Introduction

The mushroom season is on here and I can sense it from all sides. It's as if everyone opened up to a mycological awakening? Or maybe this only seems so contemporary to just me? In the wake of it all, I am already preparing for another hunt during a day in a work week, where some are attending a group excursion prior to their work shifts.

One of the mushrooms I am identifying was brought to an older very kind man for assessing it. The joy he had when I came to him, what he probably knew along with his charming character moved me deeply. Apparently these older guys you can bring your mushrooms to for identification say there is still too little offspring in this field. Around my area, this seems to be quite the opposite.

Today I have the pleasure to reveal another lucky find with everyone.

In my previous post Mushroom Protocol 03 We went over 3 mushrooms.
Namely:

The Hericium Erinaceus, Lion's Mane
The Gyroporus castaneus, chestnut bolete
The Stabilomyces Stabilaceus, old man of the woods
The Hydnum repandum, hedgehog mushroom

So far we covered:

The Scleroderma citrinum or earthball
The Craterellus cornucopioides or horn of plenty
The lycoperdon or puffball
The Boletus calopus, bitter beech bolete or scarlet-stemmed bolete
The Hygrocybe punicea, Crimson or waxycap
The Hypholoma fasciculare, sulphur tuft
The Hericium Erinaceus, Lion's Mane
The Gyroporus castaneus, chestnut bolete
The Stabilomyces Stabilaceus, old man of the woods
The Hydnum repandum, hedgehog mushroom

Mushrooms

First, I'd like to start with a find that I made in my local forest, where I rarely find spectacular edible mushrooms.

Coprinopsis atramentaria, ink cap

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Class	Agaricomycetes
Division	Basidiomycota
Family	Psathyrellaceae
Order	Agaricales
Scientific Name	Coprinopsis atramentaria
Common Name	inky cap
Appearence	At first egg-shaped and mostly smooth with just a small central area covered in small flattened scales; without veil fragments, the cap of Coprinus atramentaria later expands to become bell-shaped with a slight umbo.Saprobic; on or beside stumps (usually hardwood); also beside woodland footpaths and at the base or trees in parks and gardens. Also fairly common on tree-lined grassy roadside verges or in parkland where fallen timber has become buried under dead grass.
Type	Mycorrhizal
Odeur	no typical smell
Culinary	edible but Warning: poisonous if consumed either with or a day or two before/after alcohol.
Taste	Mild tasting, can cause slight hallucinations
Medicinal properties	Anti-tumor Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of C. atramentaria and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 100% (Ohtsuka et al., 1973). Anti-fungal The aqueous extract of Tippler’s bane was shown to reduce the mycelial growth and inhibit sporulation of Penicillium expansum, a pathogenic mold (Florianowicz, 2000). Source

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Hericium cirrhatum, tiered tooth fungus

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Very rare, Hive account@tandava came across this in summer and already harvested a bit earlier. I think it's an important lesson to look up, specially what one might find growing on dead birch trees.

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We took a stick to get it off the tree as it was time to harvest the specimen.

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I'd say that this was an extremely lucky find because it's so rare.

Classification : Phylogenetic DNA analysis confirmed that the Tiered Tooth belongs to the order Russulales.

Class	Agaricomycetes
Family	Hericiaceae
Order	Russulales
Division	Basidiomycota
Scientific Name	Hericium cirrhatum
Common Name	tiered tooth fungus
Appearence	icicle-like spines. Hericium cirrhatum produces irregular cream fruitbodies with little or no real stem.The typical thickness is 2 or 3cm. Spines are pointed and usually little more than 1 to 1.5cm long.
Habitat	Found on old dead Birch trees
Type	Mycorrhizal
Odeur	Not distinctive
Culinary	edible.
Taste	Very tasty and fleshy, similar to fish or tender meat
Medicinal properties	This species is firmly established as an important medicinal mushroom and has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a host of ailments. Research has shown that it contains compounds that are effective against memory loss, depression, anxiety, dementia, neurological disorders within the peripheral nervous system and cancer. Source

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Clitocybe nuda, wood blewit

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Class	Agaricomycetes
Division	Basidiomycota
Order	Agaricales
Family	Tricholomataceae
Scientific Name	Clitocybe nuda
Common Name	wood blewit
Appearence	The violet-tinged cap and gills of the young wood blewit, together with its stocky build, distinguish it from other purple or lilac coloured fungi.
Habitat	These are Ectomycorrhizal; they form rings among floors with moisture and leaf litter and are usually found on mossy forest floors. Saprobic, on leaf litter in mixed woodland, the Wood Blewit is also found occasionally under hedgerows and even on garden compost heaps. These attractive mushrooms can also appear in dune slacks containing dwarf willow and other low-growing shrubs.Source
Odeur	Faint aniseed odour and a pleasant taste.
Culinary	edible
Taste	Really nice tasting. Fresh
Medicinal properties	Animal studies suggest that extracts from blewit may be useful as part of immunotherapy treatments for certain cancers[iv]. Extracts of the mushroom also protected mice who had been experimentally fed high-fat diets from changes associated with Type II diabetes[v]. Fungal extracts are also effective against certain microorganisms, including several kinds of bacteria[vi] and have antioxidant potential[vii]. But the clearest benefit of blewits is simply that they are an extremely healthy food, having zero cholesterol and being low in fat and calories and high in certain micronutrients, notably thiamine. Source

Conclusions

Didn't really think I'd find 3 edible mushrooms for the protocol this week. It taught me a few valuable lessons. Firstly, walking in the forest, no matter what weather really enlivens the spirits and can acclimate ones mood to changing weather. Specially surprising moments when some unexpected mushrooms appear not far from your path really make it worth your journey. I also thought I wanted some mushrooms for dinner and basically went straight for them while picking them. I think we all have that sense in our gut. Literally in the gut brain axis.

Previous Posts on Mushrooms: