ISO a reputable mycologist

[42itous]

These are growing under our maple tree. I'd really like someone to tell me their edibility status. But I don't want just a guess, I want an absolutely positive, without-a-shade-of-a-doubt identification. Can we safely eat these for dinner? Or do we have to stop inviting babyfriends over to crawl in our yard?



More photos in the comments.

The largest caps are maybe 5" across; the smaller ones are 2.5 or 3". I've never seen these in our yard before, but that side of the maple also dropped its leaves earlier than usual, so maybe the mushrooms are living on decaying roots.

Comments

[42itous.livejournal.com]

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

Those look like the ones that were growing in Crosby Park when Jesse was a baby -- his friend Avi ate some, and poison control (eventually... it took WAY too long, I think, for them to get back to us, even though we were able to email them a picture) said that they were bad to eat, but mostly just induce vomiting.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured it's best to avoid them just to be on the safe side. It's just sad that we can't let babies crawl in our backyard anymore. :(

[zzbottom.livejournal.com]

My visiting buddy had a look. He's a mushroom hobbyist. He referred to these as "LBM"s or "Little Brown Mushrooms". He said there are six that are easily identifiable that can be eaten, and LBMs are definitely not among those six. Best to avoid and assume to be poisonous. "Never trust an LBM."

[42itous.livejournal.com]

That's what I figured. Oh well.

[angerona.livejournal.com]

Does it have gills or a sponge under the cap?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Gills. There are a couple photos of the undersides of mushrooms in my first "comment" on this post.

[merilisa.livejournal.com]

Can't you just pick them all up from the ground? They don't usually grow back, do they?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that mushrooms growing on a lawn are all part of a single organism that is growing on the root system of a tree. If I were to pick every mushroom, there would still be more (usually after the next rainfall). And when I raked, I discovered that there were a lot more mushrooms than I'd originally thought. So I would not trust a crawling baby not to find any, even after I'd thoroughly picked them... which I have way more important things to be doing, these days.

[cos]

Try uploading these photos to an album on imgur.com and posting that album to http://mycology.reddit.com/ to ask for a species ID. Read their tips on How to Make a Successful ID Request.