Off topic...Guess the mushroom.

[Zonda]

Spotted growing on the green in front of my house. Distinctive cap, and wrinkling. White stem apex, flushed with cap colour down lower. Usually shinier cap than this, dried somewhat, due to its exposed position. Usually grows in much more wooded areas. Tho there are trees on the green.

[Mikhail]

Could it be Conocybe moseri ?

Misha

[Zonda]

Hi Meesh. No it's not.

[Zonda]

I'll wait a little longer, and then i'll tell ya.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Zonda (Numpty not!)

I've looked through two books and still can't find it.
Go on put us out of our misery.

[Zonda]

I've got 15 books. what books have you got

[Gwenhwyfar]

I like Photographing Fungi, but I normally pester Deer Stalker if I need an ID

I only have two books on them -

One is Just a Small Collins Gem Book
and the other is Fungi by Shelley Evans and Geoffrey Kirbby.

Are you sure it's not plastic!

[Zonda]

Ok it's Xerula radicata, formerly known as Oudemansiella radicata, and before that,,, when i first started being interested Collybia radicata. It is commonly known as the 'Rooting shank'.

[Dave McCormick]

Dang was just about to say what that was. I got Hugh-Fernley Whittingstalls handbook guide to mushrooms its pretty good...even gives you recepie ideas for some mushrooms. I have been photographing mushrooms/fungus for past 3 years and find them interesting.

[Zonda]

They are very interesting, if you can keep up with all the recent taxa changes. My interest has waned a bit lately, here are a few of my pics. They are mostly scanned slides, only the fourth album contains purely digital camera images.
http://picasaweb.google.com/zondashrooms

[Bill S]

They are very interesting, if you can keep up with all the recent taxa changes. My interest has waned a bit lately, here are a few of my pics. They are mostly scanned slides, only the fourth album contains purely digital camera images.
http://picasaweb.google.com/zondashrooms

Very nice mushroom galleries Zonda. Don't worry about the taxonomists, they doen't change reality. What is your favourite edible wild mushroom?

Cheers

Bill

[Zonda]

Hya Bill, that would have to be Agaricus arvensis,lovely. I'm quite partial to Macrolepiota procera as well, but i don't eat many. It's their colours, and beauty i'm interested in. I look at mushrooms like some people look at flowers. Of course there is also 'the hunt', much like butterfly hunting. The photography is a lot easier, they don't fly away.

[Mikhail]

Hi Zonda.
What book would you recommend for a beginner in fungology. I have looked at several and can't decide.

Misha

[Piers]

Is there a difference between 'fungology' and mycology? I had never heard of fungology until now.

I should look it up I suppose...

Felix.

[Trev Sawyer]

Hi Zonda, Mikhail etc...
If you are at all into fungi photography, you really MUST see the stuff that a guy called Taylor Lockwood does...
He travels the world looking for fungi and my son bought his book "Treasures from the Kingdom of Fungi" a few years ago. The photography is truly stunning and I would recommend it wholeheartedly.
See: http://www.kingdomoffungi.com/

Trev

[Mikhail]

Felix, my use of the word fungology was not entirely serious, but I like it as a word.

Misha

[Piers]

Hi Misha,

Initially I thought that you were joking, but was subsequently surprised to discover that it is indeed a real word! Fungology does sound a little more well, fun, than mycology!

[Mikhail]

I'm glad it exists, though it's not in my big Chambers Dictionary, so would it count in Scrabble?

Misha

[Zonda]

Hi Zonda.
What book would you recommend for a beginner in fungology. I have looked at several and can't decide.

Misha

Mushrooms by Roger Phillips 2006 edition £18.99 at any good bookshop.

[Zonda]

I had never heard of fungology until now.

Me neither, sounds like an Americanism tho.