed some mushrooms at Merville Woods, a second growth forest characterized by mixed conifers including pines. This post features a few more mushrooms that we found there. One was a mushroom that we had identified on a previous walk at Woodhus Slough but others remained a mystery even after creating a spore print and consulting our mushroom books.
Here are some of the species that we found:
Rosy Gomphidius
We had seen the Rosy Gomphidius (Gomphidius subroseus) before at Woodhus Slough and it was neat to be able to recognize it in the field. The rosy viscid cap, the two-toned white and yellow stem (you can just see the yellow in the lowest part of the stem), and the black ring near the top of the stem are diagnostic for this species.
Colourful Gomphidius
This Colourful Gomphidius (Chroogomphus rutilus) was quite distinctive. The cap of the mushroom is a orange/wine-brown in colour and sticky to touch. The gills (shown above) are buffy/brown in colour and run down the stem. We did take a specimen of this mushroom back to the house and made a spore print – it was dark brown/black in colour.
Mystery Mushroom 1
We struggled with this one and in the end were not able to identify it. The cap of this mushroom was extremely viscid and a rich reddish, chestnut-brown. We did take a specimen back to the house to print and the spores were a “dingy” brown in colour. While we have no idea what kind of mushroom it is, there is no question that it is a beautiful (if slimy) mushroom!
Mystery Mushroom 2
This mushroom looked distinctive in the field with its two-toned yellow cap but even after taking a specimen home we were unable to identify it. The spore print for this mushroom was whitish beige in colour.
As beginning mushroom enthusiasts we were pretty happy to be able to identify close to a dozen mushrooms on this trip to Merville Woods. We’re finding that taking a small number of unknown mushrooms back to the house to identify works better than taking a specimen of every single mushroom seen on a walk. Too many and you end up getting overwhelmed. Starting with 5 to 10 per walk seemed about right for us. Remembering to note characteristics like texture, colour and odour in the field as well as habitat was helpful in identifying the mushrooms. It’s always a good idea to choose one mushroom that looks totally distinctive so that at least there’s a chance of identifying one!