Fungi -- Great Britain -- Identification; Mushrooms -- Identification
~A. arvensis~ Secretan the Horse-mushroom is also edible, but is much
bigger (up to 180 mm), creamy white and bruises slightly yellowish on
handling; it also has larger spores (7-10 × 5 µm), club-shaped cells
on the gill-edge, gills commencing white and not pink, and the
presence of a complex ring.
~A. xanthodermus~ Genevier the ‘Yellow-staining mushroom’ has even
smaller spores than the field mushroom, i.e. 5-6 × 4 µm and a rather
strong, unpleasant smell; if eaten many people subsequently suffer
from stomach-pains and this shows that even amongst those fungi which
the scientist would call true mushrooms, i.e. those fungi in the genus
_Agaricus_, there are some poisonous members. Thus it is always
necessary to have wide experience before one collects fungi for eating
and until this is achieved all specimens should be discarded.
_Illustrations_: Field mushroom--Hvass 163; LH 133; NB 31⁶; WD 71².
Horse mushroom--Hvass 160; LH 135; WD 72¹. Yellow-staining
mushroom--Hvass 159; WD 71³.
[Illustration: Plate 31. Fleshy fungi: Spores purple-brown and borne on
gills]
~Calocybe gambosum~ (Fries) Singer.
St George’s mushroom
_Cap_: width 70-100 mm. _Stem_: width 15-25 mm; length 50-70 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: creamy white, ivory or light buff, slightly darker at the centre
with age, fleshy, rounded and with wavy margin, finally expanding to
become plane-convex; the margin is incurved and slightly downy at
first.
Stem: firm, rather thick, white at the top, creamy or buff below and
slightly downy when fresh.
Gills: sinuate to adnexed with a slight decurrent tooth, white to pale
buff.
Flesh: with a very strong smell of meal, white and thick.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: small, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline under the microscope, 5-6 ×
3-4 µm and not becoming blue-grey with solutions containing iodine.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Found amongst grass in base rich pastures,
often in fairly large rings from April to June and on golf-courses
particularly those near the sea.
_General Information_: The common name refers to the early appearance
of this agaric; St George’s Day is April 23rd, and this mushroom is
found about this time in favourable years, its fruiting often
extending into early June, particularly if the fruiting is retarded by
a cold and wet spring. It is easily recognised by the pale colour of
the cap, strong mealy smell, but particularly by its appearance in
spring. In each new year it is probably the first of the larger
agarics to appear. This species will be found in most books under the
genus _Tricholoma_, but differs from typical members of this group in
the anatomy and chemistry of the gill-tissues.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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