More Autumn Fungi

 As I said in my last post, this Autumn has been an excellent season for fungi and I have had plenty of opportunities to continue to hone my fungi identification skills, such as they are.

I am still very much a beginner and I have long since realised that it is not enough just to take photographs of your finds and expect to be able to make a positive identification from books when you get home. 

Some species are easy to identify but the vast majority are tricky to pin down to species level. I am learning to use bruise and peel tests when helpful but I still get home to check the books and read about another test that would have proved diagnostic.

Of the following images, I am fairly confident that most are correctly labelled but a few have been more tricky.

Orange Grisette (Amanita crocea)

Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea)

White Saddle (Helvella crispa)

Penny Bun (Boletus edulis)

Bay Bolete (Imleria badia)

Orange Birch Bolete (Leccinum versipelle)

Beefsteak Fungus (Fistulina hepatica)

Blue Cheese Polypore (Postia caesia)

Giant Polypore (Meripilus giganteus)

Yellow Stagshorn (Calocera viscosa)

Blackening Waxcap (Hygrocybe conica)

This species changes colour and form as it ages and the following four images were taken of the same specimen over a two week period.

Rosy Bonnet (Mycena rosea)

The Russula group can be very confusing to identify to species level.

I think the following three are right, or maybe not!

Beechwood Sickener (Russula nobilis)

Dawn Brittlegill (Russula aurora)

Charcoal Burner (Russula cyanoxantha)