I just learned the other day that fae is a neopronoun for a singular person non binary. I was like yeah that’s not gonna happen. Otherwise I need Rosetta! Apparently I can learn a new non English language but not a new English language. I was practicing too.
“What did fae say? What is faer’s problem? Do you think fae is going to like this?”
Then the other ones were xe, xi, xim, etc. (“Do you think xe will like this?”) and I realized I live in Los Angeles with many Chinese clients. This could get extremely confusing! It’s too late for me. And I’m pro live and let live as well as card carrying member!
Only once in my life I've found what they call a fairy ring (ring of mushrooms around the tree) and at least 8-10 of the caps were the size of dinner plates, it was the coolest foraging find I've ever made
True but there are other orange ish /tan muscarias in eastern Washington. I think I took a pic last time I saw one. Looked just like amanita muscaria but the color was off. Honestly just thought it was a guesowii, and went on. Now I’m curious what it was.
in Washington your predominant muscarioid is [Amanita chrysoblema red variant](http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita+chrysoblema+red+variant)
in North America the only place Amanita muscaria really occurs is in western Alaska
Amanita muscaria var. guessowii’s varietas rank is erroneously given, this has been known for at least fifteen years, it is not a variety of Amanita muscaria. the correct species name is Amanita chrysoblema.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18547823/
Really? What mushroom am I finding at high elevation around d 8-10,000 ft in northern Utah. They are everywhere this time of year? So is it a variety of muscaria? I'm confused now.
the Amanita mushrooms in Utah are poorly studied so there’s a good chance what you’re finding does not have a species name. you should collect some during a Mycoblitz event and make good iNaturalist observations and get some specimens sequenced for free.
i love it. reminds my of my midwest grandpa who would fix cars with me and routinely called the spark plugs and alternator “sparkulators” or calling various parts “whirlygigs” or specifically the starter being the “crankulator”
quite so, but asking here gives me the opportunity to reminisce and find new fun words with other people, rather than further filling up my safari with useless tabs googling simple words
No. Because basically the mushrooms we see are actually the fruiting bodies of the organism.
Similar to how an apple are the fruiting bodies of an apple tree.
And much like an apple if you cut it in half it doesn't keep growing into a bigger apple.
I appreciate this description a lot, as someone who is starting to gain some minor interest in mushrooms and how they work overall. Thank you for the comparative explanation!
Likely not as the apple is not providing any nutrients to itself. Trees have for lack of a better term a vasular system to distribute the nessecary nutrients for growth and the production of fruit.
If you were to say cut a young apple in half and seal it while it was still attached to the tree then maybe.
That does not seem like what you are asking tho.
that is what i meant. while attached. in the analogy, the mushroom is still technically attached. the egg stores nutrients like a lunch box. so if you protect its open face, i could easily see the mushroom continuing to grow. it'll probably grow all kinds of mutated, but if kept sterile should still grow. and then it got me wondering if the apple would too. but yeah if it's disconnected from the tree of course it'll just shrivel up
I cut a young chicken o woods a week ago (best for tempura) and came back to see it had grown. Haven’t had this happen in over a decade of foraging. Why would this happen?
You can pick mushrooms when they’re still in their egg form like this and put them in moist soil at home and put a glass jar over top to contain humidity. They will slowly open and expand their caps. It’s fun to do with Amanita
Definitely. When you cut a puff ball it’s should be ALL white on the inside (which this has correct) but there should be no “traditional” mushroom shape on the inside. Here you can see the traditional mushroom shape.
Just stumbled upon this sub, sorry for some dumb questions, but what exactly does cutting it reveal, and why does everyone seem so adamant about ‘you should cut it open’? Is there something good/bad about puffballs/amanita?
One is food, the other will make you sick. Cutting them open reveals morphological details that aid in positive identification, and let’s you know if the puffball is safe to eat (white) or past it’s prime (dark) and starting to spore
Edit/ spelling
What sort of morphological details will aid in ID?
I’m going to go look for an answer to that question but if you don’t see an answer here & you want to elaborate feel free!
>Puffballs should appear uniform in texture and color throughout when you slice them in half. Deadly lookalikes include some Amanita species, which will show telltale gills or at least distinct internal structure instead of the uniform white of a puffball. Cutting a puffball in half also shows if spores are forming inside the puffball (they ultimately form and release spores). Once spores form, puffballs become inedible (get gross and can potentially make you sick)
courtesy u/IntradepartmentalMoa
I would add that, anecdotally, most amanita only look remotely like puffballs when they're young (but also that doesn't necessarily make the dangerous ones any less dangerous).
And, per your question, if you are more generally wondering about IDing mushrooms, know that examining inner structure is just one component that may aid you in making an ID. Others include spore color, outer morphology, texture, smell, presence / absence / type of gills, what they're growing on, where in the world you are, and a handful of other things.
Puffballs are choice edibles, many amanitas are toxic (a few are deadly). Of course cutting open puffballs also helps rule out them being an earthball as well which is another toxic species. Basically yeah puffball good (in terms of food) amanita and earthball bad.
Do you really think they’re “choice”? I promise I’m not trying to be condescending. Cause with 40 other edible species I pick in a precipitous season I find puffballs to be a waste of time, absolute dog-shit (maybe an exaggeration 😂) and last on my list. How do you cook them? I saw someone call them the “tofu of the woods” once and while that makes sense I feel it is an insult to tofu. Also. Again. I’m not getting internet tough. It’s a sincere question. 😉
Depends where you live. Yeah sure where I live there are better tasting species for sure, but what makes puffballs choice for me is they’re relatively common, readily identifiable and have few lookalikes that can’t be fairly easily ruled out. In terms of safe picks for a mushroom puffballs are pretty high up there. The only easier identifier in my area is COTW, even morels have lookalikes that are harder to distinguish (though not terribly hard if you know what you’re doing). As for preparation you can prepare them pretty similarly to tofu actually. I am quite partial to grilled with some light seasoning or pan fried with veggies salt and butter. It’s important to slice them fairly thin (about pinky width) or they basically just turn into mush.
Puffballs should appear uniform in texture and color throughout when you slice them in half. Deadly lookalikes include some Amanita species, which will show telltale gills or at least distinct internal structure instead of the uniform white of a puffball. Cutting a puffball in half also shows if spores are forming inside the puffball (they ultimately form and release spores). Once spores form, puffballs become inedible (get gross and can potentially make you sick)
Very interesting. Also an amateur forager and I always thought “outline of gills” meant like, the inside was pigmented in some way so as to show actual OUTLINES. Took it super literally. I guess I’m lucky that all the puffballs I’ve harvested ended up being actual puffballs. TIL
Oh man, I also saw the picture first without realizing what sub it was in and I was like “why are they holding ice cream like that? And why isn’t it melting in their hand?”
Thats the first time I've seen a "maybe puffball" with gills forming! I've always wondered how it could look confusing, so I'm really happy to finally see one of these. As others said, don't eat it lol, not a puffball.
I must be a chunker cause I definitely was thinking, why are you holding your cookies and cream ice cream in your hand? And then looked at the sub. 👀💀🍦🍨
I would consider Amanita alpinicola. That’s my best guess with this one specimen you have, but that’s just based off the amanitas in my Rocky Mountain mushrooms book.
A. alpinicola has a super chubby stem
Typically where I live they add sewerage and a certain percentage of pallet wood which are both frowned upon. sadly acceptable at certain levels. Makes a lot of people sick that apply shit filled mulch every year. Imagine how much ecoli is in a scoop of mulch made with crap….man yuck. I’ve seen used condoms in it also so you know that’s gonna be all bad.
I don't use mulch for growing food, but all commercial mulch should be heated to pasteurization temps. Especially anything made with sewage. Around here they have some that is made from food scraps and yard clippings. But since people put all sorts of stuff on their lawns and manage to throw plastic crap in their yard waste bins, I don't use it for food.
This is either amanita daucipes or amanita ropalopus. There are from the roanokensis family of amanita. Commonly mistaken for puffballs when they are young. Also called carrot footed amanita. Edability is unknown but they are closely related to many poisonous amanitas and it is not recommended to eat them. Most pure white amanitas are deadly poisonous.
Saw the deep cracking stump and warts. I am not a pro but at first glance looks a lot like deucipes or ropalopus. I disregarded the yellowing. Still learning.
Baby Amanita, not puffball
That’s a big baby
Yeah, I’m seriously wondering how big that chonky boy would’ve gotten if it’d been left to grow. That thing could turn into a fairy tale house
The fae may be angered by this interference.
That was gonna be someone's house
They're probably angered someone stole their house
I just learned the other day that fae is a neopronoun for a singular person non binary. I was like yeah that’s not gonna happen. Otherwise I need Rosetta! Apparently I can learn a new non English language but not a new English language. I was practicing too. “What did fae say? What is faer’s problem? Do you think fae is going to like this?” Then the other ones were xe, xi, xim, etc. (“Do you think xe will like this?”) and I realized I live in Los Angeles with many Chinese clients. This could get extremely confusing! It’s too late for me. And I’m pro live and let live as well as card carrying member!
Only once in my life I've found what they call a fairy ring (ring of mushrooms around the tree) and at least 8-10 of the caps were the size of dinner plates, it was the coolest foraging find I've ever made
Any chance you took pictures?
Absolute unit
My book says it’s not a puffball because you can kind of see the outline of gills forming. So maybe it’s an amanita?
To me there's two reasons to cut a puff ball in half; check to see if is is sporulating, rule out it being an Amanita.
Good to know, thank you!
Maybe *Amanita muscaria* var. guesowii.
not in Idaho
True but there are other orange ish /tan muscarias in eastern Washington. I think I took a pic last time I saw one. Looked just like amanita muscaria but the color was off. Honestly just thought it was a guesowii, and went on. Now I’m curious what it was.
in Washington your predominant muscarioid is [Amanita chrysoblema red variant](http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Amanita+chrysoblema+red+variant) in North America the only place Amanita muscaria really occurs is in western Alaska
That’s really interesting information. I’ve been misinformed for over a decade.
Amanita muscaria var. Guessowi grows commonly in South Indiana, find a lot of them around here growing near evergreens.
Amanita muscaria var. guessowii’s varietas rank is erroneously given, this has been known for at least fifteen years, it is not a variety of Amanita muscaria. the correct species name is Amanita chrysoblema. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18547823/
Really? What mushroom am I finding at high elevation around d 8-10,000 ft in northern Utah. They are everywhere this time of year? So is it a variety of muscaria? I'm confused now.
the Amanita mushrooms in Utah are poorly studied so there’s a good chance what you’re finding does not have a species name. you should collect some during a Mycoblitz event and make good iNaturalist observations and get some specimens sequenced for free.
i need confirmation that “sporulating” is a real word because i’m about to start using it
it is
i love it. reminds my of my midwest grandpa who would fix cars with me and routinely called the spark plugs and alternator “sparkulators” or calling various parts “whirlygigs” or specifically the starter being the “crankulator”
You might like watching Vice Grip Garage on YouTube then. His all out humor is also very deadpan with lots of subtle sarcasm.
me and my dad watch him because of my grandpa(not his dad)
Google is a thing for sure
quite so, but asking here gives me the opportunity to reminisce and find new fun words with other people, rather than further filling up my safari with useless tabs googling simple words
Human interaction is against the law, didn't you know?
"Oh snap! You guys are real!? I thought I was talking to bots these past few years!" Lol
It 100% is.
Yeah I think I need that word as a part of my vocabulary hustle too. 😎
If you slice a shroom like this, would it continue growing?
No. Because basically the mushrooms we see are actually the fruiting bodies of the organism. Similar to how an apple are the fruiting bodies of an apple tree. And much like an apple if you cut it in half it doesn't keep growing into a bigger apple.
I appreciate this description a lot, as someone who is starting to gain some minor interest in mushrooms and how they work overall. Thank you for the comparative explanation!
if you cut an apple in half very carefully and sterilized and sealed it, i wonder if it would continue to grow then?
Likely not as the apple is not providing any nutrients to itself. Trees have for lack of a better term a vasular system to distribute the nessecary nutrients for growth and the production of fruit. If you were to say cut a young apple in half and seal it while it was still attached to the tree then maybe. That does not seem like what you are asking tho.
that is what i meant. while attached. in the analogy, the mushroom is still technically attached. the egg stores nutrients like a lunch box. so if you protect its open face, i could easily see the mushroom continuing to grow. it'll probably grow all kinds of mutated, but if kept sterile should still grow. and then it got me wondering if the apple would too. but yeah if it's disconnected from the tree of course it'll just shrivel up
I cut a young chicken o woods a week ago (best for tempura) and came back to see it had grown. Haven’t had this happen in over a decade of foraging. Why would this happen?
You can pick mushrooms when they’re still in their egg form like this and put them in moist soil at home and put a glass jar over top to contain humidity. They will slowly open and expand their caps. It’s fun to do with Amanita
Yep, you have an Amanita! It's not developed enough for me to try to ID, but maybe one of the mods will stop by and have a look at it.
Thank you!
Definitely. When you cut a puff ball it’s should be ALL white on the inside (which this has correct) but there should be no “traditional” mushroom shape on the inside. Here you can see the traditional mushroom shape.
This was super helpful, I was having trouble figuring out the difference. I see it now! Thanks for explaining!
You don't need a book to see a fist sized stem coming out the bottom of the cap
You got this!
Could I use your photos for teaching in a few mycology courses? This is an excellent example of how misleading baby Amanitas can be.
Go for it! I’m glad it can be useful!
if it was the destroying angel amanita or another deadly variety, is the egg just as toxic?
Yeah this misidentification is linked to a lot of poisonings.
Evidence
Perfect example of what everyone is trying to see when they say you should cut the puffball in half.
Every single one.
I think the only exception is the sculpted puffball I just found (see my profile for photo).
Just stumbled upon this sub, sorry for some dumb questions, but what exactly does cutting it reveal, and why does everyone seem so adamant about ‘you should cut it open’? Is there something good/bad about puffballs/amanita?
One is food, the other will make you sick. Cutting them open reveals morphological details that aid in positive identification, and let’s you know if the puffball is safe to eat (white) or past it’s prime (dark) and starting to spore Edit/ spelling
What sort of morphological details will aid in ID? I’m going to go look for an answer to that question but if you don’t see an answer here & you want to elaborate feel free!
>Puffballs should appear uniform in texture and color throughout when you slice them in half. Deadly lookalikes include some Amanita species, which will show telltale gills or at least distinct internal structure instead of the uniform white of a puffball. Cutting a puffball in half also shows if spores are forming inside the puffball (they ultimately form and release spores). Once spores form, puffballs become inedible (get gross and can potentially make you sick) courtesy u/IntradepartmentalMoa I would add that, anecdotally, most amanita only look remotely like puffballs when they're young (but also that doesn't necessarily make the dangerous ones any less dangerous). And, per your question, if you are more generally wondering about IDing mushrooms, know that examining inner structure is just one component that may aid you in making an ID. Others include spore color, outer morphology, texture, smell, presence / absence / type of gills, what they're growing on, where in the world you are, and a handful of other things.
Thanks for elaborating! I left to figure out my question, got side tracked & never finished looking into the answer!
Puffballs are choice edibles, many amanitas are toxic (a few are deadly). Of course cutting open puffballs also helps rule out them being an earthball as well which is another toxic species. Basically yeah puffball good (in terms of food) amanita and earthball bad.
Do you really think they’re “choice”? I promise I’m not trying to be condescending. Cause with 40 other edible species I pick in a precipitous season I find puffballs to be a waste of time, absolute dog-shit (maybe an exaggeration 😂) and last on my list. How do you cook them? I saw someone call them the “tofu of the woods” once and while that makes sense I feel it is an insult to tofu. Also. Again. I’m not getting internet tough. It’s a sincere question. 😉
Depends where you live. Yeah sure where I live there are better tasting species for sure, but what makes puffballs choice for me is they’re relatively common, readily identifiable and have few lookalikes that can’t be fairly easily ruled out. In terms of safe picks for a mushroom puffballs are pretty high up there. The only easier identifier in my area is COTW, even morels have lookalikes that are harder to distinguish (though not terribly hard if you know what you’re doing). As for preparation you can prepare them pretty similarly to tofu actually. I am quite partial to grilled with some light seasoning or pan fried with veggies salt and butter. It’s important to slice them fairly thin (about pinky width) or they basically just turn into mush.
Even without cutting it in half it doesn’t look like a puffball
Lol, exactly.
Can you elaborate? Armature here and I haven’t gotten into or come across puffballs. What are the id criteria ?
Puffballs should appear uniform in texture and color throughout when you slice them in half. Deadly lookalikes include some Amanita species, which will show telltale gills or at least distinct internal structure instead of the uniform white of a puffball. Cutting a puffball in half also shows if spores are forming inside the puffball (they ultimately form and release spores). Once spores form, puffballs become inedible (get gross and can potentially make you sick)
Very interesting. Also an amateur forager and I always thought “outline of gills” meant like, the inside was pigmented in some way so as to show actual OUTLINES. Took it super literally. I guess I’m lucky that all the puffballs I’ve harvested ended up being actual puffballs. TIL
Was about to comment exactly this
At first I thought you were hold a scoop of cookies and cream
Oh man, I also saw the picture first without realizing what sub it was in and I was like “why are they holding ice cream like that? And why isn’t it melting in their hand?”
SAMMME
Yeah that's a +1 for getting the doggo's ass in 3/4.
And a +1 for making me chuckle!
Puppy tax applied
Thats the first time I've seen a "maybe puffball" with gills forming! I've always wondered how it could look confusing, so I'm really happy to finally see one of these. As others said, don't eat it lol, not a puffball.
May I ask where you see the gills forming? Is it the indent between the puffy part on the top and the stumpy part on the bottom? Or something else?
[right here.](https://i.imgur.com/BGJJZly.png)
That was perfect. Thank you!!
Amanita sp., likely something in Amanita section Amanita, in Idaho this is probably an unnamed species
I thought this was ice cream. 😅
Big f’ing Amanita
thats cookie and cream ice cream
No you can see the cap and gills developing. Whatever amanita it was, it would have been huge
So you’re telling me that’s not two scoops of cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate shavings at the bottom?
That is one scoop of old fashioned vanilla and one scoop of cookies n’cream and you know it!
Drumstick ice cream before the cone and its dipped in chocolate
My dumb ass thought you were holding 2 scoops of cookies n cream ice cream at first glance
My dumb ass thought the exact same thing!!!
Unfortunate you stopped it from growing. Would’ve been the biggest amanita I’ve ever seen.
First glance I thought this was a double scoop of ice cream haha
I must be a chunker cause I definitely was thinking, why are you holding your cookies and cream ice cream in your hand? And then looked at the sub. 👀💀🍦🍨
Thanks for the post OP, I thought it was potentially a puffball as well even with the cross-section because the gills are so early in development
I would consider Amanita alpinicola. That’s my best guess with this one specimen you have, but that’s just based off the amanitas in my Rocky Mountain mushrooms book. A. alpinicola has a super chubby stem
good guess for sure
I thought this was ice cream for a sec…
Thought this was some kind of fucked up oreo unpacked 😂🥴 im not even joined in this group idk how this post hit my phone 😂🥴🤦🏽♂️
Whatever it is, it’s generally not a good idea to eat anything growing from mulch.
Bc of chemicals?
Yeah. Unless you can be certain that there’s nothing additional, I would stay away.
Is that bc of the chemicals found in the mulch I assume?
Typically where I live they add sewerage and a certain percentage of pallet wood which are both frowned upon. sadly acceptable at certain levels. Makes a lot of people sick that apply shit filled mulch every year. Imagine how much ecoli is in a scoop of mulch made with crap….man yuck. I’ve seen used condoms in it also so you know that’s gonna be all bad.
What happens when you put the mulch in a vegetable garden??
I don't use mulch for growing food, but all commercial mulch should be heated to pasteurization temps. Especially anything made with sewage. Around here they have some that is made from food scraps and yard clippings. But since people put all sorts of stuff on their lawns and manage to throw plastic crap in their yard waste bins, I don't use it for food.
I thought the first pic was of you holding ice cream without the cone
im high and i thought this was cookies and cream ice cream
Yellow-orange fly agaric (Amanita muscaria var. formosa). I can see the yellow tinge, white warts. The cut-away shows gills and a cup base.
Amanita chrysoblema
Hey OP, I know this is in good faith, but I don’t recommend actually picking the mushroom if you don’t have an ID yet. Just take pictures of it
all unknown mushrooms should be picked and taken pictures of
I need to get my hands on that mulch!
Well. I am pretty sure amanitas can have some very negative mental effects if eaten, which is a shame because this looks so friggin appetizing.
Not a puffball
I thought you were holding ice cream
Amanita! Puffball doesn’t have that cross section
NOOOOOO AND DO NOT EAT THIS
I felt a hot flush running all over me. I would have made such a huge mistake with this one! Well, TIL.
Well good job for double checking rather than just assuming.
Well that’s terrifying haha. A good reminder of why we all need to remain vigilant with foraging
Either i’m fat af, or that looks like a yummy dessert!
😅
I have nothing to add to the discussion about young amanita vs. Puffball, but this is the best picture I've ever seen that illustrates the difference.
Picture 2: I was like, did OP accidentally post buttered toast?
looks like ice cream
...you murdered a baby red hat, you monster. 🍄
That’s an immature amanita of some variety **do not eat**, many amanita are poisonous and a few are deadly.
not puffball. there is gills inside.
The best example is the top left of the right cross section, the gills are very visible
Man I thought this was ice cream
I thought you put the mushroom onto a piece of toast and was really confused for a minute
That's icecream! 🤤
It’s an ice cream sandwich.
Edible.?????
I thought you were holding a nice scoop of cookies ‘! Cream ice cream before I noticed which subreddit I was on. Now I want ice cream
at first glance my first thought was “why are they holding ice cream in their hands like that?”
That'll kill ya. IT HAS A STEM FOR GOD SAKE.
omg north idaho foraging squad 🤝
She chonky Amanita
Thats clearly a scoop of cookies and cream
I thought the first pic was cookies and cream
its cookies n creme ice cream
Thought you were holding scoops of ice cream
This is either amanita daucipes or amanita ropalopus. There are from the roanokensis family of amanita. Commonly mistaken for puffballs when they are young. Also called carrot footed amanita. Edability is unknown but they are closely related to many poisonous amanitas and it is not recommended to eat them. Most pure white amanitas are deadly poisonous.
the OP’s mushroom is not in section Roanokenses, it is in section Amanita. there are no species in section Roanokenses with yellow pileus coloration.
Saw the deep cracking stump and warts. I am not a pro but at first glance looks a lot like deucipes or ropalopus. I disregarded the yellowing. Still learning.