Sunday, November 18, 2012

Agaricus hondensis?

For three years now I have seen this "Meadow Mushroom" on one of my frequented walks. The first year I saw it, it was growing practically out of a newly deposited pile of fill, very gravely and barren. It had been trampled by children, so I only looked at it briefly. The second year the gravel had been taken away for use in trail construction, but the mushrooms were there in the same spot. They were soggy and buggy, so I did not bring one home.
Agaricus hondensis?
Today I found the patch not in the exact spot, but further up the trail by a couple of yards. They seemed firm and smelled nice, so I brought three home. There was something unsettling about their shape however, so I did some research.
Or possibly Agaricus moelleri
Both Agaricus moelleri and hondensis have more substantial rings than Agaricus campestris (Meadow Mushroom). The more mature of the three specimen has a largish felty ring so one strike against them being campestris.

Moelleri, however, does not have pink gills, which these specimens seem to have.

Hondensis is said to have "pinkish" gills when young, and the stipe is said to exhibit a phenolic odor (as does moelleri) which these specimens exibit. The stipe base of hondensis is also said to bruise light chrome yellow which this one seems to do. Hondensis is also said to prefer forested habitat, which is where I found these specimens.

So, despite it's pink gills (suggesting a Meadow Mushroom) and despite it's marshmallow shaped cap suggestive of moelleri, I will, for now, go with Agaricus hondensis.

Moellari is said to stain bright yellow at the very base of the stipe (the base of the three specimens I found were punky and beginning to rot so I could not use this test) and moellari sounds like it is more common, but still, I will stay with hondensis based on the colour of the gills.

I am open to comments from anyone who knows these mushrooms better than I.

3 comments:

  1. Hello! Did you ever find out if it actually was a hondensis? Because I found some on the side of a trail growing near a bunch of pine needles and twigs, but they were not fully mature, and I've been told that the gills of these are pale whitish when not matured (which my specimen is).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Yes, I'm pretty sure these are hondensis, just based on the pink gills. The "marshmallow" shaped caps seem more like moelleri, but from what I can tell moelleri never has pink gills. Pale whitish gills when young suggests yours might be subrutilescens. All these agaricus seem pretty difficult to distinguish without detailed and careful observation over time. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesome! Thank you for your help and happy foraging

      Delete